Faith Atabo
With the rapid rise in technological advancement, most urban cities across the world, especially in developed nations would be 100% Tech-Driven in no distant future.
The big question remains, “how safe would you feel to live in a city where everything is controlled with just a “click” of a button?”
Another mind buggling question would be “ who gets access to the high number of data collected to run a smart city”. Also what happens to individual privacy ?.
Well, in this article, we tried to showcase both the “prons” and “cons” of living in a smart city, giving you the ultimate power to make your decision.
Let's dive in!
What Is A Smart City
A smart city is a technologically modern urban area which uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_city)
The Information gained from that data is used to manage and control assets, resources and services efficiently; in return, that data is used to improve operations across the city.
This includes data collected from citizens, devices, buildings and assets which is processed and analyzed to monitor and manage traffic and transportation systems,power plants,utilities, urban forestry, water supply networks, waste, criminal investigations, information systems, schools, libraries, hospitals, and other community services.
Smart cities can also be defined as smart both in the ways in which their government harness technology as well as in how they monitor, analyze, plan, and govern the city.
In smart cities, the sharing of data is not limited to the city itself but also includes businesses, citizens and other third parties that can benefit from various uses of that data. Sharing data from different systems and sectors creates opportunities for increased understanding and economic benefits.
How Is Data Collected?
Ever heard of the OSI Model?.
In summary, , the OSI model (open systems interconnection) model is a conceptual model that enables diverse communication systems to communicate using standard protocols.
With the OsI model of layer abstraction, smart cities have been conceptualized.
They are constructed by connecting the city's public infrastructure with city application systems and passing data collected through three layers, the perception (physical) layer, the network layer and the application layer.
The City application systems then uses the data to make better decisions when controlling different city infrastructures. The perception layer is where data is collected across the smart city using sensors. This data could be collected through sensors such as cameras, RFID, or GPS positioning.
The perception layer sends the data collected using wireless transmissions to the network layer. The network layer is responsible for transporting collected data from the perception (physical) layer to the application layer.
The network layer uses a city's communication infrastructure to send data meaning it can be intercepted by attackers and must be held responsible for keeping collected data and information private.
The application layer is responsible for processing the data received from network layer. The application layer uses the data it processes to make decisions on how to control the city infrastructure based on the data it receives.
Having understood what smart cities are, let's check out some of the benefits as well as concern of living in a smart city.
Benefits Of Living In A Smart City
- The smart city concept integrates ICT (information and communication technology), and various physical devices connected to the IOT (internet of things) network to optimize the efficiency of city operations and services and connect to citizens.
- Smart city technology allows city officials to interact directly with both community and city infrastructure and to monitor what is happening in the city and how the city is evolving. ICT is used to enhance quality, performance and interactivity of urban services, to reduce cost and resource consumption and to increase contact between citizens and government.
- Smart city applications are developed to manage urban flows and allow for real-time responses. A smart city may therefore be more prepared to respond to challenges than one with a conventional "transactional" relationship with its citizens.
Some Major Concerns
- In the smart city environment there are many threats that affect the privacy of individuals. The technology is involved in scanning, identification, checking the current location, including time and direction of movement. Residents may feel that they are constantly monitored and controlled
- The high level of big data collection and analytics has raised questions regarding surveillance in smart cities particularly as it relates to predictive policing and abuse by law enforcement.(The big question remains- who controls the data being collected).
- The focus of the concept of smart city may lead to an underestimation of the possible negative effects of the development of the new technological and networked infrastructures needed for a city to be smart.( These negative effect could be adverse!)
- Especially in low-income countries, smart cities are irrelevant to the urban population which lives in poverty with limited access to basic services. A focus on smart cities may worsen inequality and marginalization.
- A bias in strategic interest may lead to ignoring non-ICT centered modes of promising urban development
My Final Thoughts
Living in a 100% smart city sounds like a dream come true for the likes of Elon Musk. I mean, who wouldn't want to live in a city where everything is controlled technologically.
However, the question remains;who controls and has access to the high amount of people's data needed to power a tech driven Urban space.
I leave you to make your decision.
“would you live in a smart city? leave your answer below in the comment section”
Whatever your answer is, understand that our world is rapidly changing before our very eyes.