Page 88 - U4SSC Blockchain for smart sustainable cities

The governance model must be clearly defined and should include procedures for changing itself. The
model is likely to need to be adapted regularly to integrate new regulations, the acquisition and integration
of new resources, any re-engineering of transactions and systems, and the development of new skills and
competencies as the initiatives are evolving.

(3) Prioritizing sustainability and smartness in technology and innovation adoption

Smart city initiatives and programmes are dominated by technocentrism that prioritizes technology-based
solutions over needs-driven solutions and sustainability. The concept of blockchain for cities runs the risk
of reducing smart sustainable cities to technological capabilities and development, as well as limiting
smart cities rankings to a single dimension. This is directly linked to the misconception that increasing city
smartness might cause the diversion of limited public fund investments away from pressing local needs
towards smart initiatives. Smart city initiatives are often led by engineering, construction, consultancy and
technology companies that influence the city decision making toward solutions that may be disconnected
from the specific needs, priorities and context of the city. This has sometimes led to a greater concern for
economic growth and technology innovation, than for environmental sustainability or social impacts and
could create more harm to the environment and society. However, innovation should also be directed to
environmental sustainability and inclusion. It could be also important to better price externalities and tax
on pollution and waste. B4C could be a relevant tool for this specific purpose and it could exert pressure
on companies to choose solutions and activities that are less polluting, for example.
The urban-centre transformation with blockchain technology is mainly fostered by hype about blockchain
and the pursuit of technological innovation beyond the real need for the technology. Among the use-cases
lesson-learned, was that purposeful evaluation of blockchain-based transformations is important. Every
process must be evaluated critically, based on whether blockchain-based solutions can potentially yield
benefits, because blockchain is still in an early stage of development and different types of solutions exist.
It is not surprising that many frameworks that guide the use of blockchain start with a critical evaluation
of whether the technology is the right solution to be considering.
It is also important to highlight that blockchain technology in smart city projects does not perform in
isolation, rather it has to operate in combination with other technologies such as IoT or AI, as well as
interfacing with existing systems, which increases the need to question which technologies are appropriate
to develop smartness and sustainability in cities. Although a new, technology-driven project may be useful
as a testbed to build capabilities for future applications, it will not create city or community smartness and
sustainability alone. It is more important to consolidate smart, sustainable policies in order to overcome
the pro-technology and anti-technology dichotomy and carefully plan the technology investment by
better aligning the relationship between the city, businesses, the residents and the technology. It is the
responsibility of policy-makers and city managers to create value for the public and to ensure a culture of
sustainability of the society and the environment.

(4) Complying with the standards and regulation

The biggest challenge in applying blockchain is related to the regulation uncertainty that impacts blockchain
development decisions at different levels. The innovative aspects of blockchain, such as being public and
permissionless, assuring anonymity and immutability along with automation, are at the root of legal and
regulatory challenges. These features of blockchain make it difficult to perform basic legal functions, such as
to ascertain liability, to determine what law is applicable in a particular situation, or to carry out regulatory
monitoring and enforcement.

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