Join Urban Design Forum, The Architectural League of New York, and the League’s digital publication, Urban Omnibus, for a discussion on the role of public knowledge in citymaking. The “smart city” framework often abstracts urban processes with metaphors that compare cities to computers, dashboards, or algorithms. Yet the oversimplification of these metaphors can lead to the rebuff of local knowledge. In her most recent book, A City Is Not a Computer, Shannon Mattern explores how centering community-based information over big data or “intelligent” systems can support equitable citymaking and a more just design process. For this discussion, we will convene architects, planners, and creative technologists to respond to themes of community design, civic data, libraries, and maintenance. Mattern will provide an introduction to A City Is Not a Computer, followed by a discussion with Karen Fairbanks, Farzana Gandhi, Shawn Rickenbacker, and Dan Taeyoung.