Smart schools in sentient cities

Abstract

What makes a city “smart?” And, in a “smart city,” what makes a “smart school?” Designers, researchers and commercial technology companies are increasingly concerned with the development of "smarter cities," "programmable cities" and "sentient cities"that are augmented with big data, sensor networks, and other computationally programmable processes and software-supported practices. The smart city is an urban environment with a computational "nervous system." It appears to have some form of awareness, intelligence, and thoughtfulness, along with some ability to learn and to transform itself. In many smart city programs, themes such as "smarter education"are emerging as important points of focus for various kinds of imaginings and product developments. It is surprising, then, that educational research has, to date, said very little about such data-intensive, spatially sentient and programmable cities. This leaves a lot of questions to be addressed. What kind of educational future are we facing in sentient cities that are already becoming automated, plastered in data and augmented with context-aware devices offering mediated sensory experiences; in which billions of objects and machines can interrelate with one another via the Internet of Things; and in which the urban environment itself is able to track, trace and even "think of us?" What does it mean for people to learn in a city that can learn?