Promises, promises… from citizens, to governments and tech-giants, we all love to hope that new technologies will solve every issue of our cities. Catering solutions for every municipal need, an entire industry has flourished by adding the prefix “smart” to virtually anything. “Safer, more efficient, inclusive, sustainable” they said, while fascinating us with predictions and percentages. And we queued in front of them, waiting to buy a piece of their futures. But how often have these promises actually turned into reality, and evolved from a wishful thinking press-release?
The winter-school Promises, Promises: A tech reality-check is organized as a pre-event of the Media Architecture Biennale 20 that will take part in Utrecht and Amsterdam in November 23–27th 2020 around the theme #Futures Implied. It is a four-day research workshop with the ambition to do a reality-check of the intersection of technology, architecture and urban planning.