Smart City: Exploring Future Possibilities, MSc HCID @ City, University of London
Channel: TOY Studio
Date: 25/04/2021

Smart City group project video to contextualise the ideas in both the present and the possible future. 2021, MSc Human-Computer Interaction Design

Group members: Sarah Henderson, Elizabeth Tapley, Hande Gungor, Michael Kibedi, Daniel Eynon.

Video & Audio by Hande Gungor
Narration by Michael Kibedi

Script:

Part1: Year 2020 - The Pandemic: The Reset

A global pandemic started and took control of our cities and lives,
The first year was challenging, with loud noises of uncertainty.
We slowly started adapting.
It was a time the government was very loud, and the cities were quiet. 
Even the most liberal of cities. 
We did not have control of our lives anymore, we just had to stay still for 
the safety of others and ourselves. 
Suddenly the city wasn’t the city we knew.
Our everyday was new.
We were getting confused, frustrated, restless. 
Then we felt something was changing inside us.
We were learning to take a step back.
We were seeing and being offered all these alternatives that were never 
an option before. 
Something unexpected started happening. It was something positive.
Suddenly, the skies appeared a more intense shade of blue,
The air we were breathing – much fresher. 
We were witnessing how slowing down was bringing back nature’s soul.
Climate change was now visible.
Suddenly, more of us were aware of the damages we were causing to our 
environment. 
We had never spent this much time with our families before.
We didn’t have to travel unnecessarily.
Digitization was happening so fast that suddenly we had all the tools to live our life from home.
We hated this at first.
Then, something even more unexpected was happening... 
We were reassessing our priorities. 

*****

Part 2: Year 2030: We Create Our City
We have recovered from the pandemic, so have our cities. 
It has not been straightforward.
Suddenly we had other issues to deal with.
The noise was deafening, when suddenly we were able to get out of our inner-city exile. We were facing the fact that our energy reserves were suffering.
The end of the pandemic was as traumatic as its beginning. 
This time, though, we were smarter and in control.
We could not leave the decisions and the action to governments with different agendas. We had experienced closely how suddenly one wrong action would bring the world onto its knees.
We knew what we did not when we were living our lives on automation pre-pandemic. 
We’ve changed, so has our city
We have cleaner and quieter streets, fresher air, equality, welfare and happier people Our lives are surprisingly better,
We are clear about our priorities.
We are clear about what we want to do with our lives
We don’t have that barrier called ‘the privilege’ anymore 
We now have our machine residents. 
They act nothing like the bad machines that we saw in sci-fi movies. 

Lower class, does not mean anything.
Everyone has the same privileges,
To the point that they aren’t privileges anymore. 
There are only 2 classes now: human class and machine class 
We don’t have to manually clean the streets, operate explosives, crawl under the ground to extract coal, work in dangerous building sites or expose ourselves to radiation.
We do not have to get sick or die doing our job and live with the awareness of that risk.
We now have our machine collaborators doing that. 
We do not need to lose our jobs, for a matter of fact, quite the opposite.
The machines are operated from anywhere now with bodysuits and 360-cameras, thanks to full-body motion tracking, by the previously so-called ‘lower class’.
By preserving the movement of the body as opposed to sitting in front of screen, the human operators manage to stay fit and healthy, without the risk of sickness and death.
They can work from home, or from the community centres scattered in the city.
These community centres breathe in noise and breathe out energy. 
They convert our unwanted amplified noises into energy that we can use to run our cities. They are our new power stations, where no one gets hurt, and everyone has the chance to contribute with their presence.
Our loud laugh is now giving us electricity, so do our tearful screams. 
Our kids are making noise to heat our homes.
Energy is a free and open-source human right now.
We organise concerts inside these structures to “raise energy” when we need more. 
Our community centres are also places for escape.
When we want to be alone, or stay away from the noise of the city,
We can enter any of these structures, into the isolation booths,
where the unwanted outside noise is manipulated into pleasurable sounds. These pods are spaces for relaxation and connection with others through frequencies. 
Scattered in the city are the sound objects that may be in the shape of a bench, a letter box, stairs, traffic lights or bike rails; anything that can be programmed to collect the noise and send to our community-run power stations.