Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
improving the urban fabric and rehabilitating the polluted and derelict sites of older
industries. Closely related to this approach are the active networks devoted to the
problems posed by urban places that have lost population, such as the Shrinking
Cities International Research Network established in 2004 (SCiRN
2013
). A very
different theme is summarized by the term Heritage Cities. A world network of
these centres was created by UNESCO to find ways of conserving urban places
designated as having unique historical urban landscapes and buildings created by
previous cultural phases of growth. But they also seek to integrate this process with
socio-economic development, so they become active, lived-in places, not museum
pieces. Cities in the developing world especially have used the network to get ex-
pertise from specialists from cities in the developed world to identify and maintain
their historic buildings and townscapes, and to find new uses for the buildings.
It must be acknowledged that some other emerging urban themes may need more
attention in the future. One is the way in which the increasing application of new
technologies to urban areas is creating what some have called 'Smart Cities', Since
this technology-based meaning is still very much in the formative phase in terms of
applications, examples are provided in various chapters, rather giving it a chapter
of its own, although the rate of technical applications make it likely that in a de-
cade the term and the various technical spin-offs will be more widely used. How-
ever, although we are finding increasing benefits from new electronic technologies,
there are, as always with innovative ways of doing things, signs of new problems
emerging. The most obvious comes from the ability of hackers—whether private or
governmental—to break into our control systems and either turn them off, or pro-
vide alternative instructions, which can cause untold damage, not only to personal
medical devices such as pacemakers, but to large ones, such as traffic systems,
electricity grid control systems, or even Email networks. Hence greater vigilance
and safer systems are needed to reduce the possibility of disasters emerging in our
settlements from such interferences in our intimately linked, yet still fragile world
of interconnections. In a related context the increasing ability of other people, com-
panies and governments to access large amounts of personal data, especially from
internet or credit card sources, together with the growing number of surveillance
devices in cities, means our personal privacy can be compromised through what has
been described as a techno-creep (Keenan
2014
). These information sources, could,
in the wrong hands, led to a future in which others have more and more influence or
even control over our actions, leading to a loss of liberty. These issues need far more
attention in the usually only positive discussions over smart cities, with some wor-
rying that the second trend in particular may start us on the road to the type of con-
trolled society seen in George Orwell's frightening futuristic novel,
1984
(Orwell
1949
). This may be an extreme conclusion for democratic societies. But what does
seem appropriate to note is that we need to acknowledge that the new technologies
that are helping to create technologically smarter cities may not have only positive
outcomes. The negative features need to be identified and resolved.
Yet it must be noted that the term has other connotations, as seen in Smart
Growth land use policies (Chap. 2) and in new City Learning strategies to make
them smarter places (Chap. 16). A second emerging theme of growing importance
as populations in the developed world age, is the concept of Aging Cities. Again
