{"id":26333,"date":"2024-06-23T04:04:53","date_gmt":"2024-06-23T11:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/gardeners-in-the-city-of-the-future-an-interview-with-eric-baczuk\/"},"modified":"2024-06-23T04:04:56","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T11:04:56","slug":"gardeners-in-the-city-of-the-future-an-interview-with-eric-baczuk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/gardeners-in-the-city-of-the-future-an-interview-with-eric-baczuk\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardeners in the City of the Future: An Interview with Eric Baczuk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"-\"<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

\n

I had the pleasure of interviewing Eric Baczuk, Designer at Google. We discuss his views on the future urban experience and design. We also touch on Sidewalk Labs of which Eric was a founding team member.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What
\nare you working on currently?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I lead a design team imagining future of
\ncommunication and thinking about possibilities for what\u2013if anything\u2013might
\nreplace the smartphone in our daily lives. What could be the next affordance or
\ndevice that could offer us a more seamless interface with the digital world?<\/p>\n

Can you
\nbe more specific about the interfaces?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Eric
Eric Baczuk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s really just imagining a future with
\ndigital interfaces that might be a bit more natural and more humane than what
\nis currently available. In many ways, I think the phone has monopolized social
\nlife. You see people standing on the street, for example, waiting for the bus,
\nand 99 percent will have their noses glued to their phones. I think it\u2019s quite
\nanti-social, and in some ways, prevents the friendly, serendipitous encounters
\nthat used to be so characteristic of urban living.<\/p>\n

You
\nwork now at Google, but you were one of the originators of Sidewalk Labs. How
\nand why did it come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was on the founding team at Sidewalk labs.
\nIt emerged from a number of conversations we had with the senior leadership at
\nGoogle. The thought was, if we could combine people-centered urban design with
\ncutting-edge technology, we could define new quality of life standards for
\ncities, with a special emphasis on things like sustainability, affordability,
\nmobility, and economic opportunity. The thinking was that If we build the city
\n\u201cfrom internet up\u201d, using all the technology that\u2019s available today and weren\u2019t
\nencumbered by all the legacy infrastructure, constructs, and technology\u2013if we
\nstarted from scratch\u2013what could we do differently?<\/p>\n

I was involved in the first two years of the
\nprogram, setting it up, and establishing early relationships in Toronto.
\nGenerally, my work was in construction innovation\u2014laying out a vision for how
\npermitting, contracts, design, materials could be improved with the help of
\ndigital technologies, and how these could lead to more sustainable and
\ncost-effective outcomes.<\/p>\n

Can you
\nsay a few words about Sidewalk Toronto?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sidewalk Labs is developing a proposal for a
\ncommunity on Toronto\u2019s Eastern Waterfront to tackle the challenges of urban
\ngrowth, by working in partnership with a the tri-government agency called
\nWaterfront Toronto and the local community. This joint effort, called Sidewalk
\nToronto, aims to make Toronto the global hub for urban innovation. I have to
\nremind you that I don\u2019t officially work there anymore, so it\u2019s not fair for me
\nto give away much more than that.<\/p>\n

Developing
\nold and new cities will require new type of collaboration on many levels, e.g.
\ncity planning, design, construction, mobility, public and private services,
\netc. Data and technologies are enablers. How can we end up having a functional
\ncity instead of a chaotic collection of competing and overlapping systems?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Great question. I think ultimately, a lot of
\nthat comes down to political will. You see some cities and governments around
\nthe world who are incredibly aligned in their vision for the future, and who
\nare making great progress by working with industry to set standards and best
\npractices for development to follow\u2013i.e. Singapore. In others where there is
\nmuch resistance and political in-fighting among municipal stakeholders, it
\nmakes it very difficult to get even simple, obvious things done (which is what
\nwe see today in many parts of the Bay Area, where I live). So, in an
\ninteresting way, despite all the capabilities of data and modern technology, I
\nfirmly believe that decision-making power in cities remains\u2013and should
\nremain!\u2013in the hands of governments operating in the best interest of their
\nconstituents.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s
\nyour outlook on the future urban citizen experience: for example, what will we
\nbe free from doing and what will our new freedoms be like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

People like to make fun of Silicon Valley by
\nsaying that all the new start-ups\u2013laundry service, on-demand transportation,
\nfood delivery, etc.\u2013are just trying to do things that our mom\u2019s used to do for
\nus. But as emerging technologies apply to urbanism, I think the freedoms could
\nbe much more profound than that.<\/p>\n

I like to think of Urban design as the design
\nof lifestyle. It\u2019s an expression of values that propagate themselves in the
\nbuilt world.<\/p>\n

I believe people are starting to more deeply
\nunderstand the interconnected city of nature, people, economy. And to a degree,
\nmany of us are recognizing that Less is sometimes More. Technology and digital
\nservices are now allowing urban citizens to use less energy and resources, live
\nhigher qualities of urban life in smaller footprints, have unprecedented access
\nto mobility. And the net of all this will be moving us towards more sensible,
\nresponsible and humane urban environments.<\/p>\n

In the future city, I would like to think of
\nourselves as gardeners\u2013acting more out of generosity, than self-interest, and
\nusing technology to cultivate the neighborhoods and communities we want to live
\nand grow in. It is this expression of love and intention that builds spirit and
\ntranscendent places in cities, and this is what I\u2019m afraid has been left out of
\nurban design for much of the last century or more.<\/p>\n

What do
\nyou say to the critics who are worried about privacy and use of their data?
\nWhat are some of the solutions to balance ease of living and working with
\nprivacy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes\u2013I would say they should be worried about
\nprivacy and use of their data! We all should. I think we\u2019re sort of in this
\nawkward adolescence with regards to our online presence and the digital exhaust
\n(behavioral excess, as some call it) that it creates. For now, most of us are
\nrecognizing its importance, but the rules that make the most of this resource
\nin a fair and equitable way are still evolving, still maturing. I think the
\nsolutions will emerge from honest and open conversations about what data is
\nbeing collected, who owns it, how it\u2019s being used and who benefits.<\/p>\n

Finally:
\nWho or what will lead urban development in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m excited by a future that will allow us to
\ndepart from the 20th century model of design, towards a co-evolution of cities
\nanchored community engagement and empowerment. The current task is about making
\ndigital (and even biological) tools, that let urban design become more
\nemergent, and less predetermined. We need to think of ourselves as mutagens
\nworking to accelerate natural processes\u2013to remedy the past and set up
\nresilience for our common future.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see you at WDBE 2019<\/a> in September. Do you already have an idea about your keynote? How can our audience best connect with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Folks can reach out to me on LinkedIn<\/a>. I\u2019ll be giving a brand new talk this year \u2013 trying out some new material \u2013 so folks may love it or hate, but at least it will be fresh!<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n