36 cities chosen to chart a course towards the future

Source: Smart Cities World Published: November 18th, 2020

Thirty-six cities across 22 countries and six continents have agreed to pioneer a new roadmap for safely adopting new technology as part of the World Economic Forum’s G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance.

The roadmap is designed to give cities the procedures, laws and regulations they need to use new technology responsibly. The initiative originated in Japan last year from WEF’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The cities will adopt policies for privacy protection, better broadband coverage, accountability for cybersecurity, increased openness of city data, and better accessibility to digital city services for disabled and elderly people

Confronting the challenges

Cities are facing urgent challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic and other major disruptions, which WEF highlights is expected to culminate in a budget crisis that could reach $1trillion in the US alone.

The forum contends that cities need data and innovation to become more resilient, responsive and efficient but highlights that there is no global framework for how they should use these technologies, or the data they collect, in a way that protects the public interest.

“This roadmap is not about theoretical ideas and pipe dreams, it is built on practical, real-world policies from leading cities around the globe,” said Jeff Merritt, head of the Internet of Things and urban transformation, World Economic Forum. “City governments are on the frontline of a global crisis and need to be able to act quickly and decisively to curtail this pandemic and set course for their economic recovery.

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Photo by Christopher Burns on Unsplash