The need to deal with issues related to climate change has caused a scramble to rethink the way humans live. A product of this rethink, are Neom’s line concept and Oceanix’s floating city.

Neom wants to revolutionise the way humans live, and data will play a big part. The head of technology, Joseph Bradley, said that they want “to collect 90% of the data from residents and smart infrastructure.” A system called Neos would collect this data, and this would ultimately create a more intuitive environment. For example, your fingerprint would be able to unlock doors at hotels, without the need to check in at a desk. Many are likely to embrace the efficiency with open-arms, however some are likely to express serious concerns about the use of data, and data protection.

In the not so distant past, you had the Facebook scandal, Cambridge Analytica Scandal,  Yahoo data breach, Google data breach. The list is endless. The common theme in all of these instances was the misuse or mishandling of user data which historically has not gone down well. Data plays a central role in improving how we live, with 1% of data being utilised in other smart city projects. Whilst Neom states that there will be an opt out option for its residents, it remains to be seen how data protection regulation and transparency in the space will unfold. Watch this space!