Over the past decade the phrase "smart city" has been at risk of losing its meaning. Technology stacks are deployed, dashboards are commissioned — yet measurable improvement in daily life is not always visible.
At the root of this picture is a category error: reading the smart city as a technology project. In reality the smart city is the design of a public service — the sensor is only an instrument. Without a defined purpose, the volume of data collected is irrelevant.
Engineering consultancy must serve as the bridge between the technical and the ethical. Data privacy, digital inequality and long-term maintenance cost are not footnotes at the back of the contract; they are questions that belong on the table on day one.
