We all know that Shenzhen and Northern China, in general, is already on a next level when it comes to urban planning, smart cities, blockchain, IoT networks, and machine autonomy powered by sophisticated AI.

In fact, Shenzhen has taken technological advancement so far that if you're trying to trespass a road, facial recognition software established in every traffic light will recognize you and send you an sms with your fine to pay. No traffic police, no conversations, no human interference at all.

If you're insisting on trespassing and/or disobey the advanced system in other ways, your digital profile gets "damaged" and in some cases, you lose social abilities, like the ability to vote, or even get a house loan.

I won't say that this is good or bad, it is necessary. But, we could find a better arrangement of how to introduce technological advancement to the common public. So in this case, before asking people to pay fines to the machinery, we first must let the machinery to reward people for their contribution to the city and its standards.

An example discussed recently with an ex Ethereum developer, is rewarding people for recycling. Many countries already reward citizens for recycling plastic, glass bottles and other trash.

What if we establish a standard European protocol, where EU member counties should use smart recycling bins, with IoT connectivity, being able to tell who is throwing away what, and in what quantity, and reward him accordingly. At the same time, the bin will be able to store data and sense its storage capabilities, interfering with the respective recycling agency to ensure maximum efficiency. For example, recycling trucks wouldn't have to visit the bins every day, but instead, should visit only bins that are nearly full, as their monitored by the IoT network.

Other use-cases could include air pollution levels depending on the car model, house energy plan a citizen uses etc. If you're updated, you get a reward, if you're damaging the environment because you're stuck in your '82 Mazda or your oil-powered heating system, you not only won't be rewarded but in extreme cases, you should be fined.

Note that this has nothing to do with UBI, but it is strictly meant to be a "reward" and not an income.

With City Points, an EU citizen could buy food, groceries, and other basic materials. The citizen could use the points in exchange for a trip to another EU country and even be able to spend his City Points there. So if I am stuck in Amsterdam for a day, I could use my city points gathered from Thessaloniki to buy a cup of coffee and some breakfast while I am waiting for the plane.

City Points won't be legitimate to use as a currency, neither you could buy a house or a car with CP, no matter how many points you have.

Would love to hear from you and discuss this topic.