Dissent | M Wilson/Getty
Silicon Valley companies sell themselves as innovation engines that offer solutions to the problems of urban life. But these tech giants do much more than promote and profit from technological change, they are part of a political project. This project, to quote former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, is about “changing how cities work.” Over the past decade companies like Uber have fought to secure market share, increase shareholder value, and change how we get around in cities. Underneath this façade, a political struggle is taking place for control over the economic and political power to decide what our cities should be like and who gets to decide.