A Penny for Your Thoughts?

 SMART CITIES: A SUSTAINABLE URBAN FUTURE OR A PRIVACY CONCERN?

You know the idea of flying cars, right? It’s amazing and honestly so amusing just to know that there are cars literally flying past over your head or when you don’t even need to use planes anymore because you already own a flying car. Now think about Smart Cities, what do you think that would look like? I’m currently considering my opinion regarding this topic but I never really thought hard about it, but our professor decided to include this topic to create a blog post. 

To give a brief overview of what smart cities are, they use data and technology to create efficiencies, improve sustainability, create economic development, and enhance quality of life factors for people living and working in the city. Now here is the question, is it worth it? Or will it cause a privacy concern? My answer would be that it would make a sustainable urban future because digital technology is advancing faster and it's being used more often now by society. According to Mark Warner and Stacey Mansker-Young(2023), smart cities have more effective, data-driven decision-making, enhance citizen and government engagement, safer communities, reduce environmental footprint, improve transportation, increase digital equity, new economic development opportunities, efficient public utilities, improve infrastructures, and increase workforce engagement. 

While I agree that smart cities can make a sustainable urban future, I also understand the privacy concern. Considering smart cities gather data, if that data is leaked then your privacy or the privacy of others can be revealed in public. Not only that but if the data gathered isn’t used correctly then you can be put in danger. In making smart cities, it's best to consider making sure that no data would be leaked while handling it.

In conclusion, having smart cities can make a sustainable urban future because it allows improvement and enhancement in the cities and urban locations but we also have to keep in mind that the privacy of the data of each citizen should be kept private. 

REFERENCE: Warner, M. (2023, July 14). Thinking about becoming a smart city? 10 benefits of smart cities. Our Insights | Plante Moran. https://www.plantemoran.com/explore-our-thinking/insight/2018/04/thinking-about-becoming-a-smart-city-10-benefits-of-smart-cities