This book makes the case that several urban technologies contribute to wicked problems such as climate change and vast social and economic inequalities. Such situations often create unfavorable conditions for mental life in cities. These conditions force us to expand the taxonomy of technology to include new designations: “wicked” and “saving” technologies. Epting holds that the latter can support worthwhile goals such as socially just urban sustainability. Along with fleshing out this view, he provides concrete examples of saving technologies, which include cohousing initiatives, ariel cable cars, participatory budgeting, and car-free zones/cities.

Shane Epting is an assistant professor of philosophy at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and he is a co-founder of the Philosophy of the City Research Group. Epting is the author of The Morality of Urban Mobility: Technology and Philosophy of the City (Rowman and Littlefield, 2021).