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The many Smart City initiatives being designed and implemented in municipalities across the world give rise to the question of how the changes brought about by this new technology can be efficiently managed, especially in terms of security. This is a relevant question for all technological fields, but even more so in the case of Smart Cities.
As cities are going through a digital transformation, and become better connected, these processes generate, collect and handle a vast amount of data. This article takes a brief look at the way in which current initiatives collect and share data, as well as handle privacy concerns.
Despite the rapid progress of Smart City solutions, 2018 was a year of Smart City skepticism, caused by a number of incidents with safety and data privacy. This, however, does not reduce the vast potential of the Smart City concept. It simply means that more care should be taken in 2019.
The Smart City is a concept which is getting widely popular in the last few years, becoming almost a catchphrase, and definitions have existed for around a decade now. Despite this, it seems that most citizens are not aware of the term, although they do have a good understanding of specific initiatives which are part of the concept.
The Smart City concept is constantly growing in popularity as more and more solutions and features move from design to implementation stage and have an actual impact. A glance at ten of the “best” (according to Business Matters) existing smart cities from around the world can demonstrate the ways in which technological solutions are improving citizens’ lives.
Smart City projects are moving from planning to implementation, with projects gaining traction, delivering concrete results, and knowledge and good practices spreading. As dozens of Smart City projects are underway around the world, ranging from relatively minor interventions to brand new cities built from scratch, it is worth taking a look at the current state of play in the field.
Battery powered e-bikes and e-scooters have been becoming increasingly popular worldwide, from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, and major companies like Ford, GM and Uber and jumping on the trend. Smart Cities, eager to become cleaner, reduce traffic, and improve urban life, can find some potential in such vehicles, but their smart and efficient use depends on several factors.