Undoing Optimization

“Erudite and thought-provoking, Undoing Optimization makes a compelling argument for another type of smart city, one where civic action extends beyond the logics of technology companies.”—Rob Kitchin, Maynooth University Social Science Institute
 

“Undoing Optimization charts the complex intersections of smart cities and civic action. By deftly examining imaginaries of technological systems and citizenship, Powell contributes an important study in urban optimization.”—Jennifer Gabrys, author of How to Do Things with Sensors

"An unflinching critical account of the rise of the ‘optimized city’—of the urban spatial extraction and modeling of data for optimization by private commercial and governmental authorities.”—Louise Amoore, author of Cloud Ethics: Algorithms and the Attributes of Ourselves and Others
 

“Global upheaval has revealed the fragility and malleability of our urban and communication networks. Alison Powell reminds us that citizens have the power to build new systems embodying progressive politics.”—Shannon Mattern, author of Code and Clay, Data and Dirt: Five Thousand Years of Urban Media  
 

“This is an essential book for anyone concerned with how cities of tomorrow can work, and who they can work for.”—Mark Graham, coauthor of The Gig Economy: A Critical Introduction