Dancing through the Smooth City

Public space is not a neutral ground but a program: coded, zoned, and governed. Its materials, infrastructures, and laws choreograph how we move, and who belongs. In today’s cities, every movement is studied and predicted, every pause subject to suspicion. Governance operates through rhythm: through the tempo of surveillance, the timing of access, and the repetition of exclusions.

In a time when urban environments are increasingly designed to appear seamless SWARM wants to reintroduce instability as a form of care.

René Boer, writer of Smooth City, shared insights into how urban design, architecture, and legislation quietly script our movements and restrict possibilities for collective presence. With these ideas in mind, we stepped outside.

Together, we danced through the streets with music by DJ Cheb Runner, as an embodied exploration of collective agency.