Metropolitics

The Making of City Digital Twins: The Case of Dassault Systèmes

Oskar Steiner — 2026-02-03T06:00:00Z

With their origins in manufacturing and heavy industry, “digital twins” are increasingly being applied to urban planning and governance. As Oskar Steiner demonstrates, while the private firms that develop these tools often market them as a way to “let the city speak,” in practice they mostly serve as a vehicle to amplify and legitimize those companies' own voices.
As cities rush to brand themselves as “smart,” city digital twins have emerged as the latest techno-utopian promise: a live,

- From the Field / technology, smart city, digital city, digital economy, platformization

Geolocation Among Teenage Peers: Between Play, Control, and Gendered Vulnerability

Yann Bruna & translated by Oliver Waine — 2025-03-28T06:00:00Z

Geolocation practices among teenagers are ambivalent, combining aspects of both play and surveillance. Yann Bruna examines Snap Map use, which exposes girls in particular to new forms of vulnerability online and in urban spaces.
Whether used in the workplace, within families or in romantic relationships, geolocation tracking has become an increasingly popular way of monitoring the activities of others over the last 10 years, propelled in particular by the widespread use of smartphones—the

- From the Field / teenagers, geolocation, youth, communication technology, surveillance, technology

Digital Technology and the City: New Forms of Urban Segregation in Cape Town?

Julien Migozzi & translated by Oliver Waine — 2023-06-23T05:00:00Z

In the age of platform capitalism, how is digital technology reconfiguring real-estate markets and access to housing? In Cape Town, South Africa, credit scoring—a form of selection based on financial behavior—has become the norm in this regard, contributing to the reappearance of apartheid-era segregation.
“We don't take tenants under 622”: the response from Ganief, a real-estate agent in Cape Town, is swift. In order to obtain a lease in International Housing Solutions' housing portfolio, a

- From the Field / real estate, apartheid, digital city, inequalities, tech sector, Cape Town, financialization, tech economy, technology, Africa, South Africa

Fablabs in Africa: Digital Innovation for Sustainable Cities?

Armelle Choplin & Martin Lozivit & translated by Oliver Waine — 2021-04-16T05:00:00Z

In a context where “smart cities” are being promoted in urban projects in Africa, Armelle Choplin and Martin Lozivit examine the role “fablabs” can play in cities' futures. They show that their emergence can be an opportunity to design a frugal African city, by making use of inhabitants' ingenuity.
The next Africa-France summit—initially to be held in June 2020, now to take place in July 2021—will focus on the “sustainable city” with digital technology and innovation at the heart of debates.

- Essays / innovation, Global South, fablab, Africa, West Africa, technology, digital city

Landlord Tech in Covid‑19 Times

Erin McElroy & Wonyoung So — 2021-03-30T05:00:00Z

Covid‑19 has expanded trends in surveillance technology deployed by landlords and property managers—resulting in racialized and gendered harms—and targeted people who are already surveilled by the carceral state.
---- Series: Contemporary Housing Struggles: Crises, Activism, and Critical Research Covid‑19 has exacerbated existing forms of housing injustice, as the corollary economic recession, stay-at-home orders, and increased domestic work such as childcare have made it impossible for

- From the Field / technology, landlords, evictions, surveillance, Covid-19, coronavirus, pandemic, tenants

Centering Equity in the Smart-Cities Project Dialogue

Margaret Cowell — 2020-10-13T05:00:00Z

In Uneven Innovation, Jennifer Clark argues that the technological innovations behind “smart cities” can cultivate and even exacerbate uneven development, and must be assessed in the context of equity.
Have you ever wondered about the long-term effects of the small-scale technological innovations that have sprouted up in cities across the world? Dockless bikes, ICT-integrated parking systems, and even Wi‑Fi-enabled public trash cans are just three of the many examples that Jennifer Clark uses

- Reviews / smart city, information technology, technology, inequalities, entrepreneurialism