Smart cities and technologies: connected or disconnected citizens?

Abstract

In his book The World Beyond Your Head: How to Flourish in an Age of Distraction, Matthew Crawford describes attention as a cultural problem of modern life. Individuals, notably urban dwellers, experience every day the fragmentation of their attention as everything is done to colonise our mental spaces by advertising. In this interview, Matthew Crawford gives details on this phenomenon that precedes Smart Cities but could be amplified by new technologies.

Keywords

• age of distraction
• advertising
• captive audience
• public good
• digital technologies