Smart cities are designed to improve daily life for people who live and work in urban areas by making local services — ranging from waste collection to traffic management — run more efficiently.
However, a new report from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers — Smart Cities: Technology Friend or Foe? — says that, while digital technology and connectivity have a role to play in optimising the benefits of city living, there needs to be a change of approach from technology companies, governments and city authorities if this role is to be successfully realised.
Instead of focusing on projects and pilots that provide cities with Internet of Things ‘bling’ for self-promotion, the institution argues that more attention must be paid to engaging with people’s concerns about the use of technology in the cities in which they live.
What matters to people are issues such as equality of access, loss of skills, future jobs, social interaction, data ownership, privacy, freedom of choice and value for money, as well as a sense of place, community and purpose. Successful smart city projects will address these issues.
Recommending greater collaboration between cities, the report says that smart city programmes that encourage competition for access to public funding lead to ‘islands of success’ that are inequitable and unsustainable.
“What is needed is more collaborative working, with increased connectivity of cities to each other and their nearby rural communities,” the authors suggest.
Meanwhile, highlighting the potential vulnerability of electricity networks in an age of digitally integrated cities, the report says the UK needs to build new levels of resilience and reliability into its electricity system, including protection against hackers.
The report also calls for “a radical repurposing of education, training and skills development” to prepare people for living and working in a digitally-enabled urbanised society.