Trust Through Transparency

Abstract

As urban ecosystems evolve into data-intensive infrastructures, the transparency of supply chains has become pivotal to cybersecurity, governance, and trust. This chapter explores how blockchain, initially developed for decentralized finance, is now foundational for traceability in smart urban logistics. It examines its convergence with IoT and governance systems to enable tamper-resistant, auditable, and privacy-aware data flows. The chapter outlines blockchain's core features, immutability, decentralization, smart contracts, and permissioned architectures, and maps these to urban sectors like food safety, pharmaceuticals, procurement, and waste. Real-world deployments across Asia, Europe, and North America demonstrate its role in enhancing collaboration, preventing fraud, and supporting compliance with regulations such as the GDPR. The chapter also identifies adoption challenges and offers ethical governance models and a strategic roadmap to position blockchain as a socio-technical foundation for trust, sovereignty, and equity in the smart city era.