Smart Cities in Asia Regulations, Problems, and Development

“This concise open access book follows in a line of comparative investigations of how laws impact the development of smart cities. … this insightful book suggests that a future clash between international expectations and proposed use of smart wristbands and other surveillance technology in Phuket may necessitate legal provisions to cope with the disconnect from foreign laws protecting private data. Updating legislation to meet contemporary needs would be Welcome for protecting personal data and privacy in Thailand’s smart Cities.” (Benjamin Ivry, Thai Legal Studies, Vol. 3 (2), 2023)

Daniela Damian is Professor of Software Engineering in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Victoria, where she leads the Software Engineering Global interAction research Lab (SEGAL). Her research has studied socio-technical and organizational aspects in software development, with a particular focus on the communication, information flow and coordination among the diverse set of stakeholders beyond the technical dependencies found in software code. Software development is driven by many other dependencies that are not of technical nature, but most often guided by the project requirements or business needs. In her research, she employs a synergy of empirical methods, data mining and social network analysis techniques to understand these complex interactions as well as develop methods, processes and tools to improve the effectiveness of communication and coordination in large, distributed software projects. Her recent projects also concern consumer data privacy in software development, as one example of non-functional requirements that greatly affect the success of software as it affects more and more aspects of our lives. Smart cities present a large-scale case of user data collection and analysis, and respecting user privacy creates unique challenges.

Thanh Phan is Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Victoria, Canada (UVic). His research is co-funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Advanced Scholars. He is also teaching Engineering Law at UVic. He worked for the Vietnam Competition Agency (VCA) for ten years as an expert in competition law enforcement, after two years at the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam. He also served as Member of the Vietnamese delegation negotiating Vietnam-EU and Vietnam-Customs Union free trade agreements. He has published journal articles in Canadian Journal of Law and Technology,Houston Journal of International Law, Louisiana Law Review, American Bar Association’s International Antitrust Bulletin, among others. He was educated at Hanoi Law University, Nagoya University, and the University of Victoria. He is also Member of the Software Engineering Global Interaction Research Lab where he is conducting research on global governance in cyberspace. His studies focus on three topics: national jurisdiction in cyberspace, the legal aspects of smart cities, and legal obligations of platform owners in peer-to-peer markets.