A digital deal for the smart city: participation, protection, progress

Most models and visions of the smart city-whether emanating from academia or media, government or business-tend to revolve around an arsenal of smart technologies. The smart city becomes, essentially, synonymous with data-driven, (semi-)automated, networked technologies; the city is just a place to install and implement these systems. There are sensor arrays to monitor the city, massive databases containing insights about the city, algorithms that help sort out the city, control rooms for real-time management of the city, and plenty of other smart systems that already exist or soon will. Undoubtedly these technologies are exciting. They grant powerful capabilities and valuable information to city governments and tech companies. Not long ago, such smart systems would have only existed in the hopes and fears of speculative stories.