DUBAI RESIDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN THE SMART DUBAI INITAIVE AND THE HAPPY DUBAI VISION FROM A DATA PRIVACY STANDPOINT

Driven by its aspiration to become the smartest and happiest city in the world, Dubai launched the Smart Dubai initiative. It consists of a complete digital transformation of the city where smart applications provide services in the areas of security, health, business, community management and transport with the aim of facilitating residents’ lives. The purpose of the present study is to understand residents’ perceptions in regard to their privacy in Smart Dubai. Do the huge amounts of personal data collected about them negatively affect their lived experience in the city? This question is investigated mainly through a quantitative questionnaire aimed at the public coupled with interviews with officials at Smart Dubai. The paper concludes that privacy concerns are widely present and that they indeed have a negative impact on Dubai residents’ happiness.