This paper explores the role of technology in urban landscapes, focusing on the cybersecurity risks associated with metropolitan development and technological innovation. The integration of more advanced technology into city operations has brought significant advancements to metropolitan areas, enhancing efficiency of services and quality of life for citizens, but also introduces cybersecurity risks that can threaten public safety, threaten to cripple those same city services, pose dangers to critical infrastructure, and threaten to expose sensitive data. Section I of this paper examines the nature of technology growth within metropolitan landscapes, focusing specifically on the adoption of smart city technologies, the risks of digital infrastructure, the benefits of expanding digital infrastructure, and identifies the types of cyber-attacks and threat actors. Section I then concludes with an exploration of lessons from the recent cyber-incidents in Atlanta, New Orleans, and Maryland, and other cities that have become the targets of cyber threat actors. Section II, explores existing vulnerabilities for growing cities, potential risks and harms of cyber-attacks, legal and regulatory challenges, and ends with recommendations for local governments to mitigate the frequency and magnitude of cyber-attacks. Finally, Section III concludes with a discussion of methods of improving the resilience of critical infrastructure and maintaining public trust through proactive and comprehensive cybersecurity strategies.

Diversity and police brutality has centered U.S socio political discourse during the 2020s. Contemporary affirmative action bans and publicly displayed organizational dilemmas within police departments characterize the need to analyze gaps found in supporting social equity innovation. Bayley (2008) analyzed 9 police innovations with diversity listed as a major contemporary advancement. Scholarly debates and the most prominent evidence are presented to argue the protection of affirmative action within police departments. First, an introduction to affirmative action is discussed on a macro level before offering a micro level analysis of diversity policy within police departments. Positive and negative arguments of upholding equitable policies, concerning diversity, within police organizations are dissected. Concluding thoughts are shared to further emphasize the significance of affirmative action and lack thereof as an organizational dilemma. Varied gender and race demographics are slowly increasing in police departments. Statista demonstrates a low 3% increase of female officers since Martin’s (1991) study (Gender distribution, 2021). In 1991, Martin detailed women make up just about 10% of the nation’s police force. During 2023, the amount of police officers who identified as female accounted for 13% of the nation’s police force. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported 10% of the nation’s law enforcement officers were Black in 2020. Women and Black sworn officers are still underrepresented. Additionally, Bureau of Justice Statistics graphed white male police officers account for 61% of the nation’s force. Expanding equal employment opportunities to minorities faces extinction as new policies support federal bans on implementing race conscious approaches to confront systemic discrimination.

Since the midpoint of the 20th century, the world’s population has rapidly increased, reaching its growth rate peak of 2.2% in the late 1960s. This rapid worldwide population growth has always been considered a problem for most governments and international institutions, as it could cause economic issues and demographic pressure. As a result, in response to global population growth, countries have implemented measures and policies to monitor their respective population size. These measures and policies have been proven effective as the world population growth and fertility rates have progressively declined. However, the decline in fecundity we are now observing also appears problematic, as it is dangerously approaching the sub-replacement fertility–defined as a rate of 2.1 children per woman. If fertility keeps declining globally, the world will inevitably face a labor shortage and population aging, which, in turn, will lead to the dislocation of pension systems. Consequently, this paper contends that governments around the world should urgently turn their attention to this issue of fertility decline, arguing that conventional solutions, such as immigration, will not neutralize its consequences, as declining fecundity is a global challenge. The paper also discusses several policy suggestions for coping with this worldwide fertility issue.