Commentary on “Toward a Dracula Urbanism”

The “Dracula urbanism” conception seeks to identify destructive transformation underway in cities under the guise of the “smart city” movement. According to the Wilson and Wyly assessment of trends in Flint, Michigan and Jakarta, Indonesia (but by implication occurring on a global scale), an exploitative “real estate state” is systematically rooting out all traces of decay (and by implication the poor) not only to purify the environment but also to reap enormous profits. The two cases assessed show, at different urban scales, that large scale developments are underway in concert with key political leaders. At the same, however, there are public plans and community advocacy groups representing alternative visions with the smart city movement, ensuring that parasitic practices do not go unchallenged. The Dracula urbanism metaphor fails to capture this side. Smart city governance in Jakarta (and other Indonesian cities) actually engenders greater governmental capacity to address general citizen needs. In Flint, some new development addresses previously unmet community needs. While useful to underscore the transformative role of real estate developers in shaping a new brand of urbanism, the Dracula urbanism model fails to capture the complexities of the modern city's response to the enduring challenges of serving all its citizens.