The term "smart city" surfaced more than 20 years ago as an umbrella term to describe a large and varied set of emerging technologies pitched to help cities operate more efficiently. Since then, this group of technologies has come to include location tracking, facial recognition technology, and many other privacy-invasive data collections. Should we be worried? As part of the "Perspectives of Public Purpose Week", in this video seminar, TAPP Fellow, Rebecca Williams, in conversation with public advocates, describes the risks at play and what we can do to prevent them.

The past year was unlike any other. The COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement, and Capitol riots were all extraordinary events--ones that forced us to confront long standing issues of race, equity, accessibility, democracy, and more. We also confronted the role of technology in both helping and harming public causes. 

These past 12 months serve as a case study for technology and public purpose, forcing us to examine the immense benefits and critical harms of technologies in our daily lives. As the kickoff to the Perspectives of Public Purpose Week, Belfer Center and TAPP Faculty Director and the 25th U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter will moderate a discussion with our inaugural cohort of TAPP fellows on how tech has both helped and hindered progress in 2020, and what lessons we’ve learned moving forward.