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Weighing Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart Cities

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32 views4 pages

Weighing Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart Cities

Uploaded by

shazadamommayev05
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Weighing Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart Cities

Shazada Mommayev

Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Middle East Technical University

ENG 101: English for Academic Purposes I

Lecturer Kasimoğlu Demir Delal

January 2, 2023
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Weighing Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart Cities

Nowadays, technology plays an excessive role in the development of many aspects of our

society. The structure of cities is not an exception, and the concept of "smart cities" recently

emerged in the city and regional planning systems. Smart cities could be defined as the cities

within which innovative technology is applied to make their citizens’ lives more prosperous.

While this approach assists in many aspects of society, some obstacles such as privacy concerns

and social exclusion should not go unnoticed. Therefore, prior to investing in smart cities, these

obstacles need to be taken into consideration and dealt with properly so that the exclusion of

minorities does not occur.

To begin with, many researchers and articles indicate that there are considerable advantages of

this technology in many aspects of the service industry that consequently improve the quality of

life. According to Albash (2023), the whole system of smart cities is mainly facilitated by the

Internet of Things (IoT). This is technology that assists in improving the management of the city

by collecting and assessing an enormous quantity of data. This means that, with the assistance of

the system, traffic issues, and crime rates can be decreased, and some upcoming natural

disasters can be warned and prevented. This system assures that an immense amount of

collected data is secured and obeys privacy rules. However, it raises particular concerns

regarding privacy and misuse of this information. The research held by de Montjoye et al. (2015,

as cited in Green, 2019) in which solely anonymous personal IDs were included 90% of real

personal identities were identified by analyzing the data collected by the IoT system. One may

claim that there are ways not to be tracked by not using particular services. With the

development of this system, more services become online. Consequently, one who opts not to

be tracked would most likely be excluded from transportation when the ticket system turns

online platform. Another instance of this could be experienced in the health care system, lately,

more doctor appointments are held online. Even staying connected with your close ones can

become a challenge if communication shifts to a particular phone application. Another point that
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is worth mentioning is that according to Green (2019) even without using any service provided

by IoT and mobile applications, the surveillance system of smart cities would make it a

challenging experience. As a result, one who decides not to be tracked may not achieve it even

without using any of the services mentioned above. This can lead to an ethical issue such as

exclusion from social participation and more importantly fundamental privacy rights.

Consequently, it can lead to creating or worsening existing social gaps. Thus, minorities could

face discrimination by the use of information collected from surveillance cameras which are also

included in the system of IoT.

Conclusively, while smart cities would improve the life satisfaction of most of its residents,

obstacles such as privacy concerns and misuse of the collected data should be properly dealt

with. Consequently, we can build cities that serve its citizens and not exclude any of them.
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References

Albaş, Ö. (2023). From science fiction to reality: How smart cities are revolutionizing urban life.

In Ö. Albaş, & E. Aksoy, The forefront: Achieving academic success 1 (2nd ed., pp. 70-73).

Pelikan Publishing

Green, B. (2023). The responsible city: Avoiding technology’s undemocratic social contracts. In Ö.

Albaş, & E. Aksoy, The forefront: Achieving academic success 1 (2nd ed., pp. 79-81).

Pelikan Publishing. (Adapted from The smart enough city: Putting technology in its place

to reclaim our urban future, pp. 91-116, by B. Green, 2019, MIT Press)

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