According to Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities: “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” An inspiring call to action for the young and old alike, the statement prompts an important question related to the experience of aging in an urban environment:
How can cities become active partners to support longer, healthier lives? And how can older adults themselves assess their cities in the context of the smart solutions in place? Are they relevant to them, and has the quality of life increased?
Read more: US: IOT Smart Cities: Leveraging Digital Solutions For Healthy Aging
While electric vehicles are becoming much more commonplace, transit agencies have had mixed experiences with electric buses. Many are still exploring how best to reduce fleet emissions.
In Brief:
- Electric bus technology continues to evolve, and most transit agencies have yet to go all in on electrification.
- Electric buses present issues with charging infrastructure, storage space, reliability, range and cost.
- Some say improving service and attracting more riders is a bigger climate benefit than vehicle electrification.
Does your local government need a stance on generative AI? Boston encourages staff’s “responsible experimentation,” Seattle’s interim policy outlines cautions, and King County considers what responsible generative AI use might be.
Is it time for local government to try generative AI? Boston thinks so.
The city is actively encouraging its staff to test out the tools, while taking precautions. It announced the move in a May 18 email and interim guidelines sent to city staff.
Read more: US: Massachusetts: Boston: Cities and Counties Draft Guidelines for Workplace AI
The Long Beach Collaboratory in the Southern California city is open to community members who want to become more involved in the “smart economy” and help the city design and deploy urban tech pilot projects.
Community members in Long Beach, Calif., can grow their team-building and technology skills while advising city tech leaders on some of the neighborhood needs and issues smart city technology can help address.
Read more: US: California: Long Beach Gets Smarter About Its Smart City Deployments
Progress continues for the state of Illinois’ multiple-year digital transformation undertaking, which aims to simplify processes and positively impact state employees across the state’s agencies.
With multiple-year digital transformation projects, its the consistent and small wins that lead to a major evolution.
In 2016, following a successful pilot on a smaller scale, the state of Illinois started a statewide implementation of a single enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. Since the initial pilot, involving three agencies, the state has successfully onboarded 73 agencies on the new system using SAP ERP.
Read more: US: Illinois Continues Its Digital Transformation Journey