VIRTUAL London.

Abstract

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The Smart City is an approach to city development that integrates a network of interconnected digital devices into existing city infrastructure. The concept revolves around the collection and use of the data that these devices can collect to improve several aspects of city living. These includes improving the efficiency of traffic management, better access to amenities through automated delivery systems or improved versions of public transport. Despite the concept sounding like a benefit to all who may live in a Smart City, the reality is that the smart systems that are actively developed for use are focussed primarily on the profit that can be made through the use and sale of anonymized personal data. By exploring and interrogating the example of the LinkNYC Project in New York City and the way in which its development has progressed since 2014 that the project can present a significantly clearer image of who exactly the Smart City is being built for, who it is profiting from and who is being excluded. I argue that the Smart City is now developed in a way that is built to serve wealthier individuals whose data holds more financial value to advertisers, and that instead of striving to provide an improved standard of living the innovators of Smart City technologies – such as LinkNYC – are only innovating new ways through which they can profit from some citizens and continue to exclude others. I argue that the volution of Smart Cities caters predominantly to affluent individuals whose data possesses greater financial benefit to advertisers. I suggest that rather than prioritizing the enhancement of overall quality of life, the creators o Smrt City technologies, exemplified by projects like LinkNYC, are primarily focussed on devising strategies to capitalise on certain citizens’ data while excluding other poorer residents whose data presents little to no financial benefit.