Smart City Advantages and Disadvantages: The so-called smart cities have utilised technology to make their living conditions more efficient and made effective use of resources. Smart cities have the necessary ingredients for a projected fast growth rate in urban populations over the next few decades. The definition of the smart city is not constant, and some things continue to evolve. These cities make the most out of the information and communication technologies to improve the level of services, its citizen’s well-being, sustainability and overall economic growth.
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What is Smart City? Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart City 2022
Many cities around the world have already invested to make their cities ‘smart.’ The two-thirds of the world’s largest cities have already switched to this upgrade and many other cities are considering upgrading their status as well. The increase in federal funding and the partnerships between the government and private sector technology companies will make it come true over the years. Let us see the advantages and disadvantages of smart cities to judge which is better for us and why.
- Advantages of Smart City
- Disadvantages of Smart City
- Comparison Table for Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart City
- FAQs on Pros and Cons of Smart City for Students
Advantages of Smart City
There are several advantages of Smart City, and learning about these can help you to weigh the benefit and the disadvantages from it.
- Better transportation services: A smart city has the potential to drastically improve the current level of transportation throughout a city. It will have better traffic management, the ability to track public transportations and serve its citizens better with constant information and low prices.
- Safer Communication: A smart city will have the most technological advances and partnerships with the private sector will benefit society since there will be lesser criminal activity. The example of such technology is license plate recognition, connected crime centers, shooting detectors, better emergency services, and body cameras.
- Efficient public services: Since there is a limited amount of natural resources left to meet the demand of the people, smart cities will have technologies and the necessary tools to cut down on our usage of natural resources and decrease waste of water, electricity, etc. without having to cut down on any factors.
- Reduced environmental footprint: A smart city has thousands of energy-efficient buildings that can improve the air quality, use renewable energy sources, and decrease the dependence on non-renewable energy sources. These will help to decrease the ecological impact we have on the environment.
- More digital equity: People must have access to high-speed internet services at affordable prices and devices. If they have access to public Wi-fi in local areas in the city, all residents will have equal opportunities.
- Economic development opportunities: Investing in smart cities will lead to improving their regional and global competitiveness and attract new residents and improve business. Since the entire city will have access to an open data platform, information, etc. companies will flourish. They can make informed decisions with the available technologies and lead to economic development.
- Improvement of infrastructure: Old roads, buildings, highways, bridges require massive investments to maintain their state and increase their useful life. But, with the help of smart technologies, cities will have the ability to analytically predict and identify the areas that can cause infrastructure failures before it occurs.
- Job opportunities: A smart city will have many businesses and job opportunities since the people will get equal access to basic resources such as transportation, internet connection, and job offers.
- Decrease of crime: Since the authorities can monitor the dealings of people closely with the help of technologies, there will be a reduced amount of crime. Besides, crime increases when there are fewer jobs and more unemployed people. However, if job opportunities increase, it will simultaneously lead to a decrease in crime.
Disadvantages of Smart City
Though Smart City has many advantages, there are some disadvantages. Knowing these can help one to understand the flip side of the coin. The disadvantages are as follows.
- Limited privacy: Since the authorities or the government will have access to security cameras and intelligent systems connected through many different spaces, the citizens will have difficulty in maintaining their anonymity. Facial recognition and such things will drastically change the concept of privacy or personal space.
- Social control: The people who can track and centralise the data they gather with security cameras will have greater power. It can be a government, a private agency, or other authorities. They will have the power to control a citizen’s data and can easily manipulate public opinions.
- Excess network trust: Since the citizen of these smart cities will rely almost entirely on electronics and networks, they will lose autonomy in their decision-making and could become incompetent. They would not be able to react appropriately in a scenario where these tools are not usable.
- Difficulty in the pre-commerce stage: Though money will be available, the smart technologies will be still in their pre-commercial stages. These cities will lack the technology-related skills and capacity.
- Pre-training is required: If the people of the city don’t know about technology, then they will not be able to use it. Without training, they will find it irrelevant to their daily lives and will find it difficult to utilise it.
Comparison Table for Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart City
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Better connectivity | Lack of social control |
| Reduce carbon footprint | Still under development |
| Efficient public services | Difficulty in the pre-commerce stage |
| Less crime | Security concerns and data privacy concerns |
| Improved infrastructure | Difficult to release the business case for implementation |
| More job opportunities | Excess network trust |
| Safer communication | Limited privacy |
| Better connectivity | Lack of social control |
FAQ’s on Pros and Cons of Smart City for Students
Question 1.
What is the meaning of a smart city?
Answer:
A smart city is a city equipped with the basic necessities people require to give them a decent quality of life and help to achieve a clean and sustainable environment through the usage of technology.
Question 2.
What are the ways in which the citizen of smart cities can prosper?
Answer:
The people will become knowledgeable technologically and otherwise and embrace creativity to explore new ways of doing things. All the citizens will have equal access to networks and technology for a better living. They can live and work with others while using fewer resources. Since there will be smart parking, less traffic, renewable power sources, etc., people can live happily.
Question 3.
What are the environmental consequences of smart cities?
Answer:
The buildings in these cities will run on renewable energy sources, such as solar energy and these solutions will help to create a cleaner and sustainable environment. Besides, they will have an efficient waste management system and automatic waste decreasing technology that will benefit the environment and reduce carbon footprint.