Rebecca Williams

Presenting Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition) Final Report

2020-21 “Smart City” Cautionary Trends & 10 Calls to Action to Protect and Promote Democracy

Whose Streets? Our Streets! (Tech Edition) report cover

For Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project, I researched harms to civil liberties posed by “smart city” technology. This research was originally inspired by protests to high-profile “smart city” projects like Sidewalk Toronto and a nascent regulatory landscape for surveillance technologies. After many interviews, public records requests, and the methodical tracking of related news during the fellowship via the Whose Streets? Our Streets! Newsletter, this report culminates my research and serves as a 2020-21 time capsule of “smart city” cautionary trends and 10 calls to action to blunt these trends.

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