Global Site Search
We were in Louisville, KY, this week — one of the winners of our 2018 Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge. In nearly every city we go, public safety is one of the key focus areas. It makes sense. Safety is one of the key services that cities...
Article - 09/13/2018
Active Region(s): North America
Category: Public safety and security, Transportation, Citizen engagement
A report from McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) reveals how a variety of applications can significantly improve urban quality of life indicators, from reduced fatalities to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The report, Smart Cities: Digital Solutions...
Article - 06/14/2018
Active Region(s): North America
Category: Health and human services, Public safety and security, Telecommunications, Transportation, Citizen engagement, Connectivity
While New Zealand may be considered a small country, its smart cities ambitions are anything but small. For two consecutive years New Zealand (and Singapore) swept up more recognitions for their smart cities initiatives than any others in the annual...
Article - 05/29/2018
Active Region(s): Australia - New Zealand
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement
Bhopal, a vibrant economic centre of Madhya Pradesh, has launched many innovative smart solutions. The city recently has launched its first innovative public private partnership (PPP)-based smart poles and intelligent streetlights project under the...
Article - 07/31/2017
Active Region(s): India
Category: Energy, Public safety and security, Citizen engagement
Coimbatore with a decadal growth rate of around 20% is a rapidly growing city in the state of Tamil Nadu. Known as Manchester of India, the city is undertaking numerous initiatives towards improving basic services and quality of life of citizens....
Article - 07/26/2017
Active Region(s): India
Category: Energy, Public safety and security, Transportation, Waste management, Water and wastewater, Citizen engagement
There are people who don’t deal well with change — even if it’s for the better — so you can imagine how much it might shock your residents when their street lights are suddenly putting out a different color or intensity of light.The good news is...
Article - 05/13/2016
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement
By some measures, the public’s confidence in police has never been worse. As departments look for ideas to repair their relationships with the communities they serve, they may want to look to Lewiston, Maine, which has achieved success using social...
Article - 01/13/2016
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement
In the early days of the smart city movement, most cities built applications one at a time, typically for just one department. More and more, however, cities are realizing they don’t want to learn a separate tool for every separate application. Nor...
Article - 01/08/2016
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Smart City Concepts, Public safety and security, Transportation, Citizen engagement
Police officers are under the public’s microscope. After high-profile brutality cases, people are quick to reach for their smartphones to record any questionable interaction with law enforcement.Now a new app makes it even easier for people to...
Article - 11/20/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement
It typically isn’t easy to find money in the budget to put more police officers on the streets. But some police departments are finding a way to stretch their resources. They’re developing new camera networks that give their existing officers the...
Article - 08/05/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement, Connectivity
When was the last time your city updated its emergency plan? The way we communicate has changed a lot even over the past few years, so if your city’s website and social media aren’t key parts an emergency plan, it may be time to update it.Like it or...
Article - 07/22/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement, Data management
Data lies at the heart of many city services and smart cities are collecting ever increasing amounts of it. While cities use the data to streamline operations and make people’s lives easier, more people are seeing the efforts as creepy.Experts say...
Article - 06/12/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement, Data management
Snow rarely falls in Atlanta, so when it did, the media was so busy covering the impacts downtown that suburbs got lost in the flurries. That’s when one discovered the power of social media.The Johns Creek Police Department used technology from...
Article - 05/27/2015
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement, Computing resources
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
What are the toughest challenges facing the traffic industry? Council Associate Partner Siemens has identified five that it thinks could be solved with some innovative thinking. Toward that end, it is inviting the general public and university...
Article - 09/05/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Transportation, Citizen engagement
New York City kicked off its fifth Big Apps challenge this week with a special plea from Mayor Bill de Blasio that entrants develop ways to reduce traffic fatalities in the city. Toward that end, the city released a database of all traffic...
Article - 05/09/2014
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement, Computing resources, Connectivity, Policy and leadership
Everywhere you go, you read advice telling cities to use social media (we say it here at Smart Cities Council all the time). But using social media is one thing. Getting citizens to read it is another. The Governing.com post summarized below has...
Article - 10/16/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement, Connectivity, Policy and leadership, Examples and case studies
Smart grids and smart cities share many things, including a common mistake. Executives often think they can't get "smart" until they install a whole bunch of sensors. In fact, most grids and most cities already have mountains of data. For instance,...
Article - 09/25/2013
Active Region(s): Main
Category: Public safety and security, Analytics, Citizen engagement, Data management, Policy and leadership
You will want to skim this Economist article on smart cities for its warnings about what could go wrong; for its hints on the things that are stalling the market; for its anecdotes of cities doing it right; and for its optimistic conclusion that the...
Article - 09/11/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Analytics, Citizen engagement, Data management, Policy and leadership
The headline of the press release below talks about which smart city sectors will see rapid growth. And the first sentence talks about the potential to hit $3.3 trillion by 2025.As great as those things are, I think there are even more important...
Article - 08/28/2013
Active Region(s): Main, North America
Category: Public safety and security, Citizen engagement, Finance and procurement, Policy and leadership
By most accounts, China has more smart city projects than any other region. Even so, many Westerners assume that the U.S. and Europe will be the leaders in digital government and e-services. Here's a story from China Daily that suggests otherwise...
Article - 05/20/2013
Active Region(s): Main, China, North America
Category: Public safety and security, 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
Reed Pangborn is AT&T's area vice president for government, education and medical. In that role, he is responsible for helping cities "mobilize" their applications. An active runner, hiker and skier, he is a happy resident of Phoenix, where it...
Resources - 05/04/2013
Active Region(s): Main, Readiness Guide Online
Category: Public safety and security, Telecommunications, Citizen engagement, Finance and procurement