In this episode, Dr. Jérôme Chenal questions the role of technology in a smart city. He begins with the French definition of what a smart city is: any intelligent process inside the city that is considered part of its smartness. The notion of ‘smart’ that Dr. Jerome develops relies on data to make the right decisions. For instance, mobility data enables analysts to understand people’s movements and helps decision-makers construct infrastructure to resolve typical problems based on the area’s characteristics. Indeed, technology is a tool used to collect data to implement the services individuals want.
According to Dr. Jerome CHENAL, technology, whether high or low, is also a means to create, develop, and manage data. Such data is employed to craft decisions and propose optimal solutions to the mounting problems facing the cities because what matters is ensuring the efficacy of the systems within the cities through digitalization.
There is nothing inherently smart, Dr. CHENAL argues, because the way people use the equipment affects the outcomes. As such, technology is neither smart nor not smart. It is its usage that makes things smart, and what he advocates is to say that technology produces data that should produce knowledge that allows people to make (right) decisions. Otherwise, it is useless.
By Dr. Jérôme Chenal
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