Smart Cities / Digital Neighborhoods: Privacy, Equality, and Adoption of Urban Technologies

The idea of the Smart City is becoming central to the adoption of technologies that enhance and regulate urban spaces. At the same time, smart cities bring about new challenges, as diverse populations interact with an array of new technologies, most of them are based on large-scale data collection and with increasing effects on residents’ lives. In this talk, we will discuss the emerging impact urban technologies have on cities. For instance, how would urban technologies impact urban inequality? Would privacy concerns hinder the adoption of particular systems?

This talk will investigate those broad issues by discussing the results of a survey (n=480) and data collection activities conducted at Tel Aviv, Israel. We will discuss the effects of demographic factors, neighborhoods, and computer literacy on adoption of smart city technologies and perceptions related to them (such as privacy and security.) The empirical analysis points to the emergence of urban collective efficacy when addressing urban technologies, with people from different neighborhoods having different attitudes toward privacy, digital utility, and interaction with digital services. Overall, our analysis of Tel Aviv shows that services are geared mostly towards specific social groups, many times excluding the elderly, ethnic minorities, and people from less affluent neighborhoods.

With Shahaf Donio, Michael Birnhack, Tali Hatuka, and Issy Rosen-Tsvi.