Artificial Intelligence: The New Invisible Hand of Sustainable Cities?

This paper critically examines the hypothesis that artificial intelligence (AI) could become a contemporary form of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” in sustainable urban governance. Drawing on debates on the smart city, environmental justice, and critiques of technological solutionism, it analyzes how AI applications optimize urban flows but simultaneously risk reinforcing social, informational, and ecological asymmetries. The main argument is that AI does not spontaneously generate sustainability: it reflects the power structures that shape its deployment. The essay finally outlines the conditions for an emancipatory digital governance based on transparency, citizen participation, and infrastructural sobriety.