Canadian smart cities: health remedies, side effects and hard to swallow pills

This research paper investigates the ways in which health was talked about and addressed in Infrastructure Canada’s Smart City Challenge. Using the Smart City Challenge applications as the basis of the research, and two as in depth case studies. The main critiques of Smart City Technologies, as well as the concept of Co Creation, and a Performance Measurement Framework were used to identify if the applications could improve, how and if citizens were engaged meaningfully, and where in the healthcare system will the proposed technologies make measurable improvements. Findings from the study indicate there needs to be: greater protections for individual privacy, greater resident engagement/involvement, having health and wellbeing as core nets of a smart city challenge, and greater protections for indigenous data sovereignty. If these recommendations are taken into account, they will lead to more robust applications in the next iteration Smart City Challenge, and will provide invaluable steps towards greater national data guidelines.