Published Oxford research essay · 2025-11
Artificial Intelligence: The New Invisible Hand of Sustainable Cities?
Examines the analogy between artificial intelligence and Adam Smith’s invisible hand, arguing that optimising individual urban systems does not automatically deliver sustainable or fair outcomes.
This essay asks whether artificial intelligence could coordinate urban activity like a modern invisible hand. It finds that AI systems reflect the choices and power structures behind them, and that local efficiency gains can deepen inequalities or environmental burdens. It argues for transparent governance, citizen participation, public oversight and infrastructure sobriety if urban AI is to serve sustainability and justice.
Artificial intelligenceUrban governanceSustainabilityAdam SmithDemocratic oversight
Published in November 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17938907
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