Bugs in the Smart City

Abstract

Abstract This chapter brings a suburban fringe residential development in Australia into dialogue with ‘smart’ initiatives in mosquito management. Our example illustrates inadvertent intensification of non-human presence, especially mosquito breeding, through its development emphases on riparian aesthetics and on economics, which leave ‘smart’ control solutions to individual householders. Inspired by thinkers such as Bruno Latour, Robert Chia, and François Jullien, we suggest that an approach of ‘upstream’ investigation into the production of conditions of co-becoming can function as an alternative to established ‘downstream’ mosquito management practices premised on control and eradication. We conclude that forms of smart urban planning and residential estate development might rely less on artificial intelligence and Wi-Fi technology than a smarter appreciation of development milieus.