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Nowadays, we always see friends share their activity data on social media, such as daily steps or walking distance. People use data in wearable devices to prove that they live healthily, but they didn’t realize that this type of technology becomes a part of their lives. Just as Benjamin Bratton says, “the city wears us,” machines unconsciously influence people. They not only extend our sensing but also become a part of our “skin.” Of course, wearable devices can’t represent the smart city, but it is a good example of artificial intelligence.

Every iPhone user has an app called Health. It summarizes users’ everyday health data such as average sleep hours, Walking + running distance, steps, and even step length. It also analyzes the data to build users’ health profiles. Many users love those numbers to know how many hours they sleep last month and their running distance in the past week. However, it’s also scary when machines know us better than we know about ourselves. Similarly, wearable devices such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit have sensors that monitor and track heartbeat or glucose levels when people wear clothes. For example, such device uses a tuned algorithm to detect unique motion patterns. Those patterns must meet the specific requirements in the pre-set algorithm. Apple Watch uses a technology called photoplethysmography or PPG to measure heart rate. It will test how much red or green light the device can see when looking at the skin on the wrist.

Wearable devices are like the new skin that extend our sensory system, but people who use the same device share the same sensory system. Just as Benjamin says, “the flexibility and ubiquity of these sensors is also a function of the platformization of components and sub-components across applications, and the distribution of the same or similar sensors across unlike surfaces means that very different kinds of bodies share the same sensory systems.” Sensors in wearable devices provide key metrics to collect and predict health data, but they create an invisible platform that allows companies to use those data in other places. The health data is private to users, but it is open to wearable technology owners. Therefore, when consumers use Fitbit or Apple Watch, they share their “skin” with others. Besides, smartwatches and Fitbit have become a symbol of a healthy lifestyle. People who love exercise love to wear Fitbit or similar products because they are used in social contexts to represent their identities. It defines who they are. Similarly, white-collar workers love to wear Apple Watch because it looks professional and has different functions representing who they are. If we back to the old debate of whether AI can compete with human beings, it may show that machines can’t compete with humans, but they controlled us. Technology not only shapes our daily lives but also changes how we think about ourselves.

                                

Neil Postman once said: “all technological change is a trade-off.” It means that technology giveth but also taketh away. It is the same for today’s “smart cities”. Big tech companies in the U.S such as Google, Amazon and Uber hope to build a more modern and digitalized city so they transfer almost everything into data and use data to predict consumers’ behaviors. It is true that technology makes our life easier. For example, nowadays we use google map to search places we want to go. It provides the fastest route from our home to the office. It also shows restaurants and supermarkets near home. When all routes and restaurants are categorized into maps. A 3D city becomes flattened.

In the article, A City Is Not a Computer, the author says that “urban intelligence is more than information processing,” because the city is not just about algorithms and data. Many things can be archived into digital library such as records, books, but performances, cooking can’t be archived into digital forms. I agree that a city is not a computer, but I believe the city is a digitalized world. What technology can do is to make our lives more convenience. It can’t directly change the city into computer, but it digitalized everything piece by piece. For example, the whole city is being digitalized into maps. Places we went to can be showed as lines and points in the map. If we put our everyday steps and routes into the database, it creates a graph that summaries our everyday life. Similarly, performances can also be archived as information, because many performances are recorded as videos so they can be put into digital libraries. Delivery apps know what we ordered last month, and they recommend restaurants we might interested in. Almost everything can be categorized into different types of data, but it didn’t mean that those software and hardware will replace the city.

What makes a city vibrant is not just modern infrastructure but people and the city’s history. When Hubert Dreyfus talks about what computers can’t do, he argues that artificial intelligence can’t replace human because the brain processes information different. The city includes urban infrastructure and people. Even if urban infrastructure is digitalized, people are always changing. Stories between the city and people are also changing. They are not computers because they think differently. If we view cities as computers, there are always outsiders. For example, in Chongqing, maps are always useless. The city is well-known as a 3D city, but all maps are two-dimensional. Many local restaurants are located under viaduct bridge or hide inside buildings, so maps can’t accurately record their locations.

What is “infrastructure”, it used to refer to fixed facilities such as air bases, but today it refers to any essential and widely shared human-constructed resource. When talking about infrastructure, we always think about transportation, electrical power or water supply, because they are the basic needs for our daily life.  No matter electrical power or water supply, it connected human with the nature so human today can control time and space. With the development of network, mobile phone become the necessity in our life, especially in China. Mobile phone is not just a tool for communication, but a multi-tool for everyday life. People use mobile phone to pay for everything instead of card or cash. It challenged some old infrastructures such as banks. Besides, people use mobile phones to watch news and TV shows. Therefore, newspapers and magazines are dying, and the printing industry is severely threatened by high technology.

What’s behind the mobile phone is cellular network. Mobile phone receives and makes calls through cell site or transmitting tower. Cellular network is used by the mobile phone operator such as China Telecom and China Mobile. Because each cell site has different range, some transmitting towers build in cities, but others may build in the suburban areas. Receiving messages and calls are basic elements for mobile phone, but for many people, the internet connection is even more important. For example, in some suburban areas or on the plane, there’s no signal, which means no service to call or send messages, but people can connect with wifi to use internet. In China, most people use WeChat to send messages and call, because it’s free and more convenient. When we meet new people, we add them on WeChat instead of add their phone numbers. Mobile internet infrastructure not only connects the space and time, but also expend them. For example, if I only use iPhone to call or message someone, it only creates the connection between me and the person I’m calling. However, the internet gives me more choices to connect with the person. I can start a video call so I can not only hear that person’s voice, but also see him visually. I can also choose group call by speaking to multiply friends virtually. We may live in different countries and have different time zones, but the internet brings people together in the same virtual space and breaks the limitations of space and time. Just as Edwards says “infrastructures possess the power to shape human time, shaping the preconditions under which we experience time’s structure and its passage.”

Although some people may argue that technology or infrastructure changes the society, I believe that  the society, people’s needs drive infrastructures to develop. In China, mobile phone develops better than computers or laptops because many people from suburban areas or low-income workers can’t afford the computer. The society drives those big companies or organizations to build more cell site, and develop more applications for mobile phone instead of for computers.

Late night life in Chongqing is different from any other cities. Although Chongqing has clubs and bars, they are not the final destination of their weekend life. ShaokaoTan, the Chinese BBQ, or the late-night street vendor, is always the last stop before anyone go home and end their weekend night. Shaokao is the soul of Chongqing’s night life. When I was young, many ShaokaoTan street vendors are mobile. They move from one place to another to find customers. Most of ShaokaoTan located near bars and clubs or near shopping center, because that’s where they can find more customers. There are also “secret ShaokaoTan.” Those street vendors are usually hard to find. They may hide behind buildings or customers have to walk across a narrow alley to get there.

 

However, after I grow up. Many ShaokaoTan disappeared. Some of them move to other places, but others give up doing this business because of government regulations. Chengguan and other police administrations officers view those street vendors as illegal business owners, especially during Wang LiJun era. Wang Lijun is a Chinese former police chief in Chongqing. For political reasons, he and Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing, hope to bring Chongqing “new blood” by rebuilding the city’s outlook. Wang LiJun build hundreds of outside police stations to create a “safe Chongqing”, and at the same time throw out a lot of street vendors, because those street vendors don’t fit the image of new Chongqing. Shaokao Tan street vendors are scared of opening their business because police stations are usually located near shopping centers, bars and clubs. Mobile ShaokaoTan gradually disappeared but occasionally they will appear near Karaoke places.

Few years ago, Chongqing established a policy only for street vendors regulations. The policy has specific requirements for legal street vendors. Street vendors must have a license to open their businesses, but there are limitations for food categories. For example, health care products, children food and alcohol are not allowed as small businesses or street vendors.  Besides, street vendors must have a physical location to open their businesses, which means they must have a store to make food. This policy may be the strictest one for mobile ShaoKaoTan street vendors. Mobile ShaoKao Tan always make BBQ on their cars, where they put a grill and use charcoal to set up fire. Although their “kitchen” are visible and small, sometimes those grills may not look that clean, street vendors don’t have to pay for the rental fee. However, if they need a physical store, they have to pay for the high rent. Most Shaokao Tan owners are Dibaohu, and their small businesses are usually run by a couple or a family of three or four. They use their Shaokao Tan to make a living for a whole family, but paying rent for a physical location is too expensive for them.

When I was young, my parents always say “Don’t buy street food. They are not clean. If you eat them, you will have a stomachache.” However, my parents will always buy fruits and vegetables from street vendors because they are cheaper and fresh. Most of farmers who sale those fresh fruits come from nearby mountains, so people who live in the city always believe street vendors have the most authentic fruits. After I traveled to different cities, I found out that almost every big city has street vendors. Some of them exist in similar locations, such as bus stations, food market, but some street vendors are unique for one city.

For example, in New York, street vendors always appear in street corners or near subway stations. In the morning, vendors sale breakfast items such as bagel, croissant. At the lunchtime, you can find different types of street food such as Chinese food, Halal food, Thai food and chicken over rice. People who buy street food are not just lower-class workers who want to find cheaper meals, but also white collar who earns a lot in Manhattan’s big buildings. However, less people buy street fruits and vegetables, because many people believe that fruits and vegetables in supermarkets or local markets are more trustworthy. Street vendors in Manhattan are always in the same place, and it’s unlikely to find illegal street food vendors, because they need certain license to sale food on the street.

However, in Chongqing, most of street food are near schools, railway stations and local markets. It’s really hard to find street food near workplaces or office buildings, because office buildings always have strict regulations, so it’s difficult for them to enter the office area. Street food are less popular among upper class, but all classes love to buy street fruits and vegetables because customers believe street fruits are more organic than those in supermarkets.  Unlike street vendors in New York who have fixed locations, many street vendors in Chongqing are always moving because they are not allowed to occupy public streets, so they are always worried about the police.

When I was young, I always hear news about the urban police and street vendors.  Street vendors call urban police as“Chengguan”（城管） ,  a local government agency that responsible for the city’s planning and management. They are famous for cracking down on unlicensed street vendors. Both Chengguan and street vendors suffered injustice in the past few years, because some Chengguan use their power to abuse street vendors, but some street vendors use social media to threaten Chengguan.  It’s difficult to find balance between Chengguan and street vendors, because Chengguan wants to make the city look better but street vendors who can’t pay for the high rent need to make a living. When I was young, there are lots of street vendors outside the school, but if someone says “Chengguan is coming”, those street vendors will disappear in a few second.

Chongqing is my hometown. It is famous for Mala hot pot. No matter where I go, hot pot becomes the symbol that represents my memories in Chongqing.  Chongqing hot pot was first eaten by boatmen near Yangtze River. People eat spicy hot pot because it’s easier to boil different vegetables and meat together, and also because spicy food are healthy for the humid weather. Today, Chongqing hot pot becomes the city’s cultural tradition, and tourists all come to the city to taste the most authentic Mala hot pot. When I studied in the U.S, hot pot became the food that I missed the most. It’s not just the taste of the food, but memories of my hometown. Just like the author said in the essay Thinking about Food in Chinese History, “regional foodways remain a core component of cultural identity in China. Both the tenacity of regional taste preferences and the almost limitless flexibility that food provides as a vehicle for constructing a sense of home and imagining an ideal society.”

I have eaten Chongqing hot pot in many countries and cities, but they all taste differently. The taste of hot pot changes based on local customers’ needs. Outside Chongqing, hot pot is just a symbol of the city. For example, in Flushing, Chongqing LaoZao hot pot (重庆老灶) is famous for making the most authentic Chongqing hot pot in New York. The restaurant has many Chongqing style decorations and furniture. It looks like a hot pot restaurant in Chongqing, but it tastes differently. It’s not spicy and ma (麻) enough, because many Americans can’t eat spicy food. Similarly, in Shanghai, many hot pot restaurants taste sweet because local Shanghainese love to eat sweet food. Back to my experience, even though I know those restaurants are not authentic enough, I still love to go, because it is my way of “culinary nostalgia, the recollection or purposive evocation of another time and place through food.” It is a form of self-deception. I’m always eager to find authentic Chongqing hot pot around the world although I know it’s pointless and nearly impossible, because people who lived in that city are different. Even the same owner opened the restaurant in New York, London and Shanghai, she or he has to localize Chongqing hot pot based on the local market. Today, Chongqing hot pot is not just the food but the symbol of reginal culture. When I talked to my friends about hot pot, I always start with the history of hot pot and some cultural traditions while eating hot pot. The taste of hot pot is not that important outside the Chongqing, but the story of Mala hot pot becomes vital.