The “revolutionary” smart city that wasn’t

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View this email in your browser  |   Manage newsletter subscriptions By Jennifer Conrad | 07.01.21 The highs are in the 90s in New York City, where I'm based, but that feels positively refreshing compared with temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, where infrastructure is literally melting. I hope you're keeping cool—maybe relaxing under a palm tree—as you sit back and read about a not-so-smart smart city initiative and El Salvador's big bet on cryptocurrency.     America's 'Smart City' Didn't Get Much Smarter "Our proposed approach is revolutionary," Columbus, Ohio, wrote in its 2016 grant proposal for the Department of Transportation's $50 million Smart City Challenge. The plan focused on projects to help the city's most underserved neighborhoods. Local companies pledged support. The city said it would experiment with Wi-Fi-enabled kiosks to help residents plan trips, apps to pay bus and ride-hail fares, autonomous shuttles, and sensor-connected trucks. But as Aarian Marshall reports five years later, the revolution never happened. Instead, it was sidelined by technical hurdles, bureaucracy, and the pandemic. "The discrepancy between the promise of whiz-bang technology and the reality in Columbus points to a shift away from tech as a silver bullet, and a newer wariness of the troubles that web-based applications can bring to IRL streets," Marshall writes. "Today, as citizens think more carefully about tech-enabled surveillance, the concept of a sensor in every home doesn't look as shiny as it once did." The initial goal was to use technology to make people's lives better—but many of the services didn't work as planned or were underutilized. Still, there's value in learning what doesn't work, and the project racked up a few successes, such as turning an autonomous shuttle into a self-driving delivery system for food banks once the pandemic struck. Read more about the lessons from Columbus here.     Deep(er) Learning WIRED has tracked the mood around smart cities from hype to hesitancy—and hopefully something more sustainable. The $50 Million Competition to Remake the American City In 2015, Alex Davies covered the launch of the Smart City Challenge, which reflected Obama-era optimism that tech could make cities more safe and efficient—and the DOT's hopes to tap into those technologies. The Sensors That Power Smart Cities Are a Hacker's Dream In 2018, Lily Hay Newman warned that the sensors that power smart cities could be a dream for hackers, putting critical infrastructure at risk. Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs Scraps Its Ambitious Toronto Project Last year, Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs scrapped plans to build a smart city in Toronto, which would have included sustainable buildings and self-driving cars. As Marshall reported, the project was done in by citizens' concerns over data collection and worries about the cost.     Need to Know   El Salvador is making Bitcoin an official tender—and hopes to lure cryptocurrency entrepreneurs now that the Chinese government is restricting crypto mining. Despite a judicial setback, the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust case against Facebook is very much alive. In fact, a federal judge provided a road map for how to proceed. Alondra Nelson, the deputy director of the White House science office, plans to tackle algorithmic bias and start candid conversations about the past. Social media content moderation is a dangerous game in Africa, writes op-ed contributor Odanga Madung. In Nigeria and Uganda, governments shut social media sites or cut internet access entirely after the services removed problematic content linked to the government. Tough, stretchy, and stable under extreme temperatures, silk has applications ranging from medical implants to food preservation.       So, This Happened Certain co-living startups thrived during the pandemic. For some residents, building a new kind of community is part of the appeal. (New York, The New Yorker) Twenty federal agencies have used some form of facial recognition technology, including some not generally associated with law enforcement, such as the Fish and Wildlife Service. (The Washington Post) A team of researchers at Harvard and MIT developed a mask with biosensors that can help detect Covid-19. (Harvard University) A Japanese humanoid robot called Pepper was discontinued because … no one wanted to talk to it. (The Wall Street Journal/paywall) #Factory TikTok is the latest way Chinese manufacturers are marketing their wares. (Rest of World)     Until Next Time   Discontinued, but not forgotten: Pepper, the helpful humanoid robot.     More Essential Reads Actually, the Antitrust Case Against Facebook Is Very Much Alive Alondra Nelson Wants to Make Science and Tech More Just In Africa, Content Moderation Is a Dangerous Game The Race to Put Silk in Nearly Everything GET WIRED Fourth of July Sale! Ending Soon: Get WIRED for $10 $5. You can't see into the future, but you can subscribe to WIRED. Subscribe now.             This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions   Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.