A robot offering ice creams

Digital tools can serve everyone

#Technology

In sustainable and just cities, digital technologies contribute first and foremost to environmental sustainability and human wellbeing. They provide the means of including people in deliberative and participatory decision-making processes, and support the adoption of sustainable consumption and production practices. Ethical artificial intelligence, open data and open source tools and standards can all support digitalization for sustainable and just cities.

Related keys: #Finance  #Accessibility  #Power 

Around the world, experimentation labs, employed as an approach to sustainable and just cities, are giving more and more people the opportunity to use and own digital devices. Fab Labs, for instance, are making digital fabrication accessible to all. 

In the digital sphere, although the use of data on the internet is often contested, ethical data collection can boost sustainability and social justice. The internet has also allowed small-scale and community initiatives for sustainability and justice to get started, thanks to funding generated by and collected via crowdsourcing

Digital technologies strongly rely on the production and consumption of services and products. For this reason, to put ‘digital tools at everyone’s service’ we need resilient and self-sufficient financing arrangements.

Making digital technology accessible to everyone directly addresses the injustice around material and livelihood inequality, according to which economic resources in the context of sustainability are distributed unequally. This has been addressed in the context of Smart Cities, where sustainability is pursued through digital technologies which are often too expensive and only present in the richer areas of cities. This links to injustices in access to effective knowledge to operate certain technology and digital tools, thereby constraining the potential for forward movement on sustainability and justice.

  • Tech tools in the hands of citizens can be a gamechanger, as a way to reduce costs, enhance productivity, making repetitive tasks a breeze, prototypes in a blink of an eye.” (Rafel Caledo)
  • Green technology and digitalisation will help the ecological transition but should not be seen as the only solution to the ecological crisis  
  • Although technological tools contribute to make cities just and sustainable, we need to stay critical about how these tools were built, with what kind of labour, and what kind of material (working conditions, rare material, impact of extractivism, disposal circle…)  

Inspirational example

Alba Iulia’s strategic approach to Smart Cities, Alba Iulia (Romania)

The historical city of Alba Iulia is Romania’s forerunner in using ICT-technology and data to tackle challenges of social, economic and environmental sustainability.

The city started to implement their Smart City strategy in 2018 and the initiative has provided leverage for the advancement of diverse intelligent innovations. The numerous smart city projects include intelligent public lighting systems, car sharing, sensor networks, e-health solutions, e-governance and a wide network of free and secured Wi-Fi. The accessible internet has also supported the digitalization of government services and dialogue between the city and its citizens, who can now receive information about the city and report issues using the SmartAlert application.

Alba Iulia

Avenues for action

You might be wondering, what everyday actions can I take to put all this theory into practice? Take a look at the avenues for action, below, for some practical guidance.

Get inspired!

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FabLab Lisboa

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