| Abstract |
This article interrogates the concept of technical memory in relation to smart city systems. Using the example of the UK air pollution monitoring system Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) and how information from this system is displayed in smartphone air monitoring apps, the article theorizes the memory of smart systems. Developing the work of Garcia, the article rethinks Stiegler's retentional accounts of technical memory, which suggest that memory is held or inscribed on or within a particular technical object. To do this it argues that technical memory can be productively considered as a form of artificial comprehension. Here, the memory of smart systems is analyzed through a variety of logics that disclose particular qualities of objects for particular purposes, which shapes how people make sense of and respond to their environment. Through the example of AURN, the article suggests that the concept of artificial comprehension is useful for geographers studying a range of smart and nonsmart technical systems. |
