Smart Cities: Issues and Challenges towards a human centric paradigm

Summary

The technological developments of recent years have greatly helped to raise the human standard of living and optimize the living conditions of a large portion of the human population. Technology is now present in almost every aspect of everyday life, from communicating with other people and getting around, to using personal information and receiving medical care. All of the above has been made possible through applications that have been created with the help of ”smart” devices and the internet and which overwhelm humanity every day. Efforts are constantly being made to transfer and utilize this technological development to a greater level, at the level of the city, within which various daily activities should be coordinated with the aim of improving the lives of citizens. With such a city it is now known as a ”Smart” City.

By extension, the term ”smart” city refers to the simplification of procedures available to the general public in order to improve their living conditions. This paper examines and presents the ”smart city” phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to present and analyze the phenomenon of the ”smart” city and ethical challenges through thorough bibliographic research at a global level, contributing to the dissemination of updated information, due to the speed of developments in the field of IT and society. In particular, the structure of the work is as follows:

• In the first chapter, the subject is introduced, defining the concept of the smart city, examining the smart city over time and presenting its main elements and characteristics.

• The second chapter examines the sustainability of smart cities and the ethical issues and challenges that arise in them  

• In the third chapter, examples of smart cities from the past and from the present are given, the current phase of smart city development (Smart City 4.0) is analyzed in more detail and innovative and promising technologies are presented.

• The fourth chapter focuses on the issue of smart city governance. Smart city technologies are analyzed and business prospects are studied, while the response of smart cities to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic is considered.

• The fifth chapter presents the Human Smart Cities (Human Smart Cities), in which the human being is at the center.

• In the sixth chapter, technological solutions and methodologies are presented in summary for the issues of smart cities that raise concerns.

• The seventh chapter examines the MyData Network solution as a more universal and secure way.

• In the eighth chapter, the example of a Greek smart city, that of Hellinikon, is presented in detail.

• Finally, the paper concludes with the ninth chapter, where the conclusions of the above study are listed, issues for further research in the future and other considerations in relation to smart cities are examined.

Keywords: Smart city, Internet of things (IoT), New technologies,Innovation, Sustainable development, Ethical Issues