The concept of the City encapsulates people, culture, and structures, and with technology progressing at a break-neck speed all three components of the City are struggling to keep up. We are moving so fast, but many fall behind and we never look back. Within the City, the homeless population is growing in comparable intensity as the distribution of technology, and yet accessibility to technology is often considered a privilege. And if technology is a privilege and we withhold access to the communication and connection that it brings, the less fortunate will be pushed to the outskirts, falling deeper in the cracks. In the Space Between.
When discussing the future and implementation of Smart Cities and the technology within, I believe we must first critique our current technological systems. For progress is not waiting for the “Next Big Thing,” real progress is made by enhancing and uplifting what already exists and fixing the systems that don’t work. Technology creates connections, bridges communities, and opens avenues of knowledge and opportunity; these advantages should not be hidden behind pay-walls. When we as one people uplift the communities lost in the Space Between, we find ourselves making true progress.
Washington, D.C., often called the capital of the free world, is still a place of injustice. Within Scott Circle, McPherson Square, and the White House, the homeless community have been pushed from one place to another in a vain attempt to move them out of sight and mind, and they have been forced to adapt and inhabit the Space Between. Technology can and should connect these people to their greater community, their loved ones, and those looking to help, and I believe Smart Cities should empower not only structures, but people and culture. If technology is a tool, then it should be freely accessible so we can ultimately erase the Space Between and unite everyone.
