Exactly. If data is the currency of the future, and we're too conservative about permitting experiments, we'll lose out on a lot of innovation. What if a smart city encourages more walking? What if it has less pollution? What about all the people who die prematurely living in today's cities for these reasons?
After experimenting, then we as a society can decide not to permit something, not before.
As an analogy, what if burning fossil fuels were banned worldwide in 1900 because people were too conservative about pollution? We all agree that pollution is bad, but we should be willing to permit some amount of negative side effects if we want progress. Otherwise, we'd still be living in medieval times.