b'INFRASTRUCTUREEXPOSING THE DARKFundingisamajorconcernindevelopingsmartcities.Globally, governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars on smart devices, SIDE OF SMART CITIES networking equipment, hiring skilled professionals, and upgrading and buying new systems and resources. The global spending on smart cities will probably increase to $135 billion by 2021. For developing countries, spending billions of dollars for such projects can be quite expensive. Hence, governments of developing countries may have to rely on private BY NAVEEN JOSHI, FOUNDER AND CEO, ALLERIN and foreign investments. Governments also have to consider the coverage and capacity of IoT sensors and their network requirements. Based on the Smart cities have the ability to transform the lives of its citizens. However,scope of the project, governments have to decide how many sensors will there is a dark side to these smart cities that can go unnoticed. be required and how these sensors will be connected. Additionally, every sensor requires a high-speed connection for consistent data exchange. SmartcitiesareleveragingmoderntechnologiessuchasArtificialAnothercrucialaspectofsustainablesmartcitydevelopmentis Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to eliminate various urbanmaintenance. Hardware and software necessary for smart cities must be problems.Severaladvancedapplicationsareexhibitingtheirpotentialfrequently audited to maintain the performance. Also, developers have to reduce traffic, energy consumption, pollution, enhance security, andto release over-the-air software updates regularly to squash out bugs improvecitizenparticipation.Multiplegovernmentsarealsoadoptingand fix security loopholes. Governments have to consider all of these smart governance in smart cities with a vision to implement the principlestechnicalities and their expenses before starting a smart city project.ofgoodgovernancemoreeffectively.Lookingatsuchunmatched potential, various governments are deploying modern technologies andPowercreating new policies for establishing smart cities.POWERAlong with multiple benefits, smart cities can introduce several issues,According to a study, more than 1 trillion sensors could be installed suchasaninvasionofprivacy,powerconsumption,andpoordataby2020.Currently,allsmartsensorsworkonbatteries.Hence,the security. Such issues may have drastic repercussions on public welfareproductionofbatteriesmustincrease,alongwiththeaggressive and negatively affect citizens trust in the system. Governments and smartadoption of IoT devices. But, manufacturing at least 1 trillion batteries for city planners must develop an effective approach to address the concernsIoT devices specifically, along with other applications, would be almost associated with smart cities. impossible. Even after producing batteries on such a large scale, the energy consumption would increase at a staggering rate. Also, constantly The dark side of smart cities includes the following challenges: monitoring the energy levels and replacing batteries of a trillion IoT sensors would be a daunting task. An alternative would be using electricity or Public education and engagement fossil fuels to power all our IoT devices. However, this approach would PUBLIC EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT exponentially increase energy consumption and pollution. Hence, using renewable energy sources would be more feasible. Governments spend billions of dollars on smart city projects to deploy complex infrastructure. Key personnel communicates and collaboratesAnotheroptioncouldbeatrulywirelesspowerdevice.Sometech withmultiplepeopletocreateeffectiveimplementationstrategies.companies are creating a wireless power solution that can charge or Governmentsaimtotransformtheircitieswiththehelpofmodernpower multiple devices by transmitting energy using radio waves. Such technologies. But, all these efforts and funds go down the drain when thepower solutions can prove to be revolutionary for the IoT ecosystem and citizens themselves are unaware of such changes. For instance, a trafficsmart cities. Wireless power also has the potential to collect and transfer monitoringsystemthatsendsreal-timetrafficupdatestodriversanddata to a centralized system. For instance, consider a wireless power suggests them alternative routes to reduce congestions can be installedoutletthatispoweringasmokedetector.Whenthesmokedetector in smart cities. However, a driver who is not tech-savvy would be unablerecognizes smoke and rings an alarm, the wireless power outlet would to use such advanced systems.identify extra power intake required for the alarm and notify a centralized system. Then, the centralized system will send an alert to the user. With For the development of any smart city, citizen awareness and participationsuch untold potential, deploying wireless power devices would be the are necessary. Unawareness of changing policies and their impact onmost logical step. Unfortunately, these devices are still in the early stages citizens lives can prove to be a major hurdle. Even in developed nations,of development.citizenawarenessofsmartcitiesisremarkablylow.Thesituationis comparatively worse in developing countries where illiteracy is already aPrivacy and securitymajor issue. In such countries, a significant percent age of the populationPRIVACY AND SECURITYisnottech-savvy.Hence,citizensarenotreadyforthefull-fledged adoption of modern technologies and new policies for the developmentSmart cities constantly collect large volumes of data using cameras and of smart cities. sensors for numerous applications such as traffic monitoring and safety. Due to aggressive data collection, several civil rights activists and41'