Information Policy

Commission to invest €14.7 billion from Horizon Europe for a healthier, greener and more digital Europe

The Commission has adopted the main work programme of Horizon Europe for the period 2021-2022, which outlines the objectives and specific topic areas that will receive a total of €14.7 billion in funding.

Are We Overselling “Smart Cities”?

Headlines can’t get enough of smart cities, but are they worth the enormous trade-offs for our digital rights?

We’ve all seen the sleek and modern renderings of future “smart cities” adorning tech websites and magazine features. These images are architectural visions, made up of undulating skyscrapers, rooftop parks and self-driving cars running on trafficless roads. Sometimes there are even flying saucers, or giant drones, gliding through the clear, pollutant-free skies.

Headlines can’t seem to get enough of these “smart cities”. They are presented as the catch-all solution to the unsustainability of dense, smoggy urban centres, thanks to built-in digital technologies maximising the efficiency of everything from bins to streetlamps. But can so-called smart cities live up to the hype — especially given the enormous trade offs they present to our digital rights?

Cities are problematic. Inconceivable numbers of people across the world inhabit them: take São Paulo, Brazil, with its population of 21 million, or Delhi, India, with its 28 million.

Crowding is endemic, air pollution kills millions every year, and cities are, in turn, destroying the environment: urban areas consume two thirds of the world’s energy and generate over 70 per cent of global CO2 emissions.

Smart cities entail a multitude of what were, until recently, futuristic fantasies: self-driving cars, bins that can send emails, and even talking toasters

Regularly pitched as the answer to these intractable problems are “smart cities”. Smart cities entail a multitude of what were, until recently, futuristic fantasies: self-driving cars, bins that can send emails, and even talking toasters. The idea is that, through automation, we can make life more efficient, cutting back on energy waste — think motion-activated streetlights or smart gas meters in your home — and gathering greater insight into people’s behaviours in order to optimise society across the board.

But there are predictable dark sides to this vision. Many digital rights activists have dubbed smart cities “surveillance cities” due to the staggering amount of data collection they involve.

“When everything you do in an environment is collected, measured, and stored — what does that mean for your freedoms, personal expression, and sense of personal safety?” asks Tarun Wadhwa, author of Identified: The Digital Transformation of Who We Are.

“In Shenzen, for example, if a person jaywalks on certain streets they will be identified with facial recognition and then receive a ticket to their WeChat account and may also have their face shown on a billboard nearby,” says Wadhwa. “That seems like an extremely high price to pay in the form of social shaming and removing layers of our justice system in order to achieve a small gain, more orderly street passings.”

Who could get their hands on the data collected is also a critical issue.

Companies that place cameras and sensors on Wi-Fi kiosks, trash cans and streetlights will gain what had been unattainable insights about the behaviour of individuals

“The smart city is also a dream come true for companies eager to increase the scale and scope of data they collect about the public,” says Ben Green, author of The Smart Enough City.

“Companies that place cameras and sensors on Wi-Fi kiosks, trash cans and streetlights will gain what had been unattainable insights about the behaviour of individuals.”

Not only that, but the risks of cyberattacks and hacking are growing in tow with the expansion of these “smart” solutions.

A s for the rewards we expect to reap from smart cities: these are not shared equally across a society. As is often the case, it is marginalised groups that are most susceptible to the failures of supposedly “smart” technology.

“They [digital technologies] exacerbate the existing tensions and power structures in a powerful way — technology can automate oppression and encode the worst impulses or fears of a society,” explains Wadhwa.

As it stands, poor areas are already subject to greater surveillance than wealthier ones. This means that those who are already disadvantaged by our society are disproportionately bearing the burdens of this brave new world.

This means that those who are already disadvantaged by our society are disproportionately bearing the burdens of this brave new world

But even if we put aside the many — and serious — drawbacks of expanding surveillance infrastructure, data collection and algorithmic decision-making, can smart technologies achieve what we need them to do? Or is the truly “smart city” a mere pipe dream?

“Smart city efforts are never able to accomplish the lofty goals set out for them,” says Green. “The technology is almost always over-hyped and over-sold as being able to solve incredibly complex social and institutional challenges.”

As is typical when technology is marketed as a silver bullet to society’s problems, people repeatedly overlook technology’s many limitations. Green has witnessed this phenomenon firsthand. “As I worked on various efforts to use technology to improve urban policy and urban life, I found that the biggest challenges were political and institutional, rather than technological,” he says.

“Across policy areas ranging from mobility to civic engagement to policing, I saw how projects conceived of existing problems as technology problems, and in turn overemphasised the role of technology in producing social reform.”

As commentators have noted again and again, technology is simply no substitute for good governance. “Use technology where appropriate, but prioritise the social impacts of reform,” Green advises.

Despite the accompanying concerns, many decision-makers are powering full-steam ahead with developing “smarter” cities. For many local politicians, implementing a new smart technology is an automatic boost to their public image. So, as smart technologies infiltrate more and more of our daily lives, how can we prevent them from overstepping the line?

For many local politicians, implementing a new smart technology is an automatic boost to their public image

“Public resistance is the primary tool at our immediate disposal for combatting smart cities,” says Green. “These efforts have led to new laws that ban or oversee surveillance technologies as well as some projects being abandoned altogether.”

“We also need broader regulation to curb the power of tech companies and provide greater privacy protections.”

Source: https://medium.com/digital-freedom-fund/are-we-overselling-smart-cities-9c70fc8a4778

What a $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Could Mean for Smart Cities

Investments in intelligent transportation technology can have significant benefits for cities and residents.

For years, the United States’ infrastructure has failed to earn a grade of higher than C-. However, there is good news to report. With a potentially trillion-dollar infrastructure bill on the table, cities across America stand to be empowered to make significant modernization improvements that will raise the national infrastructure grade.

The drafted American Jobs Plan includes major spending in public transit infrastructure, roadways and safety, electric vehicles, passenger rail, and digital infrastructure — all critical pillars of efficient, connected smart cities.

The plan is broad and far-reaching, which raises a question: As federal funds become available, where should cities start? With many agencies and stakeholders involved, modernization efforts can seem overwhelming.

Ideally, cities should look to leverage existing technology as the foundation for a smart city initiative. Technology fitting that description includes IP-enabled devices typically installed already across metropolitan areas.

These are relatively low-cost and can pave the way for cities to transition to smart infrastructure, especially when coupled with vehicle data. How is this anonymous vehicle data captured? Through artificial intelligence and machine learning video analytics.

Actionable Data Can Improve Cities’ Infrastructure

When we think of vehicle recognition technology, ticketing and tolls typically spring to mind. However, thanks to enhanced data capture technology, AI-powered data analysis and data sharing capabilities, this technology can serve as a central hub that powers a host of services, not only public safety applications.

Today, whether located on a bridge, a building or a pole, sensors generating video streams can be turned into multipurpose roadway monitoring devices. As vehicles travel through a city, these sensors seamlessly capture anonymitized information along with vehicle make, model, body type and direction of travel.

When AI is applied to the information gathered, actionable intelligence can be derived for a host of benefits. With advanced vehicle recognition technology, city officials can fuel decision-making across multiple agency-specific infrastructure initiatives, including roadway planning and optimization, citizen safety, parking management, and environmental improvement.

How Smart Cities Can Benefit from Vehicle Data

As these use cases are integrated into smart city design, they create limitless opportunities for more efficient government services, job creation, revenue realization and improved quality of life.

Let’s take a closer look.

1. Intelligent Traffic Monitoring: A staggering 43 percent of public roadways are in poor or mediocre condition, a number that has remained stagnant over the years. It is a pressing challenge that urban planners must address.

Typically, they do this by outsourcing traffic studies to third parties who evaluate road performance and calculate how efficiently traffic is moving. But these point-in-time studies do not factor in evolving traffic conditions.

When intelligent roadway technology is deployed around a city’s transportation network, planners can conduct these studies independently and continuously. They can monitor traffic flow over time, analyze vehicle congestion patterns and gauge average estimated vehicle tonnage by area — all from a single hub.

Using these insights, they can make real-time, data-driven decisions about how best to manage traffic flow and inform future roadway improvements, such as resurfacing and the placement of roundabouts and lights.

2. Green Transportation: Advanced vehicle recognition technology can be a key enabler of many of the environmental targets outlined in the Biden administration’s plan. Sensors connected to AI and machine learning algorithms can determine vehicle emission levels based on the specifications of each vehicle on the roads. They can also gauge air pollution, greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency scores by location. This powerful data can be used to design policy and infrastructure that reduces air pollution and promotes sustainable transit alternatives.

These innovations also help cities meet the White House’s goal of winning the electric vehicle market. Smart city planners can analyze the real-world movement of EVs, including hot spots and charging behavior. With these insights, they can determine the optimal placement and hours of operation for charging stations, or where to establish “green corridors” exclusively for EVs.

3. Smart Parking: Smart parking is a critical part of any smart city framework. It can help close revenue gaps, optimize parking management and enforcement practices, and improve the visitor experience.

Real-time intelligence derived from sensors located in parking areas can identify vehicles as they enter a location and set in motion any number of smart parking actions. Parking managers and law enforcement can verify prepaid and monthly parking, match vehicles to whitelists or blacklists, and streamline the fragmented workflows and systems involved in permit issuance, payments, reporting, citations and more. Data captured by these systems can also be used to optimize occupancy planning and management.

4. Improved Public Safety: A central goal of the American Jobs Plan is to fix all roadways “with safety, resilience, and all users in mind.” To achieve this, the plan proposed $20 billion to fund state and local “vision zero” plans and other improvements to reduce crashes and fatalities.

Advanced vehicle recognition systems can be quickly put to work to achieve these goals, placing lifesaving data into the hands of city officials in real time. The technology can detect and alert authorities of unsafe roadway conditions, such as hazardous weather, dangerous speeders and wrong-way drivers. If a vehicle is the subject of a criminal investigation or connected to an Amber Alert or Silver Alert, it can be quickly located and intercepted by law enforcement.

Building Smart Cities That Make the Grade

We are at a critical juncture. The American Jobs Plan provides the resources to help America make the infrastructure grade. However, our infrastructure is more interconnected than ever before, and we must utilize new approaches and technologies to make progress toward greener and smarter cities.

As transportation and safety evolve as fundamental, must-have components of smart cities, roadway intelligence derived from vehicle recognition technology can be the jumping-off point for cities looking to build safer, greener, more resilient infrastructure.

Do Smart Cities Make Us Smarter ?—Philosophical Discussion on Over-Dependence on Smart-Phones in Our Cities

In the recent decades, the term “smart city” has become more and more popular among researchers across a number of disciplines such as town planning, environmental studies, transport engineering and computer science.

Federal Funding Fuels Smart City Transformation

Closing the digital divide requires a bit more than the best of intentions. The pandemic put the issue in perspective, as each gap, chasm or aperture was instantly under the spotlight. Cities like Sacramento, Philadelphia, Houston, and Chattanooga are taking steps to address infrastructure shortfalls, and delivering necessary broadband service to underserved residents.

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