Building Media and Information Literate Smart Cities Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Opportunities and Challenges

With the rapid development of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, people are finding themselves in an “all Internet world.” As cities worldwide have benefited from the digital revolution, many countries are launching smart city initiatives. While the adoption of smart city technologies has been slow in some cities over the past decade, the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred decision-makers to make ngreat leaps toward implementing the available smart technologies. The rapid increase in digital media use by people of all ages has also created a sudden need to quickly upgrade digital skills. Therefore, as the pandemic increases the pace of the movement toward smart cities globally, constructing media and information literate (MIL) cities is also on the agenda. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges associated with building MIL cities in the wake of the pandemic.