An Exploration of Smart Cities' and Electric Vehicles' Future Impact on People of Color

Abstract

Researchers theorize that smart cities are a new concept aligned with the idea of sustainability. In understanding the significance of smart cities in enhanced sustainability, scholars purport that they are towns typified by residents' ability to securely gather, manage, and disseminate information that relates to their daily endeavors ubiquitously and sustainably. The bigger picture about smart cities is that they are linked to the Industry 5.0 theme, which is associated with personalization or adding a human touch to technological collaboration. The concept of Industry 5.0 begs the question of whether African Americans and other People of Color are indeed humans. If they are humans, for sustainability, smart cities need to treat them as humans by providing the needed infrastructure such as charging stations to allow for development in Black and People of Color-dominated neighborhoods. As a result, the concept of personalization in smart cities can be understood from the perspective of incorporating electric vehicles.