In complexity we trust: A systematic literature review of urban quantum technologies

Abstract

Today's cities are facing increasingly complex challenges. The growing uncertainty and complexity—caused by the unremitted differentiation of social, environmental, and technological orders—call for novel ways of conceptualizing urban reality. Although technology-oriented solutions shape the most efficient strategies to manage complexity in contemporary cities, ensuring an effective transition toward a Quantum City paradigm can grant considerable advantages for city administrators and managers facing looming urban challenges. In this article, we introduce the Quantum City metaphor—grounded in fundamental notions of quantum mechanics—as a new conceptual lens for investigating urban complexity. We then build upon the metaphor, theorizing a set of assumptions grounded in three fundamental concepts of quantum theory: relativity, uncertainty, and duality/parallelism. Finally, we propose an empirical conceptualization of Quantum Cities based on the concrete adoption of quantum technologies to deal with urban complexity. This is achieved through a systematic literature review of scholarly records on quantum technologies in the context of social sciences, emphasizing related urban problematics and challenges. Principal component analysis and agglomerative hierarchical clustering reveal two types of quantum technologies most useful for city planners and managers: quantum communication and quantum computing. Accordingly, we perform a qualitative thematic synthesis of related scholarly records, emphasizing the negative and positive aspects of both types of urban quantum technologies.