IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

This is the story of an actual city that I am very familiar with, but will remain nameless. It’s not a bad city to live in; in fact it is very pleasant as communities go. It has a city center that is quite lovely; including beautiful churches; some lovely heritage buildings and walkways and bike-paths; a nice residential area near the city core; and all of the kinds of things you’d expect of a city its size from movie theatres, shopping areas, libraries and parks. It even has a notorious shopping strip with the ever-present malls and parking lots. Of course there are business offices in the core and industrial areas and business parks on the periphery of the city. Major highways pass by and rail and airport services are nearby. The city is endowed with cable TV and fiber-optic services provided by competing service providers. There is even supposed to be a small pocket of free wireless downtown, although I could not identify it and instead received Internet service when I got near a coffee shop hotspot that offered it for a fee. It also has a limited number of computers in the library that citizens can access if they don’t have their own laptops. I also understand that a famous technology vendor outfitted the community with extensive metering and other technologies and software to monitor the traffic lights, water meters and other municipal services for the city. The municipality’s goal is to better understand its infrastructure usage and as a result of its implementation, the vendor heralded it a “smart community”, one of the best in the land.

Weiterlesen: So You Think You’re So Smart?

Digital, smarter, intelligent cities? The buzzwords are flying in local government today, from IBM commercials to the annual Digital Cities and Counties rankings.

Ask around — every city wants to be all these things, but what exactly do they mean? And how are they feasible in today’s world of budget cuts and doing more with less?

Weiterlesen: Five Pillars to a Digital City

Modern cities share many goals. For many, chief among them is an engaged citizenry interested in innovative, sustainable solutions that contribute to their community’s livability. Using today’s terminology, they aspire to be “smart cities.”

Ruthbea Yesner Clarke, research director at market research and advisory firm IDC Government Insights, explained in an interview with Government Technology that smart cities adopt a broader view of sustainability. Beyond its typical environmental implications, sustainability also applies to things like infrastructure development and economic development.

Weiterlesen: How to Make Your City Smarter

Information and communication and technology will enable a more sustainable approach to designing, building and operating cities to overcome the challenge of population growth and accelerating urbanisation, according to the global consultancy Ovum.

The United Nations is predicting that the world's cities will need to house an additional 2.9 billion people by the middle of what is being called "the urban century". Hundreds of cities will be built and expanded to accommodate migration and growth - particularly in China and India.

"This is leading to a rise in competition among cities to attract and retain the investment and people needed for urban development and revitalisation," said Dr Steve Hodgkinson, an Ovum research director and author of the report "Is Your City Smart Enough?"

Weiterlesen: ICT drives 'the urban century'