In cities around the world, a new urban condition is spreading rapidly, characterized by ever-increasing levels of ‘perfection’, efficiency, control, and the active eradication of any aberration or alternative. In the smooth city, urban space is sanitized and urban life is compressed into a seamless experience. While the need for safe, clean, and well-functioning urban environments is clear, the rise of the smooth city undermines the democratic nature and emancipatory potential of cities as it leaves almost no space for anything experimental or incompatible with dominant norms.

In this talk, René Boer will introduce his book on the Smooth City, which offers a critical analysis of the origins, characteristics, and consequences of this phenomenon, while also offering a starting point to challenge the obsession with perfection and instead collectively work towards porosity in the urban realm.