The Evolution Of Smart Cities
Today’s smart cities were born from tragedy. After the 9/11 attacks, New York City and other cities installed 24×7 surveillance cameras and AI to protect public spaces through public-private partnerships (PPP) driven by cities and corporations. Cities routinely gather huge amounts of data in a top-down fashion without any public review. In China, social profiling is used to monitor political and social behavior as a way to control the right to travel, education and housing. In Toronto, Google touts its Sidewalk Lab as a way to revitalize the waterfront, but citizens are divided over growing concerns about the lack of data privacy and transparency.