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The aim of this paper is to tease out some of the key issues concerning the relationship between AI and urbanism. This relationship, which is presented in the academic literature as a new driving force of contemporary urbanism, will be investigated through an interdisciplinary approach that places urban studies and philosophy of technology in dialogue. Thus, the analysis will not focus on the technological development of artificial intelligence systems but on how their application can affect urbanistic thinking and vice versa. The chart that is produced by this method is based on two fundamental axes: time and space. AI urbanism will then be inquired first through key turning points in the history of the relationship between technology and the city (modern urbanism, cybernetics and the smart city paradigm). Secondly, the spatial implications of urban AI will be investigated from the point of view of the concrete applications of this technology to the city (Robots, AVs, Software agents) and their impact on the relationships between different urban actors. Ultimately, this work aims to offer a conceptual tool for understanding some decisive implications of the relationship between AI and urbanism, such as the connection between quantitative and qualitative approaches, the implications related to autonomous technology, the economic-political background of AI urbanism, the material urban impact of AI, and the relationship between AI and other urban intelligences. Understanding these implications will be valuable for future research on AI urbanism oriented toward transforming simple technological development into sustainable urban innovations.

The development of projects for new eco-cities is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon. Alleged eco-cities are being built across a variety of spaces via processes of urbanisation triggering substantial environmental, social and economic impacts. This article investigates how new eco-city projects interpret and practice urban sustainability by focusing on the policy context that underpins their development. The article argues that projects for new eco-cities are shaped in loci by policy agendas tailored around specific economic and political targets. In these terms, the ideas and strategies of urban sustainability adopted by eco-city developers are understood as reflections of broader policy priorities. The case study employed in this article, Masdar City, reveals how the Emirati eco-city initiative is the product of local agendas seeking economic growth via urbanisation to preserve the political institutions of Abu Dhabi. Following the economic imperatives set by the ruling class, the Masdar City project interprets sustainability as ecological modernisation and practices urban environmentalism almost exclusively in economic terms. The article shows how the developers of Masdar City capitalise on sustainability by building an urban platform to develop and commercialise clean-tech products, and concludes that the Emirati alleged eco-city is an example of urban eco-modernisation: a high-tech urban development informed by market analysis rather than ecological studies.

Over the last couple of decades, global urban politics has experienced the increasing emergence of ambitious megaprojects aiming to create sustainable cities capable of facing severe ecological and economic crises. This essay argues that the genesis of eco-cities is grounded in a strong wave of utopianism that can have potential negative socioecological implications, and by looking at the current development strategies of Abu Dhabi, it aims to explore the interrelations among utopia, sustainability, and urban politics. Using empirical material, Abu Dhabi's development plans are examined to understand how visions of the good society and of the good city are theorized and integrated into the policy agenda. The focus is on Estidama, a program for social and urban change based on the sheik's dream of transforming Abu Dhabi into a sustainable global city, and on its main incarnation: Masdar City. In the analysis of convergences and divergences with western utopianism, this essay explains how images of the ideal city are used to boost the local economy and fulfill the political interests of the ruling class. Ultimately, the reasons behind the association eco-city/ideal city are elucidated, and the role of utopia in the quest for the sustainable society is questioned.

The popularity and application of artificial intelligence (AI) are increasing rapidly all around the world—where, in simple terms, AI is a technology which mimics the behaviors commonly associated with human intelligence. Today, various AI applications are being used in areas ranging from marketing to banking and finance, from agriculture to healthcare and security, from space exploration to robotics and transport, and from chatbots to artificial creativity and manufacturing. More recently, AI applications have also started to become an integral part of many urban services. Urban artificial intelligences manage the transport systems of cities, run restaurants and shops where every day urbanity is expressed, repair urban infrastructure, and govern multiple urban domains such as traffic, air quality monitoring, garbage collection, and energy. In the age of uncertainty and complexity that is upon us, the increasing adoption of AI is expected to continue, and so its impact on the sustainability of our cities. This viewpoint explores and questions the sustainability of AI from the lens of smart and sustainable cities, and generates insights into emerging urban artificial intelligences and the potential symbiosis between AI and a smart and sustainable urbanism. In terms of methodology, this viewpoint deploys a thorough review of the current status of AI and smart and sustainable cities literature, research, developments, trends, and applications. In so doing, it contributes to existing academic debates in the fields of smart and sustainable cities and AI. In addition, by shedding light on the uptake of AI in cities, the viewpoint seeks to help urban policymakers, planners, and citizens make informed decisions about a sustainable adoption of AI.

Abstract Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is boosting anticipatory forms of governance, through which state actors seek to predict the future and strategically intervene in the present. In this context, city brains represent an emerging type of generative AI currently employed in urban governance and public policy in a growing number of cities. City brains are large-scale AIs residing in vast digital urban platforms, which manage multiple urban domains including transport, safety, health, and environmental monitoring. They use Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate visions of urban futures: visions that are in turn used by policymakers to generate new urban policies. In this paper, we advance a twofold contribution. Theoretically, we develop a critical theory of anticipatory governance in the age of generative AI. More specifically, we focus on technocratic approaches to anticipatory governance, to explain how the act of governing extends into the future by means of predictive AI technology. Our approach is critical in order to expose the dangers that the use of AI (generative AI, in particular) in urban governance poses, and to identify their causes. These dangers include the formation of a policy process that, under the influence of unintelligible LLMs, risks losing transparency and thus accountability, and the marginalization of human stakeholders (citizens, in particular) as the role of AI in the management of cities keeps growing and governance begins to turn posthuman. Empirically, we critically examine an existing city brain project under development in China and ground our critical theory in a real-life example.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between AI urbanism and sustainability by drawing upon some key concepts of Bruno Latour’s philosophy. The idea of a sustainable AI urbanism - often understood as the juxtaposition of smart and eco urbanism - is here critiqued through a reconstruction of the conceptual sources of these two urban paradigms. Some key ideas of smart and eco urbanism are indicated as incompatible and therefore the fusion of these two paradigms is assessed as an unstable basis for shaping sustainable AI urbanism. The concepts in question - modernity, science and nature – are subsequently redefined following Latour’s philosophical perspective, in an attempt to define a different theoretical basis for a sustainable AI urbanism in the Anthropocene. Finally, the principles of a design philosophy shaped by Latour are used to change the design culture that informs AI urbanism towards a more sustainable practice. This paper constructs and promotes a dialogue between the disciplines of philosophy and urban theory with urban design in the conviction that the principles produced by the former and the practices carried out by the latter must start a biunivocal relationship. The paper reveals that in order to change design culture in the field of AI urbanism, it is necessary to rethink some of the key ideas that inform the Western and modern worldview through novel philosophical reflections.

The urban environment is increasingly engaging with artificial intelligence, a focus on the automation of urban processes, whether it be singular artefacts or city-wide systems. The impact of such technological innovation on the social dynamics of the urban environment is an ever changing and multi-faceted field of research. In this paper, the space and time defined by the autonomous vehicle is used as a window to view the way in which a shift in urban transport dynamics can impact the temporal experience of an individual. Using the finite window of time created by an autonomous vehicle, a theoretical framework is put forward that seeks to show how contrasting narratives exist regarding the experience of the window of time within the autonomous vehicle. By taking a theoretical approach informed by social theory, the dissolution of barriers between separate spheres of life is explored to highlight the increased commodification of time. In focusing on both the space and time created by the autonomous vehicle this approach seeks to highlight how artificial intelligence can provide a contemporary space in the urban environment while also opening a new window of time. The cognitive dissonance observed when comparing the narratives of autonomous vehicle stakeholders and the historical shift in time use leads to a belief that technology makes the user more free in terms of time. With this paper the autonomous vehicle is shown to be an ideal space and time to view the way in which the use of such technology does not increase free-time, but further dissolves the boundaries between what is and what is not work-time.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of the everyday. During this transition, people’s intention to use AI technologies is still unclear and emotions such as fear are influencing it. In this paper, we focus on autonomous cars to first verify empirically the extent to which people fear AI and then examine the impact that fear has on their intention to use AI-driven vehicles. Our research is based on a systematic survey and it reveals that while individuals are largely afraid of cars that are driven by AI, they are nonetheless willing to adopt this technology as soon as possible. To explain this tension, we extend our analysis beyond just fear and show that people also believe that AI-driven cars will generate many individual, urban and global benefits. Subsequently, we employ our empirical findings as the foundations of a theoretical framework meant to illustrate the main factors that people ponder when they consider the use of AI tech. In addition to offering a comprehensive theoretical framework for the study of AI technology acceptance, this paper provides a nuanced understanding of the tension that exists between the fear and adoption of AI, capturing what exactly people fear and intend to do.

Consequential historical decisions that shaped transportation systems and their influence on society have many valuable lessons. The decisions we learn from and choose to make going forward will play a key role in shaping the mobility landscape of the future. This is especially pertinent as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in the form of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Throughout urban history, there have been cyclical transport oppressions of previous-generation transportation methods to make way for novel transport methods. These cyclical oppressions can be identified in the baroque and modernist periods, and a third oppression may occur in the contemporary period. To explore the idea of a third oppression, we focus on the bicycle and outline the history of cycling to understand how historical mode oppression unfolded. We then present several social and political factors that contributed to the oppression of cycling and share recommendations for how to avoid future oppressions including political, social, and design actions for researchers and policymakers to take. This paper argues that priorities for AI-enabled mobility and cyclist needs be advanced in proportion to the extent that they contribute to societal goals of urban containment, public realm, and proximal cities. Additionally, future mobility evolutions should prioritise mobility justice and mode choice over inducing a singular transportation method.