Technology, Power, and Urbanization

This quarter, I completed my first ad hoc honors project with Dr. Mark Purcell in the class URDBP 200: Introduction to Urbanization. As a computer science and philosophy student, I had always been interested in architecture as a physical manifestation of ideas, but I had not had the chance to explore literature on architectural or urban theory in my classes. This project was a unique opportunity for me to combine my interests in computer science, philosophy, and architecture. Many of my courses, for instance, dealt with computer science on a theoretical level which abstracted away from the physical and human infrastructure needed to support the computing industry. At most, my classes touched on topics in computer hardware, but even this material often obscured the physical supply chains that are needed to produce the computer hardware in the first place.

My ad hoc Honors Project was an 8-10 page paper that investigated the effects of the development of computational technologies on urbanization. These effects included the ecological impacts of building data centers, the concentration of technological companies in certain cities, and the emergence of remote work. Through this project, I applied concepts from course readings on topics such as industrialization, social power, and colonialism to examine cities whose urban development has been particularly influenced by recent technological developments. I also brought sources on computer science and political philosophy from my other classes such as Modern Political Philosophy and Philosophy of AI. Dr. Purcell was an invaluable resource during my project for his expertise in not only urbanization but also democracy and critical theory.

In sum, this project enriched my learning by allowing me to develop a deeper understanding of urbanization and how I am personally implicated in processes of urbanization. By looking at different urban processes in action, I was able to develop a more critical perspective on the continued relevance of different theories of urbanization to our current technological age.

Honors Paper Final.docx

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