Fábio Duarte - Böcker

Modernity has entrusted technology with such power that it is treated as an autonomous entity, with its own manners and morals. Technological disruptions are also socially disruptive: technological failures reveal both the constituents of the technology itself and the social fabric woven by this technology. Cities are the quintessential technological arrangement, not only materially but also as a conceptual framework: the ubiquity of technology makes us think and plan cities mostly in terms of technological arrangements. Unplugging the City: The Urban Phenomenon and its Sociotechnical Controversies proposes a conceptual and methodological framework for analyzing certain urban phenomena as a technological assemblage. It demonstrates, through multiple case studies, the sociotechnical complexities involved in the stabilization and disruption of urban technological arrangements. Examples range from the urban phantasmagorias portrayed in science-fiction movies to the urban proposals of Brasilia and Masdar, from the book of bike-sharing systems to pervasive global surveillance systems.Written by Fábio Duarte and Rodrigo Firmino, based on their original research and publications, this is an essential resource for those interested in the theory and study of technology and its inextricable influence on the city.

In an era where extreme amounts of data are produced daily, with the majority being visual content, cities have become vast repositories of digital imagery. From surveillance cameras to smartphone photos, satellite imagery to street-level captures, our urban environments are continuously documented through an unprecedented volume of visual data. This groundbreaking book examines how artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing our understanding of cities, and presents a comprehensive framework for applying visual AI in urban contexts. The book traces the evolution of visual analysis in urban studies, from early photographic documentation to today's sophisticated AI-powered interpretations. Through detailed case studies from across the US, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Beijing, Dubai, Singapore, and more, it demonstrates how machine learning is unveiling new insights about urban patterns, human behavior, and social dynamics in cities. Chapters address critical concerns about surveillance, privacy, and algorithmic bias, offering a nuanced perspective on the ethical implications of urban visual intelligence. This book is essential for scholars and postgraduate students in urban planning, and landscape architecture, while also appealing to anyone interested in the future of cities and technology's role in understanding them.

In an era where extreme amounts of data are produced daily, with the majority being visual content, cities have become vast repositories of digital imagery. From surveillance cameras to smartphone photos, satellite imagery to street-level captures, our urban environments are continuously documented through an unprecedented volume of visual data. This groundbreaking book examines how artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing our understanding of cities, and presents a comprehensive framework for applying visual AI in urban contexts. The book traces the evolution of visual analysis in urban studies, from early photographic documentation to today's sophisticated AI-powered interpretations. Through detailed case studies from across the US, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Beijing, Dubai, Singapore, and more, it demonstrates how machine learning is unveiling new insights about urban patterns, human behavior, and social dynamics in cities. Chapters address critical concerns about surveillance, privacy, and algorithmic bias, offering a nuanced perspective on the ethical implications of urban visual intelligence. This book is essential for scholars and postgraduate students in urban planning, and landscape architecture, while also appealing to anyone interested in the future of cities and technology's role in understanding them.

Space, place and territory are concepts that lie at the core of geography and urban planning, environmental studies and sociology. Although space, place and territory are indeed polysemic and polemic, they have particular characteristics that distinguish them from each other. They are interdependent but not interchangeable, and the differences between them explain how we simultaneously perceive, conceive and design multiple spatialities. After drawing the conceptual framework of space, place and territory, the book initially explores how we sense space in the most visceral ways, and how the overlay of meanings attached to the sensorial characteristics of space change the way we perceive it – smell, spatial experiences using electroence phalography, and the changing meaning of darkness are discussed. The book continues exploring cartographic mapping not as a final outcome, but rather as an epistemological tool, an instrument of inquiry. It follows on how particular ideas of space, place and territory are embedded in specific urban proposals, from Brasília to the Berlin Wall, airports and infiltration of digital technologies in our daily life. The book concludes by focusing on spatial practices that challenge the status quo of how we perceive and understand urban spaces, from famous artists to anonymous interventions by traceurs and hackers of urban technologies. Combining space, place and territory as distinctive but interdependent concepts into an epistemological matrix may help us to understand contemporary phenomena and live them critically.

Modernity has entrusted technology with such power that it is treated as an autonomous entity, with its own manners and morals. Technological disruptions are also socially disruptive: technological failures reveal both the constituents of the technology itself and the social fabric woven by this technology. Cities are the quintessential technological arrangement, not only materially but also as a conceptual framework: the ubiquity of technology makes us think and plan cities mostly in terms of technological arrangements. Unplugging the City: The Urban Phenomenon and its Sociotechnical Controversies proposes a conceptual and methodological framework for analyzing certain urban phenomena as a technological assemblage. It demonstrates, through multiple case studies, the sociotechnical complexities involved in the stabilization and disruption of urban technological arrangements. Examples range from the urban phantasmagorias portrayed in science-fiction movies to the urban proposals of Brasilia and Masdar, from the book of bike-sharing systems to pervasive global surveillance systems.Written by Fábio Duarte and Rodrigo Firmino, based on their original research and publications, this is an essential resource for those interested in the theory and study of technology and its inextricable influence on the city.

Space, place and territory are concepts that lie at the core of geography and urban planning, environmental studies and sociology. Although space, place and territory are indeed polysemic and polemic, they have particular characteristics that distinguish them from each other. They are interdependent but not interchangeable, and the differences between them explain how we simultaneously perceive, conceive and design multiple spatialities. After drawing the conceptual framework of space, place and territory, the book initially explores how we sense space in the most visceral ways, and how the overlay of meanings attached to the sensorial characteristics of space change the way we perceive it – smell, spatial experiences using electroence phalography, and the changing meaning of darkness are discussed. The book continues exploring cartographic mapping not as a final outcome, but rather as an epistemological tool, an instrument of inquiry. It follows on how particular ideas of space, place and territory are embedded in specific urban proposals, from Brasília to the Berlin Wall, airports and infiltration of digital technologies in our daily life. The book concludes by focusing on spatial practices that challenge the status quo of how we perceive and understand urban spaces, from famous artists to anonymous interventions by traceurs and hackers of urban technologies. Combining space, place and territory as distinctive but interdependent concepts into an epistemological matrix may help us to understand contemporary phenomena and live them critically.

This volume explores the governance patterns of three cities of the Americas, Seattle, Montreal, and Curitiba, which all present different but interesting cases in dealing with sustainable urban transport challenges.

This book aims to bring new insights into the effectiveness of microfinance as a tool for boosting entrepreneurial activities that in turn enhance the capabilities of individuals living in extreme poverty across several dimensions of human development, especially in the current challenging times for both individuals and the microfinance industry.