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Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth, NH will soon have integrated structural, traffic and environmental monitoring programs. It's one of nine cutting-edge traffic safety improvement projects funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).The idea...
Article - 08/19/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Transportation, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
It's a truism that a smart city requires a holistic viewpoint, one that crosses departments and views the city as a whole. But what does that mean in practice? And how does one begin to take steps in that direction?Council Lead Partner Microsoft and...
Article - 02/26/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Connectivity, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
A Forbes post from Heather Clancy recaps the numbers that make smart water projects so economically compelling. They may help make the case for water modernization in your city. We've listed a few highlights below, or jump to the post for the full...
Article - 09/25/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Water and wastewater, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
The European Commission is spending 4 million euros to fund a three-year project to create a neighborhood-scale energy management platform. Described as a "service platform," the system will be piloted first in Seville, Spain followed by Lizzanello...
Article - 09/19/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Energy, Citizen engagement, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
I had my consciousness raised a couple months back after several conversations with the research head of a major freight delivery company. He helped me understand how important freight logistics is to the business health of a city, and to its...
Article - 09/18/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Transportation, Analytics, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
"A crisis is a terrible thing to waste" goes the old joke. So is an earthquake. “The rebuilding of Christchurch following the 2011 earthquakes presents an extraordinary opportunity to fit the city with sensors and hardware, to collect data that will...
Article - 09/11/2013
Active Region(s): Main, Australia - New Zealand, North America
Category: Built environment, Health and human services, Water and wastewater, Citizen engagement, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
Former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist has a thoughtful piece in Strong Towns that recommends taking a hard look before widening streets. Congestion can actually cause an uptick in retail sales, for instance. In other cases, the costs of buying real...
Article - 08/28/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Economic development, Transportation, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
The research arm of The Economist has just published a report benchmarking the global competitiveness of the world's 120 largest cities. We list the top ten below. You can also read a quick summary at 24/7 Wall Street but I suggest you download the...
Article - 08/14/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Economic development, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
This article from ArchDaily meanders all over the place, but there's an important nugget buried within. Architects are often asked to design the buildings and neighborhoods and cities of the future. Yet they are woefully uninformed about the amazing...
Article - 08/14/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Built environment, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
A new report from market research firm Frost & Sullivan underlines what has already become apparent in the field. Transportation is one of the most common flash points for a smart city. The equation seems to work like this: Transportation...
Article - 08/07/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Transportation, Analytics, Data management, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
You've heard the adage that we "overestimate what we can do in two years and underestimate what we can accomplish in 10 years." By that token, many of us suffer from "extrapolation syndrome." We project the future by extrapolating today's trends...
Article - 07/09/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Transportation, Connectivity, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
It's no longer news when a major city announces its intention to be a world leader in smart city services. But it is illuminating to drill down to see what those cities mean by that announcement. And, especially, what kind of smart city applications...
Article - 05/28/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Telecommunications, Transportation, Citizen engagement, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
A coalition of global cities has combed through 2,500 smart city apps and 456 semi-finalists to choose 23 winners. Many of them are city-scale solutions, such as the proposal to offer free WiFi in the public areas of Lagos. But many are "lightweight...
Article - 05/20/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Health and human services, Telecommunications, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership
Video surveillance is certainly nothing new, especially in the UK. But now Glasgow is considering the installation of next-generation "super intelligent" cameras. These units will be able to recognize threats on their own. We'll be watching this one...
Article - 04/29/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Instrumentation and control, Policy and leadership