Smart city and social control. How to prepare yourself professionally to govern them better

The podcast addresses the theme of smart cities and social control, exploring the thin line between technological promises and dystopian risks for urban democracy.
The analysis starts from the convertibility of purpose of urban digital infrastructures: cameras, IoT sensors, 5G networks, and artificial intelligence algorithms are inherently dual-use technologies, designed today to optimize traffic and energy efficiency but potentially repurposable tomorrow into tools of surveillance and political control
The Chinese social credit model is examined — with the emblematic case of the city of Rongcheng — as a concrete precedent of algorithmic categorization of citizens. The podcast then shows how elements of this logic are already operational in Europe: from predictive policing in Trento (MARVEL and PROTECTOR projects), to real-time tracking in Milan and Venice, to nationwide predictive policing in the Netherlands
The podcast analyzes the economic dimension through Shoshana Zuboff’s concept of surveillance capitalism, highlighting how smart cities risk becoming “feudal data mines” controlled by a tech giant oligarchy. It then discusses the factors accelerating the normalization of surveillance: crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the progressive elimination of cash, and citizens’ technological habituation
Finally, democratic alternatives are presented: Barcelona’s model with the DECODE and Decidim platforms for citizens’ digital sovereignty, the instructive failure of Sidewalk Toronto (Google), the European regulatory framework (GDPR and AI Act) with its limitations, and proposals for civic data trusts, data cooperatives, and personal data pods. The conclusion is clear-cut: the future of smart cities is a political choice, not a technological destiny