Necessary Friction(s): Urban Technology and Public Compliance, Resistance, and Reliance
Reorganizing the Computational Futures of Cities

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What are the necessary frictions required within the design, sale, and maintenance of urban tech to support public power and control? Where are they missing, and who is implicated in their absences? How does the innovation economy rhetoric continue to interfere with and override foundational approaches to sound public policy in cities? What will future climate change and pandemic conditions mean for the culture of urban technology? We'll consider these questions, with a specific focus on the impacts of technology procurement on the privatization of urban governance via privately held systems. Where are our democratic crises considered in these procurement questions? How might we, within our various fields, organize efforts towards increased public stewardship of our urban digital infrastructures? 

 

Bianca Wylie

Bianca Wylie is a writer with a dual background in technology and public engagement.  She is a partner at Digital Public and a co-founder of Tech Reset Canada. She worked for several years in the tech sector in operations, infrastructure, corporate training, and product management. Then, as a professional facilitator, she spent several years co-designing, delivering and supporting public consultation processes for various governments and government agencies. She is currently a member of the advisory boards for the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC), The Computational Democracy Project and the Minderoo Tech & Policy Lab and is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

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