Dream States

Smart Cities and the Pursuit of Utopian Urbanism

John Lorinc, John Lorinc

$32.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Coach House Books
29 November 2022

Urban communities; Sociology; Urban & municipal planning; Technology: general issues

WINNER OF THE 2022 WRITERS' TRUST BALSILLIE PRIZE FOR PUBLIC POLICY

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 DONNER BOOK PRIZE

WINNER OF THE PATTIS FAMILY FOUNDATION GLOBAL CITIES BOOK AWARD

Is the 'smart city' the utopia we've been waiting for?

The promise of the so-called smart city has been at the forefront of urban planning and development since the early 2010s, and the tech industry that supplies smart city software and hardware is now worth hundreds of billions a year.

But the ideas and approaches underpinning smart city tech raise tough and important questions about the future of urban communities, surveillance, automation, and public participation. The smart city era, moreover, belongs firmly in a longer historical narrative about cities - one defined by utopian ideologies, architectural visions, and technological fantasies.

Smart streetlights, water and air quality tracking, autonomous vehicles: with examples from all over the world, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Portland, and Chicago,Dream Statesunpacks the world of smart city tech, but also situates this important shift in city-building into a broader story about why we still dream about perfect places.

""John Lorinc's incisive analysis in Dream States reminds us that the search for urban utopia is not new. Throughout the book, Lorinc underscores the fact that a gamut of urban innovations

from smart city megaprojects to e-government to pandemic preparedness tools

only provide promise when scrutinized together with the political, economic, social, and physical complexities of urban life.""

Shauna Brail, University of Toronto

""Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban UtopiasEnid Slack, University of Toronto School of Cities

""""Utopia may be the oldest grift in the city-building business, but Dream States shows that technology is a timeless tool for turning the most ordinary of urban dreams

clean air and water, safe streets, and decent homes

into reality. As digital dilettantes try to sell us on a software overhaul, John Lorinc provides us an indispensable and flawless guide to the must-haves and never-agains of the smart city.""

Anthony Townsend, Urbanist in Residence, Cornell Tech, author of Smart Cities

By: John Lorinc, John Lorinc
Imprint: Coach House Books
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions: Height: 215mm, Width: 139mm, Spine: 19mm
ISBN: 9781552454282
ISBN 10: 1552454282
Pages: 176
Publication Date: 29 November 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

John Lorinc is a Toronto freelance journalist and editor. He writes about cities, politics, business, climate change, and local history for various media, includingSpacingmagazine, theGlobe and Mail, the Toronto Star,The Walrus,Corporate Knights, and, previously, theNew York Times, theWashington Post, andReaders' Digest. John has won numerous National Magazine Awards for his journalism and was the 201920 Atkinson Fellow in Public Policy, which produced a series of ten articles on smart cities that were the basis ofDream States. He is the author of three previous books, includingThe New City(Penguin, 2006), and has co-edited several Coach House uTOpia anthologies, includingThe Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourhood(2015) andAny Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer(2017).

Reviews for Dream States: Smart Cities and the Pursuit of Utopian Urbanism

"""Lorinc unpacks both the hype and genuine promise in technology to make everything from the street lighting to water quality in cities better, with examples from Barcelona, New York, Los Angeles, and other cities."" – Bloomberg Cities Network"