Estate Living Magazine Issue 30 Smart Environments June 2018 | Page 46

SMART IS AS SMART DOES
My grandfather built a house with a few hand tools using raw materials that he
– literally – found (not bought) within about a square kilometre, and his father
could build a wagon from scratch. From trees!
But that’s changing. The fire-eating, smoke-belching
private car is slowly being toppled from its pedestal,
and all around the world people are demanding
that technologies are modified to serve our
needs rather than forcing us to adapt to the
requirements of the technologies. We need
human-scale neighbourhoods and people-
centred cities. And cities are responding
– whether it’s through optimised
communication infrastructure, improved
public
transport,
non-motorised
transport systems, green building
codes, pedestrianisation, or mixed-
use precincts, city administrators
and developers are starting
to build cities that work for
people. Smart cities for
smart people.
Of course, we’re talking about a pretty basic house, but it’s still standing –
and the wagon was useless without eight pairs of oxen. A hundred years
on, and specialisation enables us to create immensely complex structures,
processes and widgets, but only through the co-operation of numerous
experts. And not one of those experts can produce, or even reproduce, the
whole. We have relinquished control of the creation and maintenance of our
own environment, which leaves us disconnected, alienated and vulnerable.
Ironically, the very inventions that have liberated us tend to slowly and subtly
ensnare us. Take the car – symbol of freedom and independence. Most
modern cities are characterised by networks of motorways and snarled
traffic, and until recently almost all ‘solutions’ were aimed at increasing the
efficiency of getting a few thousand cars from the suburbs into the city every
day.
So, while we think we’re getting smarter, maybe we’ve actually been getting
dumber.
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