Smart city tech will grow exponentially in the next few years, driven by advances in information and communications technology, including IoT sensors and analytics platforms.
Read MoreYou can’t really talk about what’s happening in Denver without mentioning what’s happening 5,800 miles away in Fujisawa, the Japanese town Panasonic built on top of its old factory outside Tokyo. Its 600 homes and 400 apartments — all sold out but still filling up — were designed to withstand earthquakes, are all outfitted with solar panels, and are all hooked up to the smart grid. It took over a decade to get Fujisawa up and running, but Panasonic wanted to reproduce it in the U.S. using an already established city.
Read MoreFor their school science fair, the two developed HydroAlert, an innovative flood warning sensor. The device shoots an ultrasonic sensor into the surface of Bull Creek, measuring how far it currently sits from the road. The data is then uploaded to the HydroAlert app–which the students also designed–every 15 seconds. LED lights on the device changes colors (green, yellow or red) depending on how close the water is getting to the roadway.
Read MoreSensors-on-lampposts have become a smart city cliché, the go-to image of urban technology in action. But these projects have a Bigfoot quality about them: often discussed, seldom seen.
Read MoreWhy become a smart city? When we reflect upon the push and pull – industry, cities, citizens – it’s important to remember that the “why” isn’t the same everywhere. If you ask Brent Nair, Chief Information Officer for the City of Memphis, he’ll tell you that his passion is in finding technologies that will serve people today.
Read MoreEquipped with high-tech versions of common city fixtures — namely, smart benches and digital information signs — and fueled by a “deploy or die” attitude, MIT Media Lab spinout Changing Environments is hoping to accelerate the development of “smart” cities that use technology to solve urban challenges.
Read MoreBioswales, rain gardens, permeable pavers. There’s a panoply of green stormwater infrastructure solutions — but not a lot of data about which types work best in which situations.
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The initiative is part of the city’s broader effort to generate data-driven decision-making in its parks department, a move reflected in large and small municipalities nationwide.
Read MoreAs more smart cities emerge, embracing technology and learning from the insights that big data offers, we will likely see a new business strategy emerge–geo-collaboration. When we think of cities now, we typically envision businesses, systems, and people operating among one another with almost no connection or collaboration. Now, imagine what will happen once cities become more connected and smart? Once local companies realize the value they could create together through interconnectivity, the possibilities are virtually endless.
Read MoreWhatever they say, the future will definitely not be orange. The sodium infused streetlights that give our cities that distinctive orange glow will be consigned to the past as will the ambient strain of light pollution that accompanies it.
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