Smart city in crisis: Technology and policy concerns

Abstract

Any effective smart city application proposal must consider both the technological and policy challenges to be optimally beneficial to the city; and not only in functioning of the narrow area of application during normal operations (lighting, parking, etc.), but also the utility of these systems and data in disasters and emergencies. In this paper, we propose a conceptual redundant mesh network of smart devices (termed “smart boxes”), which are capable of harvesting their own energy from off-grid sources and operating in two modes: in normal mode, smart boxes act as data collection devices and enable smart city data to be shared through traditional IT services. Alternatively, during a catastrophic event in the city, smart boxes switch to emergency mode and provide a communication channel to first responders via the redundant overlay network they establish, without requiring any power from the grid. We provide a detailed research map to realize such a conceptual network, both from technology (i.e., communication, hardware) and policy aspects (i.e., institutional and personal policy adoption), including extensive suggestions for assessment of both technical and policy success, and incorporation of non-traditional smart city customers for smart city application data and services like first responders and emergency managers.