How ready and extensive are the Australian regulations for smart cities technologies?

ASSIGNMENT 4: ETHICAL DESIGN REPORT SMART CITIES CASE STUDY The smart city concept has been around for more than a decade. While there have been various definitions, many adopt a common understanding that a smart city “is one whose economy and governance are driven by innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship” (Kitchin 2014). Thus smart cities developments are “typically grounded on a drive towards technological innovation to improve the lives of city-dwellers” (Ryan and Gregory, 2019). Smart cities technologies can provide many benefits such as sustainable environment, better healthcare, increased traffic efficiency and capacity amongst others. However, with the use of big data and complex technology i.e. networks of Internet of Things (IoT) orchestrated by artificial intelligence (AI), ethical concerns are often unavoidable and may be overlooked as cities strive to realise opportunities. With COVID 19 accelerating digital transformations in many aspects of public services, cities are faced with increasing challenges to ensure sustainability and safeguard citizens from unintended consequences of smart cities technologies. There have been efforts in ensuring the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies. The G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance advocates for a concerted efforts in the adoption of better policies and governance in cities to improve their resilience in crisis, tackling the challenge in relation to “how data is secured, how people’s privacy is protected, how inclusion is ensured, and how different agencies and organizations can share data quickly.” (WEF, 2021). In this assignment, you will explore the design considerations of smart cities technologies from the perspectives of economy, technology, ethics, design, and regulation. You also need to consider how the next generation smart cities be regulated in Australia and/or elsewhere to enable a safer environment for everyone, especially the vulnerable groups (e.g., children, minority communities) rather than amplifying existing issues of its current system. These are the main questions to address in producing your report: ● What are the promises and potential of smart city technologies? What problems do they aim to address? What opportunities do they create? Who are the key stakeholders involved in their design, development and implementation? ● What ethical and human rights issues are associated with smart cities technologies? What is the responsible and ethical way in which smart cities technologies should be designed, developed, implemented and monitored? ● What existing and emerging regulatory and governance frameworks in the world and in Australia are applicable? How ready and extensive are the Australian regulations for smart cities technologies? What new governance initiatives might be required? ● Pick ONE of the five topics from lectures 7 to 12 and discuss the potential benefits, risks and challenges of smart cities deployments on your chosen topic. o Lecture 7, 10: Topic 1 (Surveillance and security) o Lecture 8: Topic 2 (Digital Humanitarian) 4 o Lecture 9: Topic 3 (Digital Health) o Lecture 11: Topic 4 (Coded bias) o Lecture 12: Topic 5 (Indigenous Data Sovereignty) LINKS These are the potential initial links for you to start your research with, along with the two standard references of the unit: ● Beard, M., & Longstaff, S. (2018). Ethical by Design: Principles for Good Technology. The Ethics Centre. ● Farthing, S., Howell, J., Lecchi, K., Paleologos, Z., Saintilan, P., & Santow, E. (2019). Human Rights and Technology Discussion Paper. Australian Human Rights Commission. You need to explore and do your own further research, as well as using proper in-text referencing and following a correct and consistent referencing style for the references in your report. Please refer to the REPORT REQUIREMENTS section above.. ● Why city is not a computer https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/shannon-mattern-city-i s-not-a-computer/13833336 ● Ethics and smart cities https://www.project-sherpa.eu/ethics-of-using-smart-city-ai-and-big-data-the-case-of-fourlarge-european-cities/ ● Policy and governance https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Governing_Smart_Cities_2021.pdf ● Indigenous Data Sovereignty lens – https://theconversation.com/darwins-smart-city-project-is-about-surveillance-and-control- 127118 ● Migration/humanitarian lens – https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/immigrants-smart-city-potential-city-digital-strateg ies-facilitate-immigrant-integration https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/DPRG-04-2020-0051/full/html#:~: text=Smart%20cities%20are%20mostly%20located,Ritchie%20and%20Roser%2C%202020). ● Surveillance: https://theconversation.com/darwins-smart-city-project-is-about-surveillance-and-control- 127118 https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2020/jan/17/the-case-for-cities-where-youre-the-sen sor-not-the-thing-being-sensed ● Coded bias lens https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/algorithm-toolkit-aims-to-help-cities-reduce-bias-f rom-automation/532555/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/naveenjoshi/2022/02/10/can-smart-cities-be-inclusive/?sh= 62ecaf193796 ● General https://citiesofrefuge.eu/news/barcelona-secrets-intercultural-approach-migration-govern ance https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/whats-behind-backlash-smart-cities/ ● Smart Darwin at https://www.darwin.nt.gov.au/transforming-darwin/innovation/smart-darwin. 5 ● Melbourne Smart City of Melbourne strategy – https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/about-melbourne/melbourne-profile/smart-city/Pages/ smart-city.aspx ● Our own ET Lab project – https://www.zdnet.com/article/city-of-melbourne-to-engage-residents-in-smart-city-build ● Melbourne as Australia’s smartest city – https://minnovation.com.au/melbourne-leading-smart-cities-charge/ REFERENCES Beard, M., & Longstaff, S. (2018). Ethical by Design: Principles for Good Technology. The Ethics Centre. https://ethics.org.au/ethical-by-design/ [Pdf available on the Moodle site for the unit] Farthing, S., Howell, J., Lecchi, K., Paleologos, Z., Saintilan, P., & Santow, E. (2019). Human Rights and Technology Discussion Paper. Australian Human Rights Commission. https://tech.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-12/TechRights2019_DiscussionPa per.pdf Kimberley, N., & Crosling, G. (2012). Q Manual. Monash University, Faculty of Business and Economics. https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/506345/qmanual.pdf Kitchin, R. (2014). “The real-time city? Big data and smart urbanism”, GeoJournal, 79(1): 1-14 Ryan, M., & Gregory, A. (2019). Ethics of Using Smart City AI and Big Data: The Case of Four Large European Cities. ORBIT Journal, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.29297/orbit.v2i2.110 World Economic Forum (2021). Governing Smart Cities: Policy Benchmarks for Ethical and Responsible Smart City Development. White Paper.