# Smart cities > The origins of the ‘smart city’ framework lie in a project championed by the likes of IBM and Cisco to optimise urban infrastructure through digital sensors that provide a variety of technological solutions to urban planning problems. > > – [[Platform socialism]] > Jathan Sadowski has shown that this movement has been underpinned by an ideology of importing entrepreneurialism into town halls to enable corporations to monetise urban spaces. > > – [[Platform socialism]] - Seoul city machine - Saw it at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art - Shows the tension between smart city looking after us vs controlling us - https://vimeo.com/312092226 ## Links - [Toronto swaps Google-backed, not-so-smart city plans for people-centred vision](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/12/toronto-canada-quayside-urban-centre)