Smart cities are urban centers that leverage data and technology to enhance the standard of living of their residents. All resources are optimally managed by utilizing data analytics.
While delivering better public services and infrastructure, there are some barriers to technology adoption that arise. These can severely restrict the smart city mission.
Also Read: Algorithmic Bias in Smart Cities: Ensuring Fairness in Automated Decision-Making
Discover some of the barriers to technology adoption that can arise which a smart city has to navigate.
The goals of a smart city are to improve the areas of energy management, public safety, waste management, healthcare, and transportation.
Improving these key areas, when impacted by technological challenges, requires strategic planning. So, understanding each issue is critical.
Investment and Funding Issues
These poses the largest challenge to adopting technology for a smart city mission. If the city cannot receive adequate funding, then the smart city projects cannot be implemented.
Investments and funding come from the municipality itself, and the primary hurdle is the requirement of a large upfront investment.
Complexity of Technology
Implementing smart technology for smart cities often requires detailed expertise and knowledge. The local government body would most likely not be acquainted with specialized knowledge.
Thus, due to the challenge of managing technological complexity, deployment and launch can be delayed or even cancelled.
Concerns of Data Privacy and Security
Maintaining data privacy and ensuring cybersecurity are two objectives of anyone looking to update themselves in this digital world. The same applies for municipal bodies with smart cities.
Since smart cities collect data for analytics, there must be sufficient regulations that address the citizens’ concerns. Data confidentiality and integrity must be maintained and guaranteeing this is challenging for local bodies.
Issues with Collaboration and Interoperability
A city is filled with different mechanisms, all that need to be in collaboration with each other for smooth operability. Smart cities and the new technologies can bring vendors that have communication issues.
This will create integration challenges as multiple systems will collide with each other.
Maintaining Equity
A city is big, and it is not possible for projects to be undertaken everywhere. Initially, the smart city projects will have to be tested in certain areas.
In this manner, while it is making one part of public service (let us say transportation) accessible for one group of people, for others it is not.
It can become a greater issue if it is noticed that areas filled with marginalized and minority communities are sidelined for such projects.
Thus, widening inequalities through technology adoption must be avoided and carefully managed.
Resistance by the Public
Finally, another barrier to technological adoption in smart cities can be the residents themselves. Change is tough, and accepting it is even more tiring.
Many people prefer sticking with what they know, and if that means outdated technology and legacy systems, then they will prefer it.
Convincing people of the benefits and advantages of the mission is difficult. Additionally, since costs of any smart city project are higher, the high investment costs are questioned by many.
