Smart Cities: sustainable, secure, superior?
Smart Cities: sustainable, secure, superior?

Smart Cities: sustainable, secure, superior?

Tuesday May 14th, 2019 | 19:45 – 21:30 hrs |
Instituto Cervantes Utrecht |Domplein 3, 3512 Utrecht |

That the concept of a ‘smart city’ is gaining popularity, can be traced back to the increasing amount of cities that is experimenting with this concept. Thereby is the growing media-attention for these cities, which use technology to improve their functioning, quite striking. Advocates of smart cities name benefits such as security, sustainability and economic growth. Critics, however, are afraid that this new design of cities gives too much power to technological companies, and in that way threatens the privacy of citizens.

Are smart cities our future? Are they capable of solving societal problems such as climate change and safety threats to citizens? How realistic are the promises of smart cities; can they be united with other important norms and values such as privacy?

This and more will be discussed with several experts during our lecture.
Our speakers are Tom van Arman, Achilleas Psyllidis and Jos van den Broek. Tom van Arman, founder and director at Tapp, will give us some insight in his practical experience with creating and experimenting with smart cities all over the world. Achilleas Psyllidis, post doctoral researcher at the TU Delft, will inform us on the technological principles behind smart cities, and Jos van den Broek, senior researcher at the Rathenau Institute, will tell us about the impact of these technological developments on urban culture and its citizens.

This lecture is free of charge. Afterwards we will have drinks at Café Hemingway!