Ignoring the Future of Urban Governance Will Kill Vibrant Cities

Hacker Noon
HOMEREAD LATESTOWN SHARES IN HACKERNOON
Go to the profile of Daniel Wu
Daniel Wu
Tech lawyer nerding out on cities, ethical AI, social science. Happiness = avocados + sriracha + a dog park
Dec 1
Ignoring the Future of Urban Governance Will Kill Vibrant Cities
My three takeaways from URBAN-X’s event: Hyperlegible Cities

Vibrant community of NYC’s Chinatown
The URBAN-X panel on “Hyperlegible Cities” was thought-provoking. Bianca Wylie, Elizabeth Bowie Christoforetti, Tara Pham, Paul Salama, Miriam Roure, Sara Trigoboff all participated in a lively discussion moderated by Greg Lindsay.

The key questions of the night probed (1) the consequences of being “too” legible and (2) some solutions to mitigate problems. I interpreted “legibility” as the rules that govern our cities.

The conversation sparked three takeaways that I delve into below:

Benefits — Rules, obviously, can result in efficiency.
Costs — Our rules and meta-rules can result in inequality, even if those rules are governed formally by participatory democracy.
Solutions — I review an incomprehensive list of strategies for how we might rewrite the rules: trust companies, empower companies to be ethical, empower governments to create better meta-rules.