Smart Cities of the Future: Including the Voice of the People

What is a Smart City?

A smart city is an innovative solution that includes a specific digital design implemented by a municipality or a metro area to solve some of its most wicked problems.

Planning Driven by Wicked Problems

Smart cities are an evolution of plans developed by planners, organizers, and administrators.

Wicked problems are complex issues that affect society and are not easily solved but require careful planning and well-thought solutions. Some would argue that it cannot be fixed. Over time wicked problems have become more complex as populations increase, motivations for work, societal beliefs, mass production, industrialization, and economic shifts (Rittel & Webber, 1973).

The idea of smart cities has been around since the 1990s as a means to begin new ideas that could influence public policymakers to incorporate more technology and innovation into future developments for cities. However, some city planners misused the term as a marketing tool to attract more citizens.

Even the United Nations has also incorporated sustainable cities and development into its 19 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a means of encouraging leaders to develop solutions to address the growing populations. The UN’s target goals focus on safety, inclusion, access, and sustainability.

What does this mean for urban cities in the South?

For the past few months, I have had the privilege of living in Atlanta. As someone who grew up in the South and frequently visited one of the greatest black cities in the world, I could not help but notice the change in the city. Places where I would once visit for leisure, fun, dining, education, and community have been replaced for buildings of the future. Several familiar establishments that were once a pastime for family and friends are non-existent. Today, those lots are filled with high-rise condominiums, entertainment centers, and buildings. While I can appreciate the updated and modern aesthetic, one cannot help but notice the major difference in the population that now dominates downtown Atlanta.

The city has plans to become a smart city and a leading city in the United States.

In a previous study for my Advanced Policy course assignment, I examined the need for policies to tackle the digital divide in mining Big Data in the United States that will be exasperated due to an increase in smart technologies. If the gaps in access to technology are not decreased, then valuable information that can be learned by vulnerable populations who currently do not have access will be missing from the policy. Surveys and data are collected from public access spaces. If a resident does not have access to the Internet or a device, then their input will not be included in the development of plans.

As policies continue to develop that will greenlight more smart projects of the future, the opinions of those who will be most impacted will be lost if efforts are not made to hear how smart plans currently affect them.

Questions to Consider:

  • How can smart city plans include the voices of its stakeholders, mainly its residents? Why should their voices matter?

  • Do you fear the emergence of smart cities?

Samuel GreenComment