Cities used to grow by accident — messy, chaotic, alive. Now they’re being designed by data.

Singapore predicts traffic jams before they happen. Seoul’s lamp posts track air quality in real time. In Dubai, AI optimizes garbage routes down to the minute. The smart city isn’t just efficient — it’s self-aware.

By 2030, over two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban zones wired with sensors, cameras, and predictive models. Every streetlight, bus stop, and water meter is becoming a node in a vast, living network.

The upside: cleaner air, safer roads, and instant emergency responses. The downside: constant surveillance. Who owns all this data? The citizens who generate it — or the governments and corporations who store it?

Technology can make cities smarter, but it can also make them colder. When algorithms decide traffic flow, lighting, and policing, humanity risks disappearing beneath optimization. The real smart city isn’t the one that knows everything — it’s the one that remembers who it’s for.