BUILD A CITY OF THE FUTURE: THREE MAIN TASKS. BETWEEN URBAN AND NEW UTOPIA

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of growing urbanization of cities, the project of creating a city of the future, as wellas the use of ‘smart city' technologies and the application of organizational and economic models in the hybridization of the urbaneconomy. It presents three main issues that were on the agenda of the round table ‘City of the Future', held in the framework ofthe Gaidar Forum-2019, due to the dynamics of urban development observed over the past five years (according to researchconducted within the University Paris XII (Paris-Est Creteil) and laboratories CEDITER and TECHNOLOGIA pro HUMANIA). Thenecessary reinvestment of residents and economic actors, the controlled and widespread use of ‘smart cities', the hybridization ofthe urban economy require the conclusion of a new social contract between all participants, and especially the establishment ofa high degree of trust that cannot be affected by the suspicion of inefficiency of one of the two actors, which form the so-calledpolitical-administrative system, responsible for managing the city. The traditional economic model of the city, based on taxes andpayment for certain services, seems to be no longer able to meet the transformation and investment needs necessary for itsoperation and maintenance. The public economy of cities is under pressure from new competitors, such as digital platforms andaggregators, which in direct connection with the population receive part of the cost and cause changes that affect urban publicpolicy.