*Paul Mason: "We can’t allow the tech giants to rule smart cities"** * There’s the tank factory in Beijing that they have turned into an arts complex. There are the coffee joints around Tahrir Square, Cairo, where hijab-wearing women hunch over their laptops. There’s the pubs in Pittsburgh, heaving on the days the Steelers play, carved out of the factories and workshops that once made the city great. All over the world, cities are being reborn. By one estimate, about 80% of global GDP is generated in cities – driven by a mixture of urbanisation, geographic sprawl and concentrated zones of innovation. As a result, a whole new market has opened up for so-called “smart cities”. The engineering consultancy Arup defines the smart city as one where “the seams and structures of the various urban systems are made clear, simple, responsive and even malleable” through technology and design. Specifically, a smart city happens when three specific networks interact: the communications grid, the energy system and the so-called “logistics internet” – which can track people and things through transport and supply systems. […] Continua qui: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/25/we-cant-allow-the-tech-...