Global Site Search
You don't hear a lot about the behind-the-scenes operations that run major nonprofits like City Harvest's food rescue operations in New York City. But as the story below points out, making information technology systems work as efficiently as...
Article - 02/28/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Food and Water
Lot of discussion about drones of late – and no argument they have a way to go to prove their legitimacy in a slew of scenarios. But what should not be overlooked by policymakers and the public is that drones can serve a humanitarian purpose; in...
Article - 02/27/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Food and Water, Upward Mobility, Wellness
When will we see driverless cars on our roads and streets? The estimates vary, but not by much. The consensus seems to be that autonomous vehicles will be in production within four years or so. But that brings a very big question to mind: What do we...
Article - 02/23/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Readiness Guide Online
Category: Transportation, Analytics
The future of urban transportation is changing, and it's happening faster than you might think. Connected cars and driverless cars, buses and shuttles are gradually showing up on the radar of city leaders and planners as tech and car companies...
Article - 02/23/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Transportation
It's not that no one is thinking about how to regulate driverless cars or who should do it. But how we regulate them doesn't seem to be as exciting as the technologies and the benefits they're expected to provide. That said, it's an important...
Article - 02/23/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Transportation
You can’t design a truly effective mobility solution if you don’t really understand where people are and when and where they need to go. But how do you get that data? Surveys are incomplete. Observation is error prone. Sensors don’t yet measure...
Article - 02/23/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Readiness Guide Online
The German Off Road Kids foundation has been helping homeless youth in Germany since 1994. That's quite a track record. Today it has branches in Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund and Hamburg – all working to help street kids see a way out and provide tools...
Article - 02/22/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Shelter
Requests for emergency food assistance are on the rise – and hungry people are being turned away. In the past hunger may not have been an agenda item at city council meetings or school board meetings or corporate board meetings. Today it really...
Article - 02/22/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Food and Water
Headquartered in Doha, Qatar, Ooredoo is a leading player in the telecommunications market with operations in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and North Africa. It's also a leading player in efforts to empower women, advance access to education and...
Article - 02/20/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Wellness
Through its philanthropic arm, Google spends millions on worthy efforts around the world, but the one discussed below caught our attention because it is reportedly the first time a government -- in this case Australia's Department of Foreign...
Article - 02/19/2017
Active Region(s): Main, Australia - New Zealand, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Food and Water
Scroll down for quick news takes from Smart Cities Council partners.IBM's cloud data center for the U.S. ArmyCouncil Lead Partner will build a $62 million cloud data center at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The project is the initial...
Article - 02/16/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Health and human services, Transportation, Computing resources
Enel photoGoing green is a practical way for companies to grow their reputation for sustainability and innovation. And hooking up with the increasingly popular FIA Formula E open wheel electric car racing circuit is one way to do it. But Council...
Article - 02/16/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Transportation
When it comes to smart cities projects, there’s what people are saying and what people are doing. Our monthly Inside Look series tracks the latter by examining what cities are planning, soliciting and buying. Below, you’ll learn about some of the...
Article - 02/16/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Finance and procurement
If you’re old enough to remember the 1960s-era television show The Jetsons, you’re also old enough to have elderly parents and old enough to be thinking about growing old yourself. All of which leads me to what may seem like a scene out of The...
Article - 02/15/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Wellness
At a time when the nation seems so divided, a report on the realtor.com site offers a ray of sunshine. "America is a nation of givers," writes Yuqing Pan. She points out that in 2015, Americans donated over $373 billion to charities, the highest...
Article - 02/14/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Compassionate Cities
One article called GE's goal to fill 20,000 STEM roles at the company with women and obtain a 50:50 representation in all of its technical entry-level programs -- all by 2020 -- an "audacious plan." But if you look at the numbers, GE's move is an...
Article - 02/13/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Upward Mobility
In its Global Food Security Index for 2016, The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city-state of Singapore No. 3 behind the U.S. and Ireland as most food secure. That's an interesting statistic for a populous island that has very little farm...
Article - 02/10/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Food and Water
Smart cities are all about livability, workability, sustainability and resilience. But it takes monumental effort for a city to provide such a high quality of life for its citizens. Many cities can take on smaller projects on their own, but most don...
Article - 02/10/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Transportation, Water and wastewater
Smart Cities Readiness Challenge Grant winner Miami has been going through a long-term construction boom. And that boom has led to increasing demand for city services from its growing population. Meeting citizen expectations is a big enough...
Article - 02/10/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Public safety and security
The city of Orlando has accomplished a lot in terms of enhancing livability and sustainability with a variety of energy, transportation and other beneficial projects as it continues to develop its smart city program. And it has several more projects...
Article - 02/10/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Transportation, Connectivity, Policy and leadership
As you’re planning your smart cities efforts, do you stop to think about who they will benefit? It makes a difference. Case in point: Austin.Austin is growing fast and the fact is there’s virtually an unlimited number of projects that it could take...
Article - 02/09/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Citizen engagement
You’ve heard it before: If you want to make your city a smart city, you need to get all of your departments working together toward a common vision. You need to tear down silos. But how do you do that?In Philadelphia, it was a matter of striking up...
Article - 02/09/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Policy and leadership
At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last month, Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent called it a terrible thing when 75 million young people are ready to enter the workforce but can't find jobs and opportunities to create value. His suggestion is a "...
Article - 02/08/2017
Active Region(s): Main, Australia - New Zealand, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Upward Mobility
Breaking down the departmental silos is a key challenge in developing a smarter city. Each of the five cities that we’ve selected for our first-ever Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge Grants has made great strides in doing that.Below, you’ll...
Article - 02/08/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Austin, Indianapolis, Miami, Orlando and Philadelphia will receive Readiness Workshops, Products and Services in 2017 (Washington, D.C.) – February 8, 2017 – Smart Cities Council, the world’s largest smart cities network, announced today that Austin...
Article - 02/08/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Some battles must be fought on several fronts -- and the battle against opioid addiction and the deaths and destruction it causes seems to be one of them. What's encouraging, as you'll read below, is that from the streets to labs to hackathons,...
Article - 02/07/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Wellness
By Teena MaddoxFebruary 1, 2017The Smart Cities Council has named the 10 cities that are finalists in the Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge Grant program, and five of the cities will receive readiness workshops tailored to their smart...
Article - 02/07/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Energy, Public safety and security, Transportation, Water and wastewater
By Jason ShuehDecember 19, 2016Illinois officials report progress on their Smart State initiative, an unprecedented project for state government that is designed to improve digital infrastructure and the quality of life for residents. A two-day...
Article - 02/06/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Policy and leadership, Policy frameworks and tools
Published December 19, 2016 by Illinois Government Continues Rauner Administration’s transformation of state IT systems; Smart State Workshop provides valuable information and direction from key leadersCHICAGO, IL – The State of Illinois’...
Article - 02/06/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Policy and leadership, Policy frameworks and tools
Oslo-based advisory firm DNV GL published its 2017 Global Opportunity Report in partnership with the United Nations Global Compact and the Nordic think tank Sustainia. It's a complex undertaking based on a simple concept: In every risk there is...
Article - 02/06/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Compassionate Cities, Upward Mobility
You could say that smart street lights have been the 'Next Big Thing' for smart cities for the last several years and not get much of an argument. They're often the smart city initiative cities tackle first because they promise energy efficiency...
Article - 02/02/2017
Active Region(s): North America
Category: Built environment, Public safety and security
It’s hard to find a city where crime isn’t at or near the top of the list of citizen concerns. With tight budgets, though, there’s only so much you can do to put more officers on the streets.Intelligent street lighting, however, is emerging as one...
Article - 02/02/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security
By Tim Lacey, Dow Building and ConstructionCommuters nationwide spent more than eight billion hours stuck in traffic – or 50 hours per driver – in 2015. Today, through programs like the White House Smart City Challenge, cities are working with...
Article - 02/02/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Public safety and security
By James Benson, Current, Powered by GEQ: What’s next for smart street lights? A: A giant leap years in the works, networked street lights become the Internet of Things (IoT) platform to repurpose a city’s existing street lighting infrastructure. ...
Article - 02/02/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Public safety and security
Street lights are one of a city’s biggest energy expenses and replacing the old power-wasting lamps with energy-efficient LEDs can do a lot to cut that bill. But if you’re just switching the lamps, you’re missing out.It’s easy to understand the...
Article - 02/02/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Connectivity
Affordable housing is coming of age – and that's both bad news and good news. Bad because cities the world over are struggling mightily to supply enough safe, affordable housing to meet the need. Good because in so many instances the affordable...
Article - 02/01/2017
Active Region(s): Main, North America, Compassionate Cities
Category: Shelter
The Mayor's Fund for London is calling on businesses and community organizations to support its efforts to reduce hunger and social isolation for disadvantaged children across London during school holidays. Matthew Ryder, Deputy Mayor for...
Resources - 02/21/2017
Active Region(s): Main, Europe, North America, Compassionate Cities, Readiness Guide Online
Category: Food and Water