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Business Daily: Smart cities and broken dreams

Bulletins

Smart cities and broken dreams

01/10/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Smart cities and broken dreams

Do smart cities justify the hype? And will planned tech hubs in Africa ever be realised?

Do smart cities live up to the hype? Urban centres from New York to South Korea’s Busan are rebranding themselves as ‘smart’. From real-time crime mapping to lower energy use, smart cities promise a shortcut to a better future. But what is a smart city? The BBC’s Technology desk editor Jane Wakefield explains. Meanwhile, brand new metropolises are being planned across Africa, often envisioned as shiny tech hubs. Will they ever get off the ground? And why are global consultancy firms often a key part of the story? We visit Kenya’s Konza Technopolis, still a construction site 13 years after it was first promised. Konza CEO John Tanui says the project is on track but Kenyan writer Carey Baraka isn’t convinced. Picture: An artist’s impression of the planned Akon City in Senegal. Credit: Akoncity.com

Presenter: Vivienne Nunis
Producer: Sarah Treanor
Reporter: Michael Kaloki

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