Sensors are important but not the only aspect where changes are being made. Technology can also be used to make better collective decisions [114, 115]. This possibility enables societies to respond adaptively to different situations. This also helps governments to better administer cities. 

Governments have also been making their data publicly available, so that citizens can use this information in novel ways [25]. Opening data and information enables many potential applications. Also data created by citizens can be useful. For example, after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, people used OpenStreetMap 4 to improve maps and assist rescue and humani- tarian aid efforts, identifying via satellite pictures collapsed buildings, refugee camps, and other damages. 

The availability and processing of masses of urban data open the potential to govern- ments that adapt constantly to changes in demand of their citizens. Moreover, they allow an increased citizen participation in governance, slowly fading the differences between gov- ernors and the governed. An extreme democracy can be reached when the opinion of every citizen has the same weight on any political affair. This would be achieved only with liv- ing technology, since such a system would have to adapt constantly to the changes in the population. 

## 3.5 Safety 

In a similar way that living technology can improve governments, it can improve urban safety. On the one hand, prompt and adaptive response to natural and artificial catastrophes is facilitated. On the other hand, an urban mesh of sensors can increase public safety by monitoring public and private spaces, thus increasing citizen accountability. Simply having cameras to detect traffic infractions enforces people to comply with traffic rules, which—if designed properly—lead to increased road safety. Artificial immune systems (AIS) have been proposed to to prevent intrusions in networked 

