How Barcelona’s smart city strategy is giving ‘power to the people’

Francesca Bria, Chief Technology and Digital Innovation Officer, Barcelona is leading a backlash against technology vendors and big tech as she seeks to give citizens a right to control their data. Richard Forster reports from Barcelona on why one of the world’s so-called smartest cities is moving in a very different direction

Against a backdrop of revolution and protests on Barcelona’s streets over the last 18 months, Francesca Bria has been conducting her own battle to tear up the strategy of her predecessors and put citizens at the head of the Catalan capital’s new ‘smart city’ strategy. It is a fight not only about rights to privacy but also to protect the jobs of her fellow citizens ...