John Sunman
PhD candidate at Flinders University
Dr Luis Da Vinha
Lecturer at De Montfort University
POLICY PERSPECTIVES #20, March 2025 | DOI
The Rise of Smart Cities in Africa
Africa’s rapid urbanisation presents both opportunities and challenges for the continent’s economic and democratic development. The adoption of smart city technologies has been viewed as a way to foster economic growth and improving the quality of urban living standards in African nations. However, there are legitimate concerns that smart cities – especially the surveillance systems integral to their function – may infringe on civil liberties and political rights.
Smart cities integrate digital technologies such as networked infrastructure, digital services, and data collection systems to make urban systems more efficient and accessible and wholistically improve the economic, environmental and security aspects of urban life for individuals and communities.
Many African nations have embraced this approach, primarily seeing it as a way to modernise and stimulate economic development. Smart city projects range from upgrading existing cities with new infrastructure to building entirely new, master-planned cities. These projects align with the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063, which is a broad agenda encompassing both social and economic progress which seeks to empower citizens whilst simultaneously promoting sustainable development.
However, there are concerns, particularly for marginalised groups such as Africa’s queer communities who already face government and societal persecution through conventional means. The extensive data collection and monitoring capabilities of smart cities can be used to manipulate, intimidate, and control individuals, potentially leading to digital authoritarianism. This risk is particularly acute in Africa, where democratic institutions are often fragile and authoritarian regimes are increasingly exploiting digital technologies to suppress dissent.
Queer Communities and Vulnerability to Digital Authoritarianism
Smart cities collect and cross-reference data on individuals. This is necessary for smart cities to function, and streamline urban processes, but poses significant risks to individual privacy.
Perhaps the foremost risk posed by smart cities for queer communities is the use of facial recognition technology, which is becoming increasingly sophisticated and accurate. This technology can be used to classify faces by mapping facial features. There is emerging evidence that facial recognition technology may even have the capacity to detect sexual orientation through analysing certain facial structures, expressions and gestures (although, this area of research is highly debated). This capability could lead to the non-consensual outing of individuals and profiling of their connections and activities – particularly harmful for queer individuals in African nations where homosexuality is criminalised.
Adding to the oppressive potential of smart cities is that many of the available models are Chinese-developed, and thus have ‘out the box’ surveillance configurations. Chinese state-owned corporations like Huawei have entered into partnerships with African governments to provide smart city infrastructure and technologies. Host governments often lack control over these systems and the data collected raising concerns about external manipulation and transnational surveillance.
This digital form of authoritarianism is more subtle and covert than traditional forms of societal repression. It focuses on ‘low intensity’ forms of coercion which leverage surveillance and censoring capacities in order to repress ‘undesirable’ activities as opposed to more visible interventions.
Institutional and National Shortcomings
The African Union (AU) is committed to promoting democratic principles, human rights, and good governance through its Agenda 2063. However, despite these commitments, the AU’s frameworks and guidelines are largely silent in protecting the rights of queer communities. For example, the African Charter on Democracy explicitly mentions key vulnerable groups but ignores sexual minorities – implying sexuality is not a minority category warranting explicit protection.
This lack of recognition also pervades smart city guidelines and masterplans. For instance, the Smart City Rwanda Masterplan emphasises the need for making smart cities socially inclusive, identifying the challenges posed to women, youth, and marginalised communities, but does not include queer groups. This failure to explicitly protect queer rights within regional and national frameworks means that AU member states have no specific obligation to ensure the inclusion of these communities in the growth of liberal democratic rights under Agenda 2063.
Several African nations have already employed smart city technologies to monitor individuals and suppress political freedoms. For example, Huawei installed a closed-circuit television (CCTV) system in Kampala, Uganda, as part of its Safe City initiative. The system includes over 5000 CCTV cameras which integrate facial recognition with social media monitoring. The Ugandan government has used this system to hack the communications of opposition leaders, leading to arrests of critics and their supporters.
Similarly, the Zambian government has used Chinese technology to restrict social media access and harass opposition figures. These cases highlight the potential for surveillance technologies to be used as tools of repression and control. They demonstrate that these technologies are frequently used for purposes other than public safety and are deployed in ways that violate civil liberties.
Mitigating the Risks of Smart City Technologies
To mitigate the risks that smart cities pose to queer rights in Africa, we suggest several policy responses:
- The African Union and its member states must explicitly recognise queer communities as vulnerable groups needing protection in key policy documents, including the African Charter on Democracy and AU Agenda 2063.
- The AU – at both the regional and national levels – should establish legal and regulatory frameworks to safeguard individual privacy rights and ensure that smart city technologies serve the public good rather than become instruments of oppression.
- Governments should implement stringent data protection laws that prevent the misuse of personal information collected through smart city initiatives. There is particular need to ensure that biometric data and facial recognition is not used to profile queer individuals.
- Governments should develop smart city initiatives – in consultation with diverse communities – to prevent the further marginalisation of minority groups.
- African nations should diversify their technology sources to avoid over-dependence on specific companies or countries that may have their own geopolitical or ideological agendas. This will enhance national control over digital infrastructure and data and help foster localised capacities.
By implementing these measures, African nations can harness the potential of smart cities while safeguarding the fundamental rights and dignity of minorities as well.
Josh Sunman is a PhD candidate at Flinders University. Josh’s research looks at democratic challenges and electoral reform, as well as state and federal political parties.
Dr Luis da Vinha is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at De Montfort University (Leicester, UK). He is also an affiliate researcher at the Jeff Bleich Centre. His teaching and research interests are in International Security, International Order, Foreign Policy Analysis, and Geopolitics/Political Geography. His research has been published with Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Springer, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Comparative Strategy, Journal of Policy History, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and the Brown Journal of World Affairs, among others.