Smart City Initiatives in Bahrain: Benefits, Future Trends, and Concerns

Globally, there are more and more smart city initiatives being put into place, and many of them are starting to show results. For example, traffic jams have been reduced by 15 percent in Hangzhou, China, and autonomous passenger drone trials are happening in Dubai, UAE.

The development of a comprehensive 3D model of Bahrain will provide smart city collaborators the chance to assess how well existing national systems, like the water, trash, and power systems, can integrate smart solutions.

The Kingdom’s forum for academics and business leaders to explore smart and sustainable solutions for the cities of the future has been the Bahrain Smart Cities Summit since 2016. The Bahrain Smart Cities Awards were also launched in 2018 to honor excellence in these initiatives.

The Kingdom appears to be on track to join other smart hubs on the IMB’s Smart City index, which is exciting news for some given the many benefits of smart cities but unsettling news for others due to privacy concerns.

Convenience and safety advantages

Numerous benefits to the state, the environment, and the residents are promised by life in a smart city. Imagine using an app to discover the closest open parking spot, getting directions there, and paying for it from your phone; this is already possible in some towns thanks to interconnected systems. Or, because pneumatic shutes collect garbage for later sorting and recycling, never having to take out the trash in time for the garbage truck. 

Because smart cameras can now instantly match a passerby’s face to a database of people’s faces, safety should also be boosted because law enforcement agencies are able to locate and arrest any criminals who walk past. Better monitoring and data analysis may reveal cities the most effective ways to reduce their environmental impact, for as by limiting their use of fossil fuels. Data also offers guidance for the most excellent approach to migrating to renewable energy sources, and smart technologies can make sure that no electricity is wasted needlessly.

Issues over privacy

Despite advantages like the ones mentioned above, cities must address a number of privacy issues before converting to intelligent, data-driven models. Sensors must track inhabitants’ daily lives, routines, and habits to collect the data necessary for smart cities, which depend upon huge data to effectively make any modifications or improvements to existing systems. The clearest illustration of this, perhaps, is in Singapore, where engineers have given their sensor-heavy redesign the E3A moniker: “Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, All the Time.” The price of being the world’s smartest city is privacy. 

Future smart cities should be designed with privacy in mind, with all data being depersonalized and handled collectively rather than being divided up based on data points or, worse, being sold to outside parties, which has tainted the goals of Toronto, Canada’s waterfront project. The main problem is that citizens must make the decision to participate in a smart city because there is no opt-in option available. By using a VPN, we can partially hide our online behavior, but in public settings where our actions are monitored and reported to internet systems, we are without that privilege..

Will Bahrain make a shift similar to Singapore’s or opt to value privacy from the start? It is still uncertain

Author:

Technology guru Brad Smith works for TurnOnVPN, an organization that advocates for a secure and cost-free internet for everyone. He explores the terror of giant tech companies while writing about his desire for a free internet.

Read the original article on Smart City Press.

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