Technological Ecosystems' Role in Preventing Neo-Feudalism in Smart-City Informatization

The paper argues that the Smart City idea lacks grounding in shared base technology and instead yields black-box artefacts. The reliance on black-box systems in public governance is considered a great hazard since it may result in sinecures, stifles democratic control of the public domain, and results in neo-feudal monopolies. Base technology (such as the WWW technology stack) on the other hand is use-neutral, implementation-neutral, open, and teach-/learn-able, thus enabling the emergence of cascading technological ecosystems, which can drive large-scale economic and societal progress. The concepts of a primary, secondary, and tertiary technological ecosystem are introduced to delineate the role and importance of base technology. The paper calls for stronger focus on Smart City foundational research and a change in culture from quick fixes to solutions that would survive generations.