Introduction

The introduction of Artificial Intelligence into city systems is reconfiguring the intellectual and practical foundations of 21st-century cities. Cities are increasingly grappling with every issue from social injustice and climate change to infrastructure decay and mounting pressure on public services, and AI is not an add-on, a marginal overlay, but an integral component of smart urbanism. By no means restricted to technological systems themselves, AI touches on managing cities, the distribution of resources, and the cadence of daily life. This book offers a straightforward, interdisciplinary entry point to the place of Artificial Intelligence in constructing Smart Cities, both its transformative potential and the ethical, social, and political implications that it brings.