Sociotechnical Plan for Self Governance in Smart Cities

Introduction

            A smart city uses communication and information technologies in improving operational efficiency, sharing information with citizens, and providing high-quality government services (Shin, 2015). It comprises interconnected objects and devices using wireless technology in transmitting data. Smart cities use cloud-based IoT systems to receive, analyze and manage real-time data to ensure excellent decisions are made for their citizens. The citizens of these smart cities use their smartphones, smart homes, and cars to engage their ecosystems and pair their data with city infrastructure and services to enhance sustainability while minimizing costs. A smart city is a good example of a sociotechnical system because it facilitates the collaboration of people with technology to improve human life. This sociotechnical plan focuses on enabling citizens of smart cities to use technology to manage city resources and assets. These citizens will no longer have to rely on their leaders to make decisions; they will directly participate in shaping their future.

Scope

The internet of things (IoT) comprises physical objects with software, processing power, and sensors that facilitate data exchange through the internet. It leads to the creation of an intelligent ecosystem comprised of machines used to integrate and improve human life.

Technological advancements have led to the slow merging of the physical and digital worlds. They have also led to advancements in embedded systems, sensor networks, communication abilities, and computing power (Olushola, 2019). Artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and machine learning are very important in smart cities.

The internet is a major driving force for smart cities. The internet enhances efficiency by resolving environmental issues, traffic and managing smart city technologies. The internet also collects multiple forms of media from multiple machines to collect information from smart city citizens.

The multiple interconnected devices in smart cities lead to cybersecurity concerns. Cybercriminals can target these devices to compromise smart city systems. When malware compromises a smart city, its entire system can be quickly taken down. Since smart cities allocate municipal services to smart systems, cybercriminals can compromise essential services such as water, electricity, and traffic management (Hua, 2017). Malicious cybercriminals can also compromise smart city systems to manipulate opinion polls and statistics used for governance.

Purpose

Most cities in the world are governed by corrupt or poor leadership. Poor governance can significantly compromise the development of major cities. Smart city systems can be used to make smart data-driven decisions. These cities can be used to collect data on crime rates, transportation systems, waste management, graduation rates, and environmental pollution to make reliable decisions. They can also conduct opinion polls to allow citizens to make choices that directly affect their future. We shall no longer have to deal with leadership but rather self-governance. Citizens will govern themselves through smart city intelligent machines that collect data used to make and evaluate policies, oversee city operations, allocate resources, ensure integrity and transparency of city resources and protect the interests of the citizens. These machines will replace city leaders with effective intelligent machines.


References

Hua, T. (2017). Tackling cyber crimes in smart cities. https://www.leekuanyewworldcityprize.gov.sg/resources/features/tackling-cyber-crimes-smart-cities/

Olushola, O. B. (2019). Factors affecting IoT adoption. IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering (IOSR-JCE) Volume, 21, 19-24. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bayo-Olushola-Omoyiola/publication/337657446_Factors_affecting_IoT_adoption/links/5e4e5796458515072dabbdec/Factors-affecting-IoT-adoption.pdf

Shin, D. H., Kim, S., Hong, Y., Chung, K., & Jeong, J. (2015). A sociotechnical framework for internet-of-things design. https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/146323

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