Programming Nature as Infrastructure in the Smart Forest City

Area of Science:

• Urban ecology
• Digitalization studies
• Environmental sociology

Background:

• Smart city initiatives increasingly integrate digital technologies into urban infrastructure.
• Urban nature, including forests, is undergoing digitalization through monitoring, automation, and augmentation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the concept of "splintering urbanisms" as nature is programmed into smart city infrastructure.
• To analyze how smart urban forest management logics transform vegetation into responsive urban organisms.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of smart city technologies applied to urban nature.
• Focus on "smart urban forests" as a case study.
• Examination of management logics and their ecological and social implications.

Main Results:

• Smart infrastructure management programs vegetation for efficiency and responsiveness.
• This programming can lead to the "Internet of Nature," where natural elements are data-driven.
• Potential for exacerbating extractive economies and social inequalities.

Conclusions:

• Programming nature as infrastructure in smart cities creates "splintering urbanisms."
• Efficiency-driven management of urban forests can have negative socio-ecological consequences.
• The "Internet of Nature" risks amplifying existing societal disparities.