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The 1st SmartCitiesCouncil® - Europe Stakeholders’ Assembly recently took place in Dublin, Ireland on the 9th of November. The day’s theme was Accelerating your innovation economy and focused on how smart city solutions can advance innovation and...
Article - 11/21/2018
Active Region(s): Europe
Category: Economic development, Energy, Telecommunications, Transportation, Waste management, The Enablers, Citizen engagement, Connectivity, Data management, Finance and procurement, Policy and leadership, Smart City Examples, SCC Spotlight Cities
Food rescue and recovery programs aren't new. We've reported on their strategies and technologies they use before. The benefits to keeping food that restaurants, stores and others can't use out of landfills are numerous: feeding the hungry, reducing...
Article - 09/07/2018
Active Region(s): North America
Category: Wellness, Economic development, Citizen engagement
The trajectory for urbanisation is set, as we all know. The rapid growth rates of our cities and projections about their future are underpinned by people’s desire to live in urban areas, among other, more existential factors.In understanding the...
Article - 05/30/2018
Active Region(s): Australia - New Zealand
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Citizen engagement
There’s no doubt that education matters more than ever. Manufacturing jobs in advanced industries now practically require some higher education. More than three-quarters of workers in those fields today have attended some college. In 1980, that...
Article - 08/31/2017
Active Region(s): North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement
In India, where there are cities struggling to provide even basic amenities to their tax-paying citizens, a village in Gujarat—Punsari—is equipped with modern amenities like CCTV cameras, WiFi and a renewable energy power station. However, a...
Article - 08/21/2017
Active Region(s): India
Category: Economic development, Waste management, Citizen engagement, Policy and leadership
We describe smart cities as those who use technology to become more livable, workable and sustainable. But what does it mean to become more livable? You’ll find some good ideas below from a project by Council Partner CIVIQ Smartscapes.CIVIQ asked...
Article - 07/13/2017
Active Region(s): North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement
What may be the best path forward for one city's smart city project may not work for another. Each city's needs and what citizens expect differ from city to city. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, we can learn quite a lot from what other...
Article - 08/24/2016
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Citizen engagement, Policy and leadership
What are you doing to be the next big employment center? As we’ve mentioned before, the world’s cities are growing fast, but there’s no guarantee yours will too. In fact, some big cities are shrinking fast because their dominant employers are no...
Article - 04/20/2016
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement
You’ve undoubtedly heard the prediction: cities are getting bigger. The vast majority of the world’s population will be living in cities by the middle of the century. But while that’s true for cities overall, it’s not true for all cities. In fact,...
Article - 04/13/2016
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement
By Gregory G. Curtin, Ph.D2015 was a banner year for Smart Cities. Across the globe cities of all shapes and sizes clamored to get “smart,” with more smart infrastructure, open data and data enabled “things” (the long awaited Internet of Things, or...
Article - 01/14/2016
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement
When the Smart Cities practice for Council Associate Partner IDC began tracking and forecasting what its researchers believed would be the biggest influences on the direction and depth of global smart city progress, the number one prediction on its...
Article - 01/14/2016
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Transportation, Citizen engagement, Data management, Policy and leadership
Tourism is big business for many cities. And it's a zero-sum game, since if tourists are in some other city they can't be in yours. That's why I thought you might want a sneak preview of the latest high-tech arrow in Fort Lauderdale's tourism-...
Article - 12/15/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Transportation, Citizen engagement, Connectivity
It's bad enough that cities typically struggle with limited budgets and stretched resources to maintain the services and systems their residents need and expect, but the task is even harder against the background of a sluggish global economy.Roland...
Article - 11/11/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Smart City Concepts, Economic development, Citizen engagement
With just another 45-odd days remaining for the deadline to submit a comprehensive sustainable Smart Cities Proposal (SCP) under the Smart Cities Challenge, most of the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) are working overtime to find out the best solutions...
Article - 11/02/2015
Active Region(s): India
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Waste management, Citizen engagement, Policy frameworks and tools
Passionate about cities, innovation and technology, Stephen Yarwood, Urban Futurist, Australia Public Policy, founder of City2050 shares his experience with Smart Cities Council India on developing Adelaide as an innovative world destination and the...
Article - 10/20/2015
Active Region(s): India
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Citizen engagement, Policy and leadership
The growth of renewable energy and distributed generation, the drop in demand for electricity in Europe, enhanced energy efficiency and other factors have left Italian utility Enel, a Council Lead Partner, with a large number of power plants that...
Article - 09/25/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Energy, Citizen engagement
It takes a fair amount of courage to be the first to do something, but cities and other government agencies that adopted a more pioneering attitude have made tremendous progress in reducing environmental impact and driving economic growth.Four such...
Article - 09/22/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Citizen engagement, Policy and leadership
(L-R) Pratap Padode, Founder & Director, Smart Cities Council India; Kalyani Patil, Mayor, KDMC; E Ravendiran, Commissioner, KDMC; Apeksha Patil, Mayor, Ulhasnagar Municipal corporation; Praful Shah, President, MCHI-Kalyan DombiviliSmart Cities...
Article - 08/28/2015
Active Region(s): India
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Citizen engagement, Computing resources, Policy frameworks and tools, Visioning and roadmapping tools
At first glance, it certainly looks like an unusual approach to solving the problem of providing electricity to the remote, isolated villages and communities of the world: bringing young grandmothers who live in those areas to a training college in...
Article - 08/21/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Upward Mobility, Economic development, Energy, Citizen engagement
Soon driverless cars could be shuttling people across the Cambridge University campus. Apps and connected transit systems would make it easier for people to travel beyond the campus. And displays along the digital highway would help people figure...
Article - 07/24/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Transportation, Citizen engagement
Code for America (CfA) revealed its latest lineup of apps from eight cities working with CfA technologists in this year's fellowship program.CfA partners with 8-10 local governments each year to develop innovative digital approaches to delivering...
Article - 06/17/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Health and human services, Citizen engagement, Connectivity, Finance and procurement
Read the announcement below with care, since it encapsulates at least three important smart city trends.The first is the growing desire by cities for a smart city (pick your buzzword of choice) "framework" or "platform" or "foundation." Cities no...
Article - 06/10/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Water and wastewater, Citizen engagement, Connectivity
London and Bangkok are at the top of MasterCard’s latest Global Destinations Cities Index. Just like last year, the year before that and the year before that. In fact, they’ve always topped the list. But instead of stopping there, the annual ranking...
Article - 06/05/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Payments, Transportation, Citizen engagement, Interoperability, Policy and leadership
A competition hosted by the London Mayor's Office and the Institute for Sustainability is encouraging small businesses and entrepreneurs to develop new forms of technology to help major regeneration projects cope with the demands of London’s growing...
Article - 05/22/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement
Whether forced to by severe weather or a collapsing economy, or voluntarily by a desire to live with less impact, a number of cities are trying to transform themselves. Here are five inspiring projects from among the dozen that make up EcoDistricts’...
Article - 05/01/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Citizen engagement, Examples and case studies
At a very basic level, any city project is really an investment: projects are designed to provide more in benefits than they cost to produce. That’s now how investors are starting to see city projects and they’re increasingly willing to fund them...
Article - 04/24/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement, Finance and procurement, Policy and leadership
Many cities have big ideas. Few cities have the big resources needed to make them reality. But rather than sitting back and watching the world pass them by, some are finding enterprising ways to take on projects that would seem to be beyond their...
Article - 04/22/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Analytics, Citizen engagement, Citizen engagement strategies and tools
The Internet of Things (IoT) is already transforming homes and cities by giving people access to real-time data that they can immediately act upon. But factories are now starting to catch on, too.That transformation could pay off for cities, but...
Article - 04/10/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement, Computing resources
Looking for money to help fund a smart cities initiative? You may already have it. It just may be going down the drain.Itron CEO Philip Mezey told participants at the Council's Smart Cities Now forum in Charlotte, North Carolina this week that North...
Article - 03/25/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Water and wastewater, Citizen engagement, Policy and leadership, Examples and case studies, SCC Spotlight Cities
It’s a common complaint: U.S. companies say they have lots of jobs available, they just can’t find anyone qualified to do it. President Barack Obama hopes to address that with a sweeping new initiative that stretches from the federal government to...
Article - 03/13/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement, Computing resources, Policy and leadership
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is out with its latest list spotlighting government innovators. In all, the 2015 Bright Ideas program recognizes 124 innovative...
Article - 02/20/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Energy, Public safety and security, Citizen engagement, Connectivity
The Institute for Sustainability and Mayor of London's Office put out a call for innovative technologies that will improve wayfinding and navigation in five districts that are members of London's Smart London Districts Network. The network brings...
Article - 01/28/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Citizen engagement, Connectivity
Efforts to create truly smart cities in Arab nations have been uneven so far and recent reports on government services leave no doubt there's room for improvement.“Government services may be good in the big metropolitan cities, but if you are living...
Article - 10/31/2014
Active Region(s): Main
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement, Connectivity
How can cities connect residents with economic opportunity? How can they give local businesses a boost? One solution may be as close as the nearest web browser or smartphone. More and more cities are building applications for citizens to...
Article - 05/12/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement, Connectivity
Mayor Rahm Emmanuel gave his CTO John Tolva a mission when he took office. "[He] told me, 'I want Chicago to be the Seoul, Korea of North America,'" said Tolva as quoted in a story in Crain's Chicago Business. And now Tolva has a roadmap to get him...
Article - 09/25/2013
Active Region(s): Main
Category: Economic development, Citizen engagement, Computing resources, Connectivity, Data management, Policy and leadership
In a rambling post from the public policy publication TheInformationDaily.com, two co-authors from the Forum for the Future meander through several topics before getting to a point that may sound trite at first, but actually is quite important.James...
Article - 07/16/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Smart City Concepts, Economic development, Citizen engagement, Policy and leadership
Gordon Feller is one of the smart city sector's premier thought leaders. Formerly CEO of the Urban Age Institute, he is now the Director of Urban Innovations at Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group. Cisco is a Smart Cities Council Lead Partner...
Article - 05/28/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Telecommunications, Citizen engagement, Policy and leadership
Free public Wi-Fi has been a luxury until recently. Now we see evidence that it is gradually becoming a must-have, at least for those cities that hope to attract high-income technology professionals. For instance, Mountain View, California - home to...
Article - 05/07/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Public safety and security, Telecommunications, Citizen engagement, Policy and leadership