The smart citys computers will calculate where offices and shops can be laid out most efficiently， where people should sleep， and how all the parts of urban life should be fitted together. Science fiction？ Smart cities are being built in the Middle East and in Korea； they have become a model for developers in China， and for redevelopment in Europe.

Imagine that you are a master planner facing a blank computer screen and that you can design a city from scratch， free to incorporate every bit of high technology into your design. You might come up with Masdar， in the United Arab Emirates， or Songdo， in South Korea. These are two versions of the stupefying smart city.

Masdar is a half-built city rising out of the desert， whose planning—overseen by the master architect Norman Foster—comprehensively lays out the activities of the city， the technology monitoring and regulating the function from a central command centre. The city is conceived in “Fordist” terms—that is， each activity has an appropriate place and time. Urbanites become consumers of choices laid out for them by prior calculations of where to shop， or to get a doctor， most efficiently.

Songdo represents the stupefying smart city in its architectural aspect—massive， clean， efficient housing blocks rising up in the shadow of South Koreas western mountains， like an inflated 1960s British housing estate—but now heat， security， parking and deliveries are all controlled by a central Songdo “brain”. The massive units of housing are not conceived as structures with any individuality in themselves， nor is the ensemble of these faceless buildings meant to create a sense of place.

在智能城市里，計算機能夠規(guī)劃辦公室和商店如何分布最有效率，人們在什么地方睡覺最合適，以及城市生活的各個方面如何有機地結合在一起。聽上去像科幻小說嗎？實際上在中東和韓國，人們已經(jīng)開始建造智能城市了。在中國，智能城市成為開發(fā)者的模板，也是歐洲重新開發(fā)的模板。

設想你是一個總規(guī)劃師，面對一個空白計算機屏幕，從零開始設計一座城市，可以在規(guī)劃中包含各種高新技術。你可能會設計出阿聯(lián)酋的馬斯達爾，或者韓國的松島。它們是兩個令人瞠目的智能城市版本。

馬斯達爾是在沙漠上建起的半完工城市，由總設計師諾曼·福斯特主持規(guī)劃，包羅萬象地涵蓋了城市的功能。有一個中央控制中心來監(jiān)控和規(guī)范整個城市。整個城市是按“福特主義者”來構思的——每一種活動都有個適當?shù)牡胤胶蜁r段。市民按照先前計算的最佳結果來選擇去什么地方購物，去什么地方看醫(yī)生。

松島代表智能城市建筑驚人的一面——巨大、干凈而高效能的房屋在韓國西部山區(qū)中拔地而起，就像20世紀60年代英國住宅區(qū)的膨脹版，但是現(xiàn)在供暖、安防、停車和送貨都受到松島“神經(jīng)中樞”的控制。巨大的房屋單元不是以任何個人喜好來設計，也不是那些毫無個性的只是為了建個房子而已的建筑群。