The Belt and Road Initiative & Resilient Cities: The Role of AI in New Development Direction

A safe and resilient city is reflected in the ability of the urban system to act proactively in relation to potential threats of an external or internal nature, adequately respond to disturbances, absorb negative effects and activate restorative mechanisms in order to quickly recover. The concept of smart cities integrates the “hardware” (infrastructure and technology) and “software” components (the social dimension of the city), thus contributing to the improvement of various aspects of urban security. The application of AI is now limited to the level of spatial design, as well as certain steps of monitoring and planning urban development in accordance with the needs of climate adaptation and mitigation, sustainability and resilience, as well as participation in the process of improving urban systems. The growing issues which the authors of this paper are dealing with are the balance between security and the protection of individual civil liberties when using AI for surveillance and public safety, establishing oversight (namely human) to ensure AI systems operate within well-defined boundaries, etc.