Some ethical and technological challenges of smart cities

Abstract

The term ‘smart city’ is open to many interpretations, but all are underpinned by the idea that use of disruptive digital technologies, supported by copious ingestion of real-time data and analytics, can advantageously help address the challenges posed by rapid and accelerating rates of urbanisation. The smart city is not however a new paradigm, as some commentators would have us believe, but is perhaps better described as an enabler where traditional networked infrastructure and urban services are delivered and monitored more efficiently … the added value lies in how smarter technologies are used rather than the innate qualities of the technologies per se. This essay is a commentary on the smart city concept, it’s evolution and continuing development. It does not masquerade as research, but details how innovative smart technologies can and should be beneficially deployed in urban settings, before interrogating some potentially serious negative ramifications of doing so. Of particular concern are the increasingly surreptitious surveillance implications. The moral dilemma and important ethical questions resulting from the use of big data to scrutinise and profile individuals and communities, compromising their privacy and anonymity without their knowledge or consent, cannot be underestimated and appears beyond the control of prevailing data protection protocols.