Smart Contracts: Making Cities Smarter
In the complex and interconnected world of Smart Cities, smart contracts are emerging as a groundbreaking solution. These digital agreements, built upon blockchain technology, offer enhanced security, transparency, and trust, all while eliminating the need for intermediaries and excessive paperwork, and allowing the automation for various processes in the Smart City environment.
Smart Contracts 101
Smart contracts are computer-coded agreements between parties that are stored in the blockchain, making them immutable and their transactions irreversible. Their main purpose is to automate the execution of a contract with no intermediaries, ensuring transparency and efficiency.
Once the parties call the smart contract, agree to adhere to it. When it´s terms and conditions are met, it will automatically run, and the agreement executed. For example, the purchase of a painting, represented as an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) can execute royalty payments to the creator of the NFT each time the NFT owner changes.
In the Smart City environment, smart contracts can be successfully applied nearly everywhere, especially where some kind of trust is needed.
Healthcare sector
Smart contracts, in conjunction with IoT devices, are currently used to ensure a transparent supply chain of certain medicines as well as to manage outbreaks of certain diseases.
Furthermore, the combination these technologies and AI can help diagnose a patient via wearable IoT devices. The diagnose could then be shared with the doctor securely on a blockchain and a smart contract be initiated between the doctor and the patient in order to provide treatment.
Waste management
Smart contracts can help to better the environment in the city by tracking “real time” some significant waste management aspects. This can be done, for instance, by providing trusted information regarding the amount of waste collected, recycling rates, etc.
Smart contracts can also track and reward citizens that correctly separate and dispose of waste, incentivizing them to earn tokens which can then be redeemed for discounts or other benefits.
Making transportation more efficient
Blockchain technology can improve transportation systems by enabling secure and efficient mobility solutions and enhancing traceability in supply chains.
By recording every transaction and movement on the blockchain, stakeholders can track and verify the origin, condition, and delivery of products in real-time, mitigating risks such as counterfeiting and theft.
Furthermore, smart contracts can facilitate automated and decentralized ridesharing platforms, eliminating the need for intermediaries and allowing seamless transactions with integrated payment systems, ensuring transparency and trust between service providers and users.
Decentralized Governance Models
Smart contracts are a promising tool to reshape and make the governance model more citizen oriented. Using decision decentralized voting mechanism, citizens can participate further in urban planning and policy development, promoting inclusivity, fairness and transparency on the city governance.
In conclusion, smart contracts are poised to revolutionize how agreements are made, executed, and maintained; the enhanced security, reduced costs, and improved transparency they provide, offer a promising path forward in simplifying contract-based interactions in the ever smarter cities.
Sources
- Solidity Academy, Medium Blockchain empowering Smart Cities and Treansportation:
https://medium.com/@solidity101/blockchain-empowering-smart-cities-and-transportation-d95042f2cd7e
- Solidity Academy, Medium: Smart Cites Smarter contracts:
https://medium.com/coinmonks/smart-cities-smarter-contracts-cbc7bdcf5569
- Naveen Joshi, Forbes: 6 ways in which blockchain makes your smart city smarter
- Cointelegraph: What are Smart Contracts, a begginers guide to automated agreements:
https://cointelegraph.com/learn/what-are-smart-contracts-a-beginners-guide-to-automated-agreements