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Urban Operating Systems

Producing the Computational City

© 2020 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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The open access edition of this book was made possible by
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The title-level DOI for this work is:

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 Index

3-­D printers, 98 Beyond the map, 117

15-­M Movement, 181 BigApps, 73–­76
Big data, 15, 48–­49, 59–­60, 126,
Accountability, 57–­59, 64, 66, 80, 162 130–­132, 226n4
Addams, Jane, 136 Biometrics, 85
AfroReggae, 113–­114, 119, 123 Black boxing, 151–­153, 173–­174
Agamben, Giorgio, 175 Bloomberg, Michael, 24, 58, 66–­68, 74,
Algorithms, 85, 90, 101, 109, 117, 129
133–­134, 141, 144–­146, 174 BMW, 75
American Housing Acts, 33 Boston, 30, 59
American Production Control and Boyer, Christine, 11–­12
Inventory Control Society, 33–­34 Bratton, Benjamin, 47
Amoore, Louise, 109, 146 Braun, Bruce P., 175
Amsterdam, 14, 63 Bristol, 23, 25
Amstutz, Arnold E., 30 Business as usual, 211, 221, 223
Apple, 75, 101
Application programming interfaces Calculation, 2–­9, 18, 21, 31–­32, 39, 58,
(APIs), 93, 117 65, 100, 103, 108–­110, 117–­118,
Arab Spring, 8, 181 123, 125–­134, 143–­144, 147, 212,
Artificial intelligence, 133, 223 216–­218, 222–­224
Atlanta, 134 calculating the urban across time, 7,
Austerity, 90, 181 130, 218
Automation, 50, 71, 223 Calculative intelligibility, 3, 6–­7, 9,
18, 21, 23, 57, 60, 64, 79–­80, 82,
Bandung, 63 85, 105, 107, 109–­110, 117–­118,
Barcelona, 14, 24–­25, 71, 87–­90, 124–­128, 130–­132, 137, 142–­144,
100–­101, 103, 152, 217 148, 211, 214, 217, 221
Basildon, 63 Capital accumulation, 70, 102, 104,
Beer, Stafford, 152, 233n3 111, 211
Beijing, 183 Capitalism, 70, 79, 99, 102, 209
BetaNYC, 69 CCTV, 12–­13, 60, 166

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 272 Index

Centro de Operações Rio. See COR and journalism, 159–­162, 169–­170

Chicago, 25, 60, 63, 218 social media, 159, 162–­167, 219
predictive analytics, 7, 14, 24, Crampton, Jeremy, 144
129–­130, 133–­148 Crang, Mike, 85
Circulation, 7–­8, 22, 149–­153, 172–­175, Crime forecasting. See Predictive
219–­220. See also Control rooms; policing
COR Crowdsourcing, 72, 95–­96, 99, 162, 166,
Cisco, 1, 46 188, 192, 195, 204, 216, 220
CITI-­SENSE, 95 Curitiba, 172
Citizenship, 13, 39, 53, 71, 86, 95, 98, Customer relationship management, 42
106–­107, 113, 121, 166–­167, 218 Cybercity, 11–­12
City OS, 90–­92 Cybernetics, 9–­11, 32–­33, 42–­45, 53,
Civic hacking, 3–­4, 6, 8, 18, 20, 24–­25, 131, 152
57–­58, 60, 69–­73, 75, 79–­80, 130,
177–­180, 204, 214, 216, 222 Dalton, Craig, 56
across Taiwan and Hong Kong, Data
188–­196 liberating, 72–­73, 80
Code4HK, 190, 194 materiality of, 6, 12, 20–­21, 46, 80,
Codescapes, 12 216
Coding, 20, 33–­36, 41, 62, 78, 84, 92, Databases, 7, 10, 19, 29, 32, 34, 62, 73,
109, 122, 192, 204, 206, 215 84, 91, 96, 110, 126–­128, 135–­136,
language, 35, 84, 92 138, 185, 217–­218
object-­oriented programming, 35, 46, Data-­driven urbanism, 6, 24, 58–­60, 66,
92 130
Cold War, 31, 83 New York City as data-­driven city,
Collier, Stephen J., 157 65–­75
Collins, John, 30 Datafication, 6, 22–­24, 55–­58, 79–­80,
Commodification, 4, 6, 13, 56, 80, 82, 100, 146, 211, 215–­217
99–­102, 104, 217 content distribution, 56, 76–­7
Computational logics. See Urban data as infrastructure, 62–­64
computational logics data revolution, 58–­59, 225n1 (chap.
Control rooms, 3, 5, 7, 19, 24, 29, 149, 3)
152–­153, 155, 157, 159, 166, 168, decoupling, 56, 76, 80
173–­175, 209, 214, 219–­220, embodiment, 56, 76–­80, 211, 216–­217
234n6 governing through data, 61–­62
Cooper, Melinda, 173 interoperability, 64–­65
COR (Rio de Janeiro’s Operations new urban science, 60–­61
Center), 7, 14, 19, 24–­25, 149, in New York City, 65–­75
151–­153, 172–­175, 214, 219 as translation, 28, 78, 80, 215, 218
in context, 153–­157 urban flows, 76–­77
emergency response, 167–­171, 174 Data flows, 6, 24, 30–­31, 36, 49–­51, 55,
Eyes of the City, 162, 164 58, 63, 66, 72, 75–­76, 78–­79, 82,
flow maintenance, 157–­158 103, 148, 191, 213, 217–­218

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 Index 273

Data mining, 66, 85, 102, 146 Facebook, 25, 70, 74, 159, 162, 171,
Decision-­making, 2, 10, 22, 33, 36, 53, 179, 181–­182, 185–­186, 189, 193,
57, 59, 66, 82, 95, 117, 129–­134, 205, 207
137, 148, 174, 211–­212, 224 Face recognition, 13
Deleuze, Gilles, 28, 38, 44, 77, 86 Favelas, 6–­7, 24–­25, 106–­108, 112–­128,
Delhi, 23, 25 168, 217–­218, 231nn1,4,5
Diagrams, 3–­5, 21–­22, 28–­9, 36–­42, Feminism, 12, 15
210 Fields, Desiree, 100
Digital mapping, 3, 5–­7, 22, 29, Firechat, 186
105–­108, 126–­128, 170, 214, Fitzpatrick, Jen, 117
217–­218 Flash mobs, 182
calculation of territory, 108–­110 Flooding, 114, 154, 167–­169
favelas, 6–­7, 24–­25, 106–­108, Forlano, Laura, 12
112–­128, 168 Forrester, Jay W., 31
Digital protocols. See Protocols Fortaleza, 63
Dillon, Michael, 77, 162, 215 Foucault, Michel, 4, 12, 21, 38, 86, 144,
DIY citizenship, 71, 98 151, 156, 165, 175
Drug trafficking, 122–­125, 218 Fragmentation, 6–­7, 35, 41, 46, 82, 94,
Dublin, 23 103, 126–­127, 130, 126–­127, 130,
144, 148, 214, 217
Easterling, Keller, 18, 20 Freedom of Information Act, 73
Edwards, Paul, 83 Fuchs, Christian, 182
Elden, Stuart, 105, 109
Electronic Numerical Indicator and g0v.tw, 188, 190
Computer, 131 Gabrys, Jennifer, 86–­87, 216
Emanuel, Rahm, 129, 136 Gender inequality, 222
Embark NYC, 75 Geotagging, 109, 114
Embodiment, 6, 56, 77–­78, 87, 102, GIS, 112, 135, 138, 143, 145, 158, 218
215–­217 GitHub, 96, 139–­140, 190, 192
intelligence incarnate, 4, 6, 21, 56, 78, Gitter, 192
80, 87, 215–­216 Glasgow, 23, 25, 172
Emergency response, 41, 167–­171, 174, Global South, 15, 106, 111
221 Goldstein, Brett, 136–­139, 143, 145–­146
Energy, 3, 8, 41, 46–­47, 63, 81, 87, 91, Golumbia, David, 2
133, 175, 179–­180, 182, 197 Google, 101, 113, 116–­117, 123,
Enterprise resource planning systems, 5, 126–­128, 162
19–­20, 34–­35, 41–­42, 53, 212 Google Enterprise, 155
Enumeration, techniques of, 7, 126, Google Maps, 6–­7, 24–­25, 77, 105,
218 107–­108, 114–­121, 123, 127, 192,
Experimentation, 33, 74–­75, 133, 172 194, 217–­218 (see also Ta no
Expertise, 10, 39, 49–­50, 67, 137, 145, Mapa)
180, 183, 195, 213, 220, 223–­224 Google My Business, 114, 117, 120
mathematical, 145, 147–­148 Google Play, 186–­187

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 274 Index

Google (cont.) black boxing, 151–­153, 173–­174

Google Sheets, 192, 194 controlling, 149–­153, 156–­157, 159,
Google Street View, 118–­121 161, 166, 170–­175
Goteo, 96 daily-­life services, 51–­52
Governmentality, 20, 39, 86, 128, data as, 6, 55–­58, 62–­63, 67, 77–­80,
151–­152, 166–­167, 172, 175, 210, 107
219–­220 mapping, 107, 115, 127
Government-­as-­platform, 63, 65 ontogenesis, 55, 87, 100, 102–­103,
GPS, 87, 114, 121 215, 217
Graham, Stephen, 10, 12, 60–­62, 85 and resistance, 179–­188, 196–­198,
Greenfield, Adam, 13 201, 204, 206–­208
Grusin, Richard, 170 sensing, 82–­82, 84, 94, 98–­99,
Guattati, Félix, 28, 38 101–­104
as a service (IaaS), 46, 84
Haas, Peter J., 132 un-­black boxing, 152, 173–­175, 219
Hackathons, 20, 73–­74, 189, 209 Instagram, 193
Hackfoldr, 188–­190, 192 Intelligence incarnate, 4, 6, 21, 56, 78,
Hackpad, 25, 192–­193 80, 87, 215–­216
Halpern, Orit, 32 Intelligent cities, 13–­14
Haraway, Donna, 77, 80, 209, 215 Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter
Health, 1, 40, 47, 63, 157, 182–­183, Cities Administration Guide, 41–­42,
192, 195 48, 149–­150
Hitachi, 1, 28, 42, 51–­52 Internet of Things, 2, 84, 93
Hong Kong, 8, 20, 25, 71, 177–­180, Interoperability, 2, 5, 7, 17, 35, 41, 43,
183–­187, 197–­208, 220, 222. See also 52, 57, 63–­65, 79–­80, 84, 92, 94,
Umbrella Movement 130, 137, 143, 214–­216, 218
civic hacking in, 188–­196
Housing, 40, 63, 183 Jefferson, Brian Jordan, 135
Howard, Philip N., 181 Journalism, 159–­162, 169–­170
HunchLab, 134 Joyce, Patrick, 20, 40, 210
Hussain, Muzammil M., 181
Kallinikos, Jannis, 35
IBM, 1, 19, 23–­24, 28, 33, 41–­42, Kansas City, 59
132–­133, 149, 154 Kerrison Predictor, 131
Intelligent Operations Center for Kickstarter, 96
Smarter Cities Administration Guide, Kitchin, Rob, 14, 61, 72
41–­42, 48, 149–­150 Klauser, Francisco, 62
Smarter Cities, 1, 41–­42, 53 Knowledge, 3, 16, 22–­23, 30–­31, 35–­36,
Inequality, 13, 126–­127, 148, 156, 219, 41–­46, 49–­50, 53, 58–­59, 72, 79, 93,
222 110–­111, 114, 121–­125, 136–­137,
Infrastructure, 1–­4, 6–­9, 13–­14, 16–­18, 154, 162, 170, 180, 201, 213–­214,
20–­23, 29, 39–­41, 44, 49, 62, 77, 220, 223–­224
133, 201–­211, 214–­221 predictive, 142, 145

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 Index 275

production, 22, 27, 33, 107, 141–­145, Nairobi, 111

147, 159 NASA, 31–­32, 149
spatial, 118, 124 Networked city, 11–­13
urban, 9, 60–­61, 136, 144–­145 New urban science, 60–­61
New York City, 10, 24–­25, 129, 182
Lakoff, Andrew, 157 datafication, 58, 65–­75
Latour, Bruno, 58 Occupy Wall Street, 8, 181–­182
Lauriault, Tracey P., 14 NYC Open Data portal, 58, 65–­70, 75
Leszczynski, Agnieszka, 112, 230n12
Light, Jennifer, 31, 33 Occupation, 8, 25, 189–­191, 196–­206,
Lighting, 62, 201 220
Lockheed Corporation, 31 Occupy movements, 181–­182
London, 23, 25, 63, 101 Occupy Wall Street, 8, 181–­182
Infrastructure Plan 2050, 62–­63 Odum, H. T., 37
Los Angeles, 10, 33, 134 Open data, 1, 3, 57, 63–­69, 72, 75, 77,
95, 191–­192, 195
Machine learning, 134, 146 platforms, 4, 6, 18, 23, 29, 58,
Madrid, 181 62–­65, 72, 80, 130, 215 (see also
Manchester, 101 Datafication)
Manhattan Project, 131 Opendatasoft, 63
Map Kibera, 111 Open government, 57, 63–­4, 71, 159,
Mapping. See Digital mapping 226n6
MapQuest, 105 Open Knowledge Foundation, 64,
Marketing, 5, 12, 23–­24, 42, 87, 95, 99, 192
113, 120, 134 OpenStreetMap, 105
Markets, 1, 4, 7, 13, 15, 31, 34, 40–­42, Operating system. See Urban OS
50, 59, 65–­67, 100–­102, 104, 107, Operationalization, 5–­6, 22, 27–­29,
115, 125, 128, 209, 221–­222 52–­54, 56, 214–­215
Martin, Reinhold, 182 city as strata, 44–­47
McArdle, Gavin, 14 coding organizational behavior,
Memphis, 134 33–­36
Microgeographies, 7, 144–­145 cybernetic cities, 42–­44 (see also
Microsoft, 28, 42, 74, 113 Cybernetics)
Bing Maps, 105 data flows, 49–­51
CityNext, 1, 42, 45, 50 depoliticizing the city through,
Na Área, 113 221–­224
Windows, 17, 135 diagramming the city, 36–­40
Militias, 106, 122, 124, 218 placing the Urban OS, 29–­33
Modularization, 46, 49, 52 urban CPU, 28, 47–­49
Monetization, 6, 82, 99, 101–­102, 104, Operations Center, Rio de Janeiro. See
116 COR
Mosço, Vincent, 102 Osborne, Thomas, 39–­40, 210
Moscow, 59–­60 Otter, Chris, 20–­21, 40, 165, 210

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 276 Index

Paasche, Till, 62 Real time, 7, 12, 17, 25, 32, 41, 59,
Panopticism, 12, 15, 38, 165 66, 81, 85–­87, 90, 95, 99, 104,
Perng, Sung-­Yueh, 72 129–­130, 138, 141, 149, 153, 155,
Pieterse, Edgar, 17 158, 162, 166, 171, 173, 180,
Pittsburgh, 10 185–­186, 220–­221
PlanIT Urban Operating System, 1 Resistance, 8, 22, 24–­25, 177–­181, 220.
Platform capitalism, 99, 229n9 See also Umbrella Movement
Platforms as a service (PaaS), 46, 84 digital infrastructures of, 183–­188
Platform urbanism, 2 hacking across Taiwan and Hong
Police, 72–­73, 106–­107, 114, 122–­124, Kong, 188–­196
137–­138, 143, 162, 177–­178, 180, material obduracy of urban
182–­183, 185–­187, 192–­193, 195, occupation, 196–­206
198, 201, 204, 206, 208 technology aiding protests, 181–­183
predictive policing, 134–­136 Rio: Beyond the Map, 118–­121
Polis, 5, 8, 22, 39, 53, 175, 221 Rio de Janeiro, 25, 63
Political economy, 11–­12, 70, 98, COR (see COR)
102–­103, 108, 125, 212 favelas, 6–­7, 24–­25, 106–­108, 112–­128,
Pollution, 60, 81, 90, 92, 95, 97, 103 168, 217–­218, 231nn1,4,5
Portland, 65 Olympics, 156
Postcolonialism, 15–­16 World Cup, 156, 158, 171
Predictive analytics, 3, 5, 7, 14, 22, 24, Roadify, 75
26, 29, 129–­130, 147–­148, 218 Robotics, 223
in Chicago, 7, 14, 24, 129–­130, Rosario, 63
133–­148 Rose, Nikolas, 39–­40, 210
city as calculative machine, 142–­145
history of, 131–­133 San Francisco, 65
use of in cities, 133–­136 Sanitation, 3, 8, 62–­63, 141, 162, 196,
Predictive policing, 134–­136 201, 220
Privacy, 12, 16, 60. See also Santa Cruz, 134
Surveillance SCADA systems, 93–­94, 229n6
Privatization, 9, 12–­13, 75 Scott, James C., 127
Profiling, 15, 60 Seattle, 134
Protest. See Resistance Security, 1, 41, 46, 78, 83, 125, 145, 152,
Protocols, 18, 20, 42, 47, 84, 93, 117, 156, 180, 198, 207
155 Sensing, 3–­4, 6, 22, 81–­82, 102–­104,
Public scrutiny, 64, 80 123, 214, 216–­217
Public-­private partnerships, 88 definition of, 82–­83
logic of in urban context, 90–­95
Quality of life, 55, 66, 84, 140 making cities actionable, 87–­90
political economy of data,
Racial bias, 135, 222 95–­99
Ralph, Michael, 182 remaking the city, 83–­87
RAND Corporation, 27, 31 value creation, 82, 99–­102

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 Index 277

Sensing and actuation as a service Technological utopianism, 10, 13, 16,

(SAaaS), 84 84–­85, 126–­127, 221, 224
Sentilo, 90–­94, 101 Telegram, 186, 204
Service bus, 49 Territory, 7, 11, 20–­21, 39, 59, 78,
Smart cities, 1–­2, 13–­16, 23, 25, 40–­43, 91, 103, 105–­110, 112, 116, 118,
49, 52, 62, 81, 84, 87–­88, 101, 136, 121–­128, 144, 173, 210, 217–­18, 221
149, 175, 212 Terrorism, 85, 146
Smart Citizen Kit, 95–­99 Thatcher, Jim, 56
Smart meters, 12, 60, 87, 133 Thrift, Nigel, 85
Smart urbanism, 13–­16, 53 TimeMapper, 192, 194
SmartData Platform, 14, 129, 139–­140 today.code4.hk, 190–­196, 204
Smartphones, 25, 75, 77, 114, 117, 162, Tourism, 43, 87, 100, 115, 120–­121,
171, 185–­187 126, 156
Snow, John, 58 Traffic, 49, 90, 158, 162, 166, 175
Social media, 20, 25, 98–­99, 138, 159, Transparency, 1, 14, 57–­59, 64–­66, 69,
171, 179, 181–­182, 184–­186, 193, 71, 75, 80, 84, 95–­96, 111, 130,
219, 221 151, 159, 161–­162, 171, 188–­192,
role in protest, 162–­167 194–­195, 213, 221
Socrata, 55, 67–­69 Transport, 3, 6, 41, 46–­47, 59, 63, 77,
Söderström, Ola, 62 81, 87, 160, 173, 216
Software as a service (SaaS), 46, Trias, Xavier, 87
84 Twitter, 138, 159, 162, 171, 181, 186,
Sovereignty, 7, 106–­109, 118, 121–­122, 193, 207
124–­125, 128, 217–­218
Standardization, 42, 46, 48–­49, 61, 104, Umbrella Movement, 25, 177–­180,
115, 132, 215, 223 184–­208, 220, 222
Star, Susan Leigh, 56, 79 Umeå, 63
Strata, city as, 44–­47 Un-­black boxing, 152, 173–­175, 219
Sunflower Movement, 24–­25, 71, Uncertainty, 130, 132–­133, 143–­144,
179–­180, 188–­196, 222 146
Supply chains, 34, 83, 180, 198 Urban computational logics, 2–­9,
Surveillance, 12–­13, 15, 60, 121, 135, 16–­17, 20, 22–­25, 27–­29, 35–­38, 52,
153, 156, 165, 180, 204, 207, 210, 54, 56, 74–­75, 80, 82, 106–­109, 116,
234n6, 235n6. See also Privacy 126, 130, 140, 145–­148, 172, 179,
Sydney, 59 208, 211, 214–­224. See also individual
Syracuse, 133 logics
circulation, 7–­8, 149–­175 (see also
Taiwan, 8, 24–­25, 71, 179–­180, 222. See Control rooms; COR)
also Sunflower Movement datafication, 6, 22–­24, 55–­­80, 100,
civic hacking in, 188–­190 146, 211, 215–­217
Ta no Mapa, 106–­108, 112–­128 examining, 4–­9, 28
Taxation, 124, 218 history of, 9
Taylor, Peter, 36–­38 mapping (see Digital mapping)

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 278 Index

Urban computational logics (cont.) War on terror, 85

operationalization, 5–­6, 22, 27–­54, 56, Washington, DC, 59
214–­215 Waste collection, 3, 6, 8, 41, 47, 63, 81,
prediction (see Predictive analytics) 93, 160, 175, 179, 182, 197–­198,
resistance, 8, 22, 24–­25, 177–­208, 220 201, 216
sensing, 3–­4, 6, 22, 81–­104, 123, 214, Water, 3, 6, 8, 49, 62, 81, 91, 133, 175,
216–­217 179, 182
Urban CPU, 28, 47–­49 Waze, 99, 121, 162, 165–­166, 216
Urban data, 2, 6, 33, 49–­51, 56–­61, WeChat, 181
75–­77, 79, 143, 155, 216, 226n1 Weibo, 181
Urban OS, 1–­4, 21–­22 WhatsApp, 179, 186, 204, 207
circulation, 7–­8, 149–­175 (see also Wiener, Norbert, 9, 30, 131, 152,
Control rooms; COR) 233–234n3
datafication, 6, 22–­24, 55–­–8
­ 0, 100, Wi-­Fi, 12, 88, 95, 186, 188, 204–­206
146, 211, 215–­217 WindyGrid, 137–­140, 143, 146
definition of, 16–­20 Wood, David, 12, 60
as diagram of control, 213 World Bank, 64
as an emerging urban diagram, 40–­42 Worldsensing, 59–­60
governing through, 52–­54
mapping (see Digital mapping) YouTube, 181
operationalization, 5–­6, 22, 27–­54, 56,
214–­215 Zwick, Charles J., 27
placing, 29–­33
as a political technology, 209–­224
prediction (see Predictive analytics)
researching, 22–­26
resistance, 8, 22, 24–­25, 177–­208, 220
sensing, 3–­4, 6, 22, 81–­104, 123, 214,
216–­217
Urban planning, 10, 27, 31–­34, 60–­61,
84–­85, 127, 130, 132, 136, 144, 196,
219
Urban sensing. See Sensing
Urbanization, 2–­3, 10–­11, 20, 137
Urbiotica, 1, 90

Value creation, 6, 9, 70–­71, 82, 99–­102,

217
Vietnam War, 83

Wakeford, Nina, 12
Wark, McKenzie, 70, 77
War on poverty, 10, 32

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