Tech and the City

Tech and the City
Author: Maria Teresa Cometto
Publisher:
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2013
Genre: High technology industries
ISBN: 9780989074414

Over 1,000 New York-based technology startups are currently hiring. This may come as a surprise to many who thought of New York as the capital of traditional industries such as financial services, media, advertising and fashion, but not necessarily as a high-tech hub. Yet, it is true: over the past several years the level of startup activity in the city of New York has increased at an exponential rate, reaching and surpassing Boston in number of tech companies formed and money invested. It is good news for the Bloomberg administration that has made the creation of a high-tech industry a strategic priority after the financial collapse of 2008. It is also good news for the many investors in the city (both "angels" and venture capitalists) who have seen the number of opportunities created increase at a fast rate. And it is good news for the entrepreneurs who can finally benefit from a working ecosystem and from an influx of capital not seen since the internet bubble of the late '90s. "Tech and the City" is the first book telling the story of how and why this is happening: from the birth of Silicon Alley in the '90s to today's level of activity and important milestones, such as the building of the Cornell NYC Tech campus. Based on over 50 interviews with entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, university professors, members of the Bloomberg administration and other stakeholders, this book's objective is to inform and inspire the current generation of entrepreneurs. Fred Wilson, the best known venture capitalists in New York and one of the most important in the US, wrote in his foreword: "I hope this book will be an inspiration to New Yorkers to embrace the technology revolution that has taken hold in our city. I also hope it will be an inspiration to other cities, countries, and cultures who may have missed out on the initial wave of the technology revolution." "Tech and the City" takes us on a historical and geographical tour of New York, while addressing the hot themes for entrepreneurs and investors. It is also a guide to help navigate the NYC community: how to network and become part of the community; what to read to understand and keep informed; where to raise capital; what help is available for any professional, entrepreneur, student, researcher seeking to settle in the city. And this is just the basis for an ongoing conversation, which we hope will continue on our blog, http: //www.tech-and-the-city.com The authors, Alessandro Piol and Maria Teresa Cometto, know the story and the industry well. Alessandro has been a New Yorker for 35 years and a venture capitalist for 20, during which he has seen firsthand the evolution of the New York entrepreneurial ecosystem. He has a deep knowledge of the tech industry and a passionate involvement in the NYC community, where he invests in, and mentors, a number of young entrepreneurs. Maria Teresa Cometto is a journalist and award-winning author based in New York since 2000, covering business and high-tech for the largest Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, and for other important publications.

The Smart Enough City

The Smart Enough City
Author: Ben Green
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0262352257

Why technology is not an end in itself, and how cities can be “smart enough,” using technology to promote democracy and equity. Smart cities, where technology is used to solve every problem, are hailed as futuristic urban utopias. We are promised that apps, algorithms, and artificial intelligence will relieve congestion, restore democracy, prevent crime, and improve public services. In The Smart Enough City, Ben Green warns against seeing the city only through the lens of technology; taking an exclusively technical view of urban life will lead to cities that appear smart but under the surface are rife with injustice and inequality. He proposes instead that cities strive to be “smart enough”: to embrace technology as a powerful tool when used in conjunction with other forms of social change—but not to value technology as an end in itself. In a technology-centric smart city, self-driving cars have the run of downtown and force out pedestrians, civic engagement is limited to requesting services through an app, police use algorithms to justify and perpetuate racist practices, and governments and private companies surveil public space to control behavior. Green describes smart city efforts gone wrong but also smart enough alternatives, attainable with the help of technology but not reducible to technology: a livable city, a democratic city, a just city, a responsible city, and an innovative city. By recognizing the complexity of urban life rather than merely seeing the city as something to optimize, these Smart Enough Cities successfully incorporate technology into a holistic vision of justice and equity.

Pictures of a Gone City

Pictures of a Gone City
Author: Richard A. Walker
Publisher: PM Press
Total Pages: 661
Release: 2018-06-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1629635235

The San Francisco Bay Area is currently the jewel in the crown of capitalism—the tech capital of the world and a gusher of wealth from the Silicon Gold Rush. It has been generating jobs, spawning new innovation, and spreading ideas that are changing lives everywhere. It boasts of being the Left Coast, the Greenest City, and the best place for workers in the USA. So what could be wrong? It may seem that the Bay Area has the best of it in Trump’s America, but there is a dark side of success: overheated bubbles and spectacular crashes; exploding inequality and millions of underpaid workers; a boiling housing crisis, mass displacement, and severe environmental damage; a delusional tech elite and complicity with the worst in American politics. This sweeping account of the Bay Area in the age of the tech boom covers many bases. It begins with the phenomenal concentration of IT in Greater Silicon Valley, the fabulous economic growth of the bay region and the unbelievable wealth piling up for the 1% and high incomes of Upper Classes—in contrast to the fate of the working class and people of color earning poverty wages and struggling to keep their heads above water. The middle chapters survey the urban scene, including the greatest housing bubble in the United States, a metropolis exploding in every direction, and a geography turned inside out. Lastly, it hits the environmental impact of the boom, the fantastical ideology of TechWorld, and the political implications of the tech-led transformation of the bay region.

Abolish Silicon Valley

Abolish Silicon Valley
Author: Wendy Liu
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2020-04-14
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1912248719

Former insider turned critic Wendy Liu busts the myths of the tech industry, and offers a galvanising argument for why and how we must reclaim technology's potential for the public good. Former insider turned critic Wendy Liu busts the myths of the tech industry, and offers a galvanising argument for why and how we must reclaim technology's potential for the public good. "Lucid, probing and urgent. Wendy Liu manages to be both optimistic about the emancipatory potential of tech and scathing about the industry that has harnessed it for bleak and self-serving ends." -- Naomi Klein, author of On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal "An inspiring memoir manifesto...Technologists all over the world are realizing that no amount of code can substitute for political engagement. Liu's memoir is a road map for that journey of realization." -- Cory Doctorow, author of Radicalized and Little Brother Innovation. Meritocracy. The possibility of overnight success. What's not to love about Silicon Valley? These days, it's hard to be unambiguously optimistic about the growth-at-all-costs ethos of the tech industry. Public opinion is souring in the wake of revelations about Cambridge Analytica, Theranos, and the workplace conditions of Amazon workers or Uber drivers. It's becoming clear that the tech industry's promised "innovation" is neither sustainable nor always desirable. Abolish Silicon Valley is both a heartfelt personal story about the wasteful inequality of Silicon Valley, and a rallying call to engage in the radical politics needed to upend the status quo. Going beyond the idiosyncrasies of the individual founders and companies that characterise the industry today, Wendy Liu delves into the structural factors of the economy that gave rise to Silicon Valley as we know it. Ultimately, she proposes a more radical way of developing technology, where innovation is conducted for the benefit of society at large, and not just to enrich a select few.

Technology and the City

Technology and the City
Author: Michael Nagenborg
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2021-01-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3030523136

The contributions in this volume map out how technologies are used and designed to plan, maintain, govern, demolish, and destroy the city. The chapters demonstrate how urban technologies shape, and are shaped, by fundamental concepts and principles such as citizenship, publicness, democracy, and nature. The many authors herein explore how to think of technologically mediated urban space as part of the human condition. The volume will thus contribute to the much-needed discussion on technology-enabled urban futures from the perspective of the philosophy of technology. This perspective also contributes to the discussion and process of making cities ‘smart’ and just. This collection appeals to students, researchers, and professionals within the fields of philosophy of technology, urban planning, and engineering.

A City Is Not a Computer

A City Is Not a Computer
Author: Shannon Mattern
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2021-08-10
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 069122675X

A bold reassessment of "smart cities" that reveals what is lost when we conceive of our urban spaces as computers Computational models of urbanism—smart cities that use data-driven planning and algorithmic administration—promise to deliver new urban efficiencies and conveniences. Yet these models limit our understanding of what we can know about a city. A City Is Not a Computer reveals how cities encompass myriad forms of local and indigenous intelligences and knowledge institutions, arguing that these resources are a vital supplement and corrective to increasingly prevalent algorithmic models. Shannon Mattern begins by examining the ethical and ontological implications of urban technologies and computational models, discussing how they shape and in many cases profoundly limit our engagement with cities. She looks at the methods and underlying assumptions of data-driven urbanism, and demonstrates how the "city-as-computer" metaphor, which undergirds much of today's urban policy and design, reduces place-based knowledge to information processing. Mattern then imagines how we might sustain institutions and infrastructures that constitute more diverse, open, inclusive urban forms. She shows how the public library functions as a steward of urban intelligence, and describes the scales of upkeep needed to sustain a city's many moving parts, from spinning hard drives to bridge repairs. Incorporating insights from urban studies, data science, and media and information studies, A City Is Not a Computer offers a visionary new approach to urban planning and design.

Information Technology for Participatory Development

Information Technology for Participatory Development
Author: R. Raman Nair
Publisher: Concept Publishing Company
Total Pages: 556
Release: 2003
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9788180690259

This Book, Putting Together Papers Presented At The Special Session On Information And Local Administration Of The National Seminar On Right To Information, Attempts To Deal With The Various Aspects Related To Information Technology For Participatory Development.

Green Technologies: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications

Green Technologies: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications
Author: Management Association, Information Resources
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 2069
Release: 2011-03-31
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1609604733

Green Technologies: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications assembles the most up-to-date collection of research results and recent discoveries in environmental and green technology. This comprehensive anthology covers a wide range of topics, i