‘Smart’ cities offer potential cure for America’s urban woes

If Americans are to address a rising tide of urban dysfunction and implement high-tech, smart cities, they must focus not only on digital technologies but also on the culture of digital citizenship.

That’s the prescription of Park Jung-sook, secretary-general of the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization, or WeGO, a global association of over 200 cities worldwide.

“Data is the blood of a smart city and data is generated by smart citizens,” Ms. Park says, “so the social contract is more important than ever.”

The adoption of new technologies may address what more and more Americans feel is the declining quality of life in the country’s greatest cities, including rising crime, underpopulated downtowns and declining revenue bases for basic services and security. But the tech-adoption strategies must be systemic rather than simply physical, smart city analysts say.