Marleen Stikker participates in the debate 'Smart Cities or Dumb Cities' on May 21st at OBA Oosterdok in Amsterdam.
The Amsterdam Architecture Centre organises a debate on smart cities on Tuesday 21 May that focuses on the role of the architect. The evening examines the developments of big data in Amsterdam and the developments in Toronto where Sidewalk Labs, part of Google's parent company Alphabet, will redevelop the waterfront.
With Do Janne Vermeulen (architect Team V), Marleen Stikker (Waag Society), Ger Baron (CTO, city of Amsterdam) en Emil Zelic (IT Professional Waterfront Toronto).
Language: English. Tickets: €12,50.
Background
Toronto seems to become a testing ground for the urban development of smart cities. Sidewalk Labs, part of Google’s parent company Alphabet, will redevelop the city’s waterfront. Data will be used to design smarter, more sustainable designs, to handle waste better or to reduce our energy consumption. But with Google at the helm, data is also the capital of this city district: and what does that lead to? It is time to start the discussion with architects.
During the Architecture Residency of Do Janne Vermeulen we will organise a debate about smart cities on Tuesday 21 May. We discuss the developments of data in Amsterdam, look at the developments in Toronto and talk about the position of the architect. Through this debate we hope to feed the discussion from a design perspective.
What’s the question?
Architect in Residence Do Janne Vermeulen, architect and co-founder of Team V, visited Canada and is bringing the debate to the Netherlands. While reading, watching, writing and talking about smart cities, it is tempting to think in terms of technology instead of the city. Rather than “What do we want and how does smart technology offer a solution for that?” it is about “What possibilities does smart technology offer and what can we achieve with it?”