Can technology really make cities safer for women, or does it risk creating a world of constant surveillance?
In this episode of the Geoversity podcast, we discuss a recent paper by ITC researchers that explores this question through the Bengaluru Safe City Project in India, a large-scale initiative featuring thousands of CCTV cameras, AI-powered facial recognition, drones, body-worn cameras and emergency safety islands.
We explain how the researchers tracked the concept of 'safety' as it evolved through several stages, and how a project originally designed to protect women became a broader system of urban surveillance and management.
Along the way, we explore the risks of algorithmic bias, visual profiling and the assumption that certain appearances signal criminality. We also question whether surveillance and emergency buttons can deliver meaningful protection without addressing deeper social inequalities and institutional failures.
This episode challenges the idea that technology is neutral. Who defines safety in a smart city, and whose interests does it serve?
Discover why building safer cities requires more than cameras and algorithms—and why freedom, dignity and cultural change must remain at the heart of the conversation.
image credit: Hustvedt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons