Daniil Shuleyko on how Yango Group is building an operating system for the city

Image: MMG

For the past decade, “smart city” has been one of the most overhyped phrases in technology, and one of the most disappointing. From Toronto to Singapore, top-down projects have crashed against the same wall: cities are not blank slates. They are alive, chaotic, and resistant to master plans.

But there is another way. It starts not with a master plan, but with everyday life, with the routines people repeat without thinking. You build services that slip into those routines, removing friction and adding a little more convenience each time. One service at a time, one problem at a time, each new layer sitting on the…