Federico Cugurullo
Biographic Data
| ID | 1521742 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Federico Cugurullo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Federico |
| FAMILY NAME | Cugurullo |
| SIGNATURE | CUGURULLO F |
| AFFILIATIONS | Trinity College Dublin |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0625-8868 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 133 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The Eclipse of Reason in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is causing major disruptions, triggering waves of social, cultural, political, economic and environmental problems that risk undermining the very foundations of human society and the totality of the environment surrounding it. Two problems in particular stand out. The first one is that there is generally no vision of development behind the production of AI technologies, but rather individualistic political and economi…
Smart, autonomous and sustainable cities? A critical analysis from the perspective of strong, weak and super weak sustainability
Technological innovations are accelerating globally, fostering the diffusion of urban models such as smart cities and, more recently, autonomous cities. While smart cities rely on the strategic use of data and digital technologies to optimize urban services, autonomous cities take a further step by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into urban decision-making and governance processes. In this context, sustainability remains a core principle…
New AI cities
Nowadays, the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the development of new cities are intersecting. This article explores this intersection focusing on a megaproject called Neom in Saudi Arabia. The article’s empirical contribution is threefold. First, it sheds light on how and why the urban is becoming a site of AI experimentation through the genesis of new cities. Second, it examines the dynamics of AI experiments taking place in new …
AIdeology
The argument advanced in this paper is that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not simply a technology, but also an ideology that is influencing the values, beliefs, and worldviews of many people. Furthermore, this paper contends that the ideology of AI, henceforth AIdeology , has a strong spatial dimension. Through a combination of Marxian philosophy and human geography, the paper develops a critical theory of AI as an ideology and makes three main…
Smart Urbanism Through Artificial Intelligence (AI)‐Megaprojects
Urban Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly being piloted in cities worldwide, constituting a critical element in the evolution of contemporary and future smart cities. Although there is a growing body of research on the integration of AI into healthcare and smart city systems, the specific intersection of urban AI and healthcare in the context of state‐led megaprojects remains insufficiently examined, particularly through em…
Beyond dystopian smart cities? Unlocking a progressive utopian future in smart urbanism
Design culture for Sustainable urban artificial intelligence
The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between AI urbanism and sustainability by drawing upon some key concepts of Bruno Latour’s philosophy. The idea of a sustainable AI urbanism - often understood as the juxtaposition of smart and eco urbanism - is here critiqued through a reconstruction of the conceptual sources of these two urban paradigms. Some key ideas of smart and eco urbanism are indicated as incompatible and therefore …
Fear of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of the everyday. During this transition, people’s intention to use AI technologies is still unclear and emotions such as fear are influencing it. In this paper, we focus on autonomous cars to first verify empirically the extent to which people fear AI and then examine the impact that fear has on their intention to use AI-driven vehicles. Our research is based on a systematic survey and it reveals that…
The Emergence of Artificial Intelligence in Anticipatory Urban Governance
While smart city initiatives have characterized global urbanization from the 1990s to the 2020s, nowadays a novel artificial intelligence (AI) enabled approach to urban governance is rapidly emerging, thereby shaping the governance and planning of present and future cities. This urban phenomenon can be understood theoretically through the notion of anticipatory governance, and empirically through so-called City Brain systems. This is particularly…
New stories of urban AI
Why does urban Artificial Intelligence (AI) matter for urban studies? Developing research directions in urban AI research
New digital technologies and systems are being extensively applied in urban contexts. These technologies and systems include algorithms, robotics, drones, Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and autonomous systems that can collectively be labelled as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Critical debates have recognized that these various forms of AI do not merely layer onto existing urban infrastructures, forms of management and practices of everyday life. Instea…
Artificial intelligence and the local government
In recent years, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has significantly impacted various sectors, including public governance at the local level. However, there exists a limited understanding of the overarching narrative surrounding the adoption of AI in local governments and its future. Therefore, this study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution, current state-of-the-art, and emerging trends in t…
When AIs become oracles
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is boosting anticipatory forms of governance, through which state actors seek to predict the future and strategically intervene in the present. In this context, city brains represent an emerging type of generative AI currently employed in urban governance and public policy in a growing number of cities. City brains are large-scale AIs residing in vast digital urban platforms, which manage multiple urban dom…
The rise of AI urbanism in post-smart cities
Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as an impactful feature of the life, planning and governance of 21st-century cities. Once confined to the realm of science fiction and small-scale technological experiments, AI is now all around us, in the shape of urban artificial intelligences including autonomous cars, robots, city brains and urban software agents. The aim of this article is to critically examine the nature of urbanism in the emergent a…
Cyclists and autonomous vehicles at odds
Consequential historical decisions that shaped transportation systems and their influence on society have many valuable lessons. The decisions we learn from and choose to make going forward will play a key role in shaping the mobility landscape of the future. This is especially pertinent as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in the form of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Throughout urban history, there have been cyclical transport opp…
Social implications of autonomous vehicles
When the past, present and future of cities collide
The premise of this book is that we cannot predict future cities: we can only invent them. Starting from this idea, Batty explores the dynamics through which cities are created and come to exist in
Can autonomous vehicles enable sustainable mobility in future cities? Insights and policy challenges from user preferences over different urban transport options
The transition to autonomous cars, the redesign of cities and the future of urban sustainability
Autonomous cars controlled by an artificial intelligence are increasingly being integrated in the transport portfolio of cities, with strong repercussions for the design and sustainability of the built environment. This paper sheds light on the urban transition to autonomous transport, in a threefold manner. First, we advance a theoretical framework to understand the diffusion of autonomous cars in cities, on the basis of three interconnected fac…
Starchitecture. Scenes, actors and spectacles in contemporary cities
Books are gates. They can open a door into distant places, ideas and stories. Starchitecture is a book which, at first sight, might seem to take you into the flashy realm of starchitects and their
Exposing smart cities and eco-cities
In recent years, the world has seen the emergence of a number of urban projects which, under the banner of experimentation, have promoted alternative models of city-making capable, in theory, of creating sustainable built environments. Among these supposedly experimental models, the smart city and the eco-city stand out in terms of geographical diffusion, and are hailed by their advocates as the mark of an innovative urbanism based on a scientifi…
Frankenstein cities
This chapter explores that the non-organic nature of experimental eco-cities is one of the main reasons why eco-city projects often fail from a sustainability perspective and are unable to meet their ambitious ecological, social and economic targets. It contributes to contemporary debates on the nature and dynamics of urban experiments by developing the concept of de-composed urbanism , whose characteristics are illustrated using Mary Shelley&s;s…
Urban eco-modernisation and the policy context of new eco-city projects
The development of projects for new eco-cities is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon. Alleged eco-cities are being built across a variety of spaces via processes of urbanisation triggering substantial environmental, social and economic impacts. This article investigates how new eco-city projects interpret and practice urban sustainability by focusing on the policy context that underpins their development. The article argues that projects for ne…
How to Build a Sandcastle
Fuelled by an increasing diffusion of “green-consciousness” in urban politics, the eco-city has recently gained momentum. In the last decade, several governments from different areas of the world have approved plans for the construction of new master-planned urban developments aiming to find a balance with nature. The eco-city phenomenon is inscribed in a critical spatio-temporal context and its effects will arguably have a strong influence on ou…
The Business of Utopia
Over the last couple of decades, global urban politics has experienced the increasing emergence of ambitious megaprojects aiming to create sustainable cities capable of facing severe ecological and economic crises. This essay argues that the genesis of eco-cities is grounded in a strong wave of utopianism that can have potential negative socioecological implications, and by looking at the current development strategies of Abu Dhabi, it aims to ex…
Exposing smart cities and eco-cities
In recent years, the world has seen the emergence of a number of urban projects which, under the banner of experimentation, have promoted alternative models of city-making capable, in theory, of creating sustainable built environments. Among these supposedly experimental models, the smart city and the eco-city stand out in terms of geographical diffusion, and are hailed by their advocates as the mark of an innovative urbanism based on a scientifi…
The rise of AI urbanism in post-smart cities
Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as an impactful feature of the life, planning and governance of 21st-century cities. Once confined to the realm of science fiction and small-scale technological experiments, AI is now all around us, in the shape of urban artificial intelligences including autonomous cars, robots, city brains and urban software agents. The aim of this article is to critically examine the nature of urbanism in the emergent a…
Urban eco-modernisation and the policy context of new eco-city projects
The development of projects for new eco-cities is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon. Alleged eco-cities are being built across a variety of spaces via processes of urbanisation triggering substantial environmental, social and economic impacts. This article investigates how new eco-city projects interpret and practice urban sustainability by focusing on the policy context that underpins their development. The article argues that projects for ne…
Why does urban Artificial Intelligence (AI) matter for urban studies? Developing research directions in urban AI research
New digital technologies and systems are being extensively applied in urban contexts. These technologies and systems include algorithms, robotics, drones, Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and autonomous systems that can collectively be labelled as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Critical debates have recognized that these various forms of AI do not merely layer onto existing urban infrastructures, forms of management and practices of everyday life. Instea…
When AIs become oracles
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is boosting anticipatory forms of governance, through which state actors seek to predict the future and strategically intervene in the present. In this context, city brains represent an emerging type of generative AI currently employed in urban governance and public policy in a growing number of cities. City brains are large-scale AIs residing in vast digital urban platforms, which manage multiple urban dom…
The transition to autonomous cars, the redesign of cities and the future of urban sustainability
Autonomous cars controlled by an artificial intelligence are increasingly being integrated in the transport portfolio of cities, with strong repercussions for the design and sustainability of the built environment. This paper sheds light on the urban transition to autonomous transport, in a threefold manner. First, we advance a theoretical framework to understand the diffusion of autonomous cars in cities, on the basis of three interconnected fac…
The Business of Utopia
Over the last couple of decades, global urban politics has experienced the increasing emergence of ambitious megaprojects aiming to create sustainable cities capable of facing severe ecological and economic crises. This essay argues that the genesis of eco-cities is grounded in a strong wave of utopianism that can have potential negative socioecological implications, and by looking at the current development strategies of Abu Dhabi, it aims to ex…
Artificial intelligence and the local government
In recent years, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has significantly impacted various sectors, including public governance at the local level. However, there exists a limited understanding of the overarching narrative surrounding the adoption of AI in local governments and its future. Therefore, this study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution, current state-of-the-art, and emerging trends in t…
Can autonomous vehicles enable sustainable mobility in future cities? Insights and policy challenges from user preferences over different urban transport options
Beyond dystopian smart cities? Unlocking a progressive utopian future in smart urbanism
How to Build a Sandcastle
Fuelled by an increasing diffusion of “green-consciousness” in urban politics, the eco-city has recently gained momentum. In the last decade, several governments from different areas of the world have approved plans for the construction of new master-planned urban developments aiming to find a balance with nature. The eco-city phenomenon is inscribed in a critical spatio-temporal context and its effects will arguably have a strong influence on ou…
The Business of Utopia
Over the last couple of decades, global urban politics has experienced the increasing emergence of ambitious megaprojects aiming to create sustainable cities capable of facing severe ecological and economic crises. This essay argues that the genesis of eco-cities is grounded in a strong wave of utopianism that can have potential negative socioecological implications, and by looking at the current development strategies of Abu Dhabi, it aims to ex…
Frankenstein cities
This chapter explores that the non-organic nature of experimental eco-cities is one of the main reasons why eco-city projects often fail from a sustainability perspective and are unable to meet their ambitious ecological, social and economic targets. It contributes to contemporary debates on the nature and dynamics of urban experiments by developing the concept of de-composed urbanism , whose characteristics are illustrated using Mary Shelley&s;s…
Urban eco-modernisation and the policy context of new eco-city projects
The development of projects for new eco-cities is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon. Alleged eco-cities are being built across a variety of spaces via processes of urbanisation triggering substantial environmental, social and economic impacts. This article investigates how new eco-city projects interpret and practice urban sustainability by focusing on the policy context that underpins their development. The article argues that projects for ne…
Starchitecture. Scenes, actors and spectacles in contemporary cities
Books are gates. They can open a door into distant places, ideas and stories. Starchitecture is a book which, at first sight, might seem to take you into the flashy realm of starchitects and their
Exposing smart cities and eco-cities
In recent years, the world has seen the emergence of a number of urban projects which, under the banner of experimentation, have promoted alternative models of city-making capable, in theory, of creating sustainable built environments. Among these supposedly experimental models, the smart city and the eco-city stand out in terms of geographical diffusion, and are hailed by their advocates as the mark of an innovative urbanism based on a scientifi…
The transition to autonomous cars, the redesign of cities and the future of urban sustainability
Autonomous cars controlled by an artificial intelligence are increasingly being integrated in the transport portfolio of cities, with strong repercussions for the design and sustainability of the built environment. This paper sheds light on the urban transition to autonomous transport, in a threefold manner. First, we advance a theoretical framework to understand the diffusion of autonomous cars in cities, on the basis of three interconnected fac…
When the past, present and future of cities collide
The premise of this book is that we cannot predict future cities: we can only invent them. Starting from this idea, Batty explores the dynamics through which cities are created and come to exist in
Can autonomous vehicles enable sustainable mobility in future cities? Insights and policy challenges from user preferences over different urban transport options
Cyclists and autonomous vehicles at odds
Consequential historical decisions that shaped transportation systems and their influence on society have many valuable lessons. The decisions we learn from and choose to make going forward will play a key role in shaping the mobility landscape of the future. This is especially pertinent as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in the form of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Throughout urban history, there have been cyclical transport opp…
Social implications of autonomous vehicles
The rise of AI urbanism in post-smart cities
Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as an impactful feature of the life, planning and governance of 21st-century cities. Once confined to the realm of science fiction and small-scale technological experiments, AI is now all around us, in the shape of urban artificial intelligences including autonomous cars, robots, city brains and urban software agents. The aim of this article is to critically examine the nature of urbanism in the emergent a…
Design culture for Sustainable urban artificial intelligence
The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between AI urbanism and sustainability by drawing upon some key concepts of Bruno Latour’s philosophy. The idea of a sustainable AI urbanism - often understood as the juxtaposition of smart and eco urbanism - is here critiqued through a reconstruction of the conceptual sources of these two urban paradigms. Some key ideas of smart and eco urbanism are indicated as incompatible and therefore …
Fear of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of the everyday. During this transition, people’s intention to use AI technologies is still unclear and emotions such as fear are influencing it. In this paper, we focus on autonomous cars to first verify empirically the extent to which people fear AI and then examine the impact that fear has on their intention to use AI-driven vehicles. Our research is based on a systematic survey and it reveals that…
The Emergence of Artificial Intelligence in Anticipatory Urban Governance
While smart city initiatives have characterized global urbanization from the 1990s to the 2020s, nowadays a novel artificial intelligence (AI) enabled approach to urban governance is rapidly emerging, thereby shaping the governance and planning of present and future cities. This urban phenomenon can be understood theoretically through the notion of anticipatory governance, and empirically through so-called City Brain systems. This is particularly…
New stories of urban AI
Why does urban Artificial Intelligence (AI) matter for urban studies? Developing research directions in urban AI research
New digital technologies and systems are being extensively applied in urban contexts. These technologies and systems include algorithms, robotics, drones, Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and autonomous systems that can collectively be labelled as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Critical debates have recognized that these various forms of AI do not merely layer onto existing urban infrastructures, forms of management and practices of everyday life. Instea…
Artificial intelligence and the local government
In recent years, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has significantly impacted various sectors, including public governance at the local level. However, there exists a limited understanding of the overarching narrative surrounding the adoption of AI in local governments and its future. Therefore, this study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution, current state-of-the-art, and emerging trends in t…
When AIs become oracles
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is boosting anticipatory forms of governance, through which state actors seek to predict the future and strategically intervene in the present. In this context, city brains represent an emerging type of generative AI currently employed in urban governance and public policy in a growing number of cities. City brains are large-scale AIs residing in vast digital urban platforms, which manage multiple urban dom…
Smart Urbanism Through Artificial Intelligence (AI)‐Megaprojects
Urban Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly being piloted in cities worldwide, constituting a critical element in the evolution of contemporary and future smart cities. Although there is a growing body of research on the integration of AI into healthcare and smart city systems, the specific intersection of urban AI and healthcare in the context of state‐led megaprojects remains insufficiently examined, particularly through em…
Beyond dystopian smart cities? Unlocking a progressive utopian future in smart urbanism
The Eclipse of Reason in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is causing major disruptions, triggering waves of social, cultural, political, economic and environmental problems that risk undermining the very foundations of human society and the totality of the environment surrounding it. Two problems in particular stand out. The first one is that there is generally no vision of development behind the production of AI technologies, but rather individualistic political and economi…
Smart, autonomous and sustainable cities? A critical analysis from the perspective of strong, weak and super weak sustainability
Technological innovations are accelerating globally, fostering the diffusion of urban models such as smart cities and, more recently, autonomous cities. While smart cities rely on the strategic use of data and digital technologies to optimize urban services, autonomous cities take a further step by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into urban decision-making and governance processes. In this context, sustainability remains a core principle…
New AI cities
Nowadays, the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the development of new cities are intersecting. This article explores this intersection focusing on a megaproject called Neom in Saudi Arabia. The article’s empirical contribution is threefold. First, it sheds light on how and why the urban is becoming a site of AI experimentation through the genesis of new cities. Second, it examines the dynamics of AI experiments taking place in new …
AIdeology
The argument advanced in this paper is that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not simply a technology, but also an ideology that is influencing the values, beliefs, and worldviews of many people. Furthermore, this paper contends that the ideology of AI, henceforth AIdeology , has a strong spatial dimension. Through a combination of Marxian philosophy and human geography, the paper develops a critical theory of AI as an ideology and makes three main…
Sociology (15 works) · Smart Cities and Technologies (14 works) · Geography (12 works) · Political science (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Engineering (9 works) · Sustainability (9 works) · Economic geography (8 works) · Economics (8 works) · Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis (8 works)