Abstract
In recent decades, urban growth has coincided with rapid development and integration of a variety of digital technologies into many societies. The opportunities and obstacles presented by these two phenomena complement each other in many ways. Densely populated cities act as catalysts for technological developments that are used to solve the challenges cities face. The most relevant technologies to the context of this book, the Internet, the smartphone, and satellites, have subsequently led to inventions such as the Internet of things (IoT), social media, a plethora of smart devices, and global positioning systems (GPS), among other devices. The application of these technologies to urban environments has given rise to smart cities, which use technology and other means to better meet citizen needs and improve quality of life in cities. This chapter sets the stage for the chapters that follow by introducing the aforementioned technologies, the incidental smart city transformations throughout the world, and the accompanying data privacy issues.
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Friedman, A. (2023). The Digital Revolution and Urbanity. In: The Sustainable Digital City. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25488-8_1
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