A brief talk on smart cities or smart citizens, which is the future? For more see http://nbtmv.blogspot.com/2016/03/smart-cities-or-smart-citizens-which-is.html

1. InterSection Workshop
December 11, 2015
Disputatio Week of Barcelona
Barcelona Knowledge Hub, Academia Europaea
Naba Barkakati, Ph.D., Chief Technologist
U.S. Government Accountability Office
www.gao.gov
Smart Cities or Smart Citizens:
Which is the Future?
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2. BCN Smart City - perfect venue for this
discussion...
Barcelona is
recognized as one of
the top Smart Cities in
the world
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3. “Things” that connect to the Internet to
“communicate” and, optionally, “act”
Graphics from Pixabay/License: CC0 Public Domain / https://pixabay.com/en/network-iot-internet-of-things-782707/
Internet of Things
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4. 4
An example: “Smart Home”
• Thermostat
• Alarm system
• Camera
• Smart meter
Access from
smartphone app
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5. Smart Cities - Internet-connected
infrastructure and analytics
© By Regiars (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 5
● Use IoT (sensors, data analytics) infrastructure to collect, aggregate,
and use data to improve the quality of life of the citizens
● Monitor/manage: environment, energy, water, waste management,
transportation
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6. First generation Smart Cities - top-
down, technology-driven
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● Masdar, Abu Dhabi
● Songdo, South Korea
● PlanIT Valley, Portugal
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7. Critiques of solely technology-driven
futuristic smart cities
2013 book by Anthony Townsend:
Missing out on how cities interact with citizens
http://anthonymobile.com/smart-cities-book/
June 2015 NESTA report:
Failed to deliver on
promises because of high
up-front cost of technology
and low return
http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/rethinking-smart-cities-ground
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8. Smart Cities make Smart Citizens - use
connected technologies to inform
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9. Paying attention to what citizens need...
76% want sensors in public places
that let them know which areas
are crowded;
70% want to compare their energy
use with that of their neighbors’ so
that they can optimize their
behavior; and
74% want both interactive street
signs and bike and car sharing.
Ericsson Consumerlab Nov 2014 Survey:
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10. Smart Cities AND Smart Citizens -- a
virtuous cycle
Informed citizens
= “smart citizens”
Smart city projects 10
Ideas

11. Smart Citizens as co-creators of Smart
Cities
Crowdsourcing data
collection by
citizens
Open data in
standard digital
format
Applications for
citizens
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Image by Argonne National Laboratory, CC BY-
NC-SA 2.0

12. Dystopian views of Smart Cities…
All-seeing, all-knowing
smart city will destroy
democracy
Efficient, but not the life
we want
Video surveillance
Threat to privacy
Cyberattacks
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https://business.kaspersky.com/smart-cities-future-utopia-or-inevitable-dystopia/4058/
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/dec/17/truth-smart-city-destroy-democracy-urban-thinkers-buzzphrase

13. Smart Citizens are our best hope and
technology is not always the answer
Technology-savvy smart,
engaged citizens are key
to success of smart cities
ICT alone is not the
answer -- e.g., use of
cable cars and public
facilities to integrate
neighborhoods in
Medellín, Colombia
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