This Friday, Shima Beigi, CEO and Co-founder of TAI/T, goes through the Conference of the Birds story’s structure and describes how we at TAI/T use the underlying philosophical message of this ancient work as a guiding light that informs our smart city therapeutic solutions.

TAI/T’s approach to smart cities is guided by the Triple AI model, which includes the followings:

- Awakened Individuals (AI.01)

- Ancient Intelligence (AI.02)

- Artificial Intelligence (AI.03)

Each of these forms of intelligence brings something unique to the Smart City conversation. Without awakened individuals, cities cannot become smart. Societies are lost without a solid appreciation of the universal body of ancient wisdom and intelligence. Without a resilient and meaningful application of artificial intelligence, the best technology cannot be realised. Thus, all these forms of intelligence are necessary building blocks of a truly smart city and civilisation.

What kind of cities do we want to live in?

The process of smart city design is a practice of rebuilding democracy from the bottom-up. In this process, everyone has a role to play: to become aware of the internal addictions and attachments to the old ways, to the business as usual. Humanity needs to wake up to the importance of personal transformation for the emergence of a better world.

Indeed, the process by which cities become smarter is complex, and often, the real purpose of change which is the evolution of humans and state of consciousness is forgotten. As a result, most smart city initiatives are technology-centric, soul-less and lack emotional connection with the human side of this transformation.

The Triple AI model aims to ensure cities remain authentic and humane during these testing and transition times.