When your city becomes smart, you expect convenience. But you may not expect to be watched, tracked, analyzed, all the time.

That’s the uncomfortable paradox behind today’s smart cities. Built on data, driven by AI, and powered by sensors, they promise better living. But they also quietly raise the question: how much watching is too much?

Globally, smart cities are booming. From Singapore’s predictive traffic lights to Seoul’s connected waste systems, we’re seeing urban innovation at scale. The Middle East is no exception. In fact, it’s one of the world’s most ambitious players.

Projects like Smart Dubai and NEOM in Saudi Arabia are redefining urban futures. But in the rush to digitize and optimize, we’re beginning to sideline something fundamental, the rights of the people being watched.

The City Is Always Watching

Here’s the reality: surveillance is no longer something we notice. It’s embedded into the infrastructure of modern life.

In 2018, a Chinese woman’s face was wrongly flashed on a public screen for “jaywalking.” She hadn’t crossed the road, her image was on a bus ad. In San Diego, smart streetlights turned into police surveillance tools without public knowledge. Toronto’s Sidewalk Labs project was shut down after residents revolted over unclear data policies.

These are not rare cases. They’re early signals of a bigger issue: cities are becoming watchers by design.

The Middle East Moves Fast, Talks Less

In the Middle East, governments are heavily investing in smart cities as a symbol of progress, and rightly so. The region faces challenges that smart infrastructure can solve: urban congestion, water scarcity, energy efficiency, and security.

Dubai uses AI to manage traffic and monitor safety. NEOM aims to integrate biometric access and facial recognition into everyday life. On paper, it sounds futuristic. But in practice, it raises critical questions:

• Who owns this data?
• How long is it stored?
• Are citizens informed, or asked?

This Isn’t an Anti-Tech Argument

Let’s be clear, smart cities are not the enemy. In fact, they are essential for the future.

They reduce traffic, cut emissions, and save lives. They make governments more responsive and cities more livable. During the COVID-19 crisis, smart tools like drones and thermal scanners helped enforce health measures effectively.

But smart shouldn’t mean secret. And safety shouldn’t come at the cost of silent surveillance.

What we need isn’t fewer cameras. We need clear rules around how those cameras are used. We need transparency about where data goes and who benefits from it.

A Smarter Way Forward

Some cities are already showing us how to get it right.

Barcelona has adopted open data governance, giving people more control over how their information is used. Amsterdam publishes a public registry of every algorithm used in city services. These cities are proving that it’s possible to be both smart and ethical.

The Middle East can lead too, not just in building cities of the future, but in building trustworthy ones.

Governments here have a unique advantage: the ability to act quickly and at scale. That same top-down model can be used to implement strong data privacy policies, set up independent oversight, and involve citizens in tech decisions before deployment.

Let’s Not Wait for a Backlash

The truth is, smart cities have a problem brewing. The more invisible surveillance becomes, the more visible public distrust will be.

We can avoid that. But only if we start having the difficult conversations now.

What’s the balance between convenience and consent? How do we ensure tech serves citizens, not just systems?

If smart cities are going to shape our future, we must ask these questions out loud.

The Smarter Way Forward

Technology moves fast. Trust doesn’t.

If we want truly smart cities, they can’t just watch us. They need to respect us, our privacy, our rights, our role in shaping the urban future.

Because the smartest cities won’t just be data-driven.
They’ll be people-powered.

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