A G20 road map for ethical smart cities

The World Economic Forum, a club of powerful government, industry, and philanthropic leaders, launched its G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance in 2019. The group's purpose is to "[unite] municipal, regional and national governments, private-sector partners and cities’ residents around a shared set of principles for the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies." Its work consists of establishing and advancing "policy norms" designed to "accelerate best practices, mitigate potential risks, and foster greater openness and public trust."

In November 2020, the group published the first part of a major policy road map laying out an initial set of 5 roadmap elements of an eventual 16—covering access to technology, open data, privacy impact assessments, "dig once" infrastructure management, and "cyber accountability". Some 36 cities have signed on to the roadmap. This framework signals growing awareness among the WEF's heavily corporate-influenced membership on the need to "do something" about smart city governance, and points towards a sustained effort to advance ethical pricniples in the smart cities movement.