Stephen Graham: The politics of urban digital infrastructures | bpb.de

Already more than half of the world’s population lives in cities – and this number is growing. Modern cities depend largely on invisible infrastructures that usually only become noticeable when they cease functioning. Similarly, the internet is also a material infrastructure, although it is often portrayed as immaterial. The much-hyped ‘Smart Cities’ promise to digitise the urban merging of these two infrastructural layers. But what happens when they fail? Can cities be smart – and should they be in the first place? What are the interests and values embodied in these infrastructures? How do we make sure that cities in the digital society remain public spaces? How can they be designed to foster social benefits and not just commercial interests?

Stephen Graham is Professor of Cities and Society at Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. He has an interdisciplinary background linking human geography, urbanism and the sociology of technology. Since the early 1990s Prof. Graham has used this foundation to develop critical perspectives addressing how cities are being transformed through remarkable changes in infrastructure, mobility, digital media, surveillance, security, militarism and verticality. His books include "Telecommunications and the City" (with Simon Marvin), "Disrupted Cities: When Infrastructures Fail" and "Vertical: The City From Satellites to Bunkers". Professor Graham’s 2011 book "Cities Under Siege: The New Military Urbanism" was nominated for the Orwell Prize in political writing and was the Guardian’s book of the week.

• Moderator: Tobi Müller

• Kamera & Schnitt: Kooperative Berlin

• Produktion: 24.09.2018

• Spieldauer: 104 Min.

• hrsg. von: Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb), Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)