Lessons learned from the pandemic have made health a key area of the smart city. The evolution of technologies that improve residents’ health and wellbeing is accelerating – but how exactly are cities leveraging data to improve health?
Topic: internet-of-things-iot
8 MIN. READ
Smart Health: How can smart city technology leverage wellbeing?
By Laura Puttkamer on Apr 6, 2023 12:23:27 PM
Topics:
Smart City Technology
Smart City
Internet of Things (IoT)
Citizen Engagement
Smart Health
Health Technology
9 MIN. READ
The Benefits of Urban Data Platforms for Smart City Development
By Joe Appleton on May 17, 2021 1:12:05 PM
Urban data platforms (UDPs) are helping smart cities to evolve. These platforms serve as the supporting pillars for many smart city applications. They can map, combine, and store data from a wide range of sources, and process them to help form practical solutions to city-wide problems. Urban data platforms are an important part of any smart city ecosystem, taking data from government sources, private enterprises, NGOs, and members of the public, to help provide data-driven solutions that benefit everyone.
Topics:
Smart City Strategy
Smart City Development
Open Data
Internet of Things (IoT)
Artificial Intelligence
Big Data
17 MIN. READ
Smart City Leader Interview: Jamie Cudden, Smart Dublin
By Joe Appleton on May 7, 2021 9:30:00 AM
Jamie Cudden is the leader of Dublin City Council’s Smart City program. The Smart City program focuses on embracing new technologies to solve the many challenges that the city faces to make Dublin a more liveable city for all of its residents. Using pioneering ideas, involving 5G, Internet of Things, and Big Data, Dublin’s Smart City program has been able to develop and deploy a wide range of solutions for challenges such as citizen engagement, sustainable mobility, energy management, and more.
Since Dublin is a prime example of a smart city in action (read our Smart Dublin City Portrait for more information), we decided to get in touch with Jamie and find out how he helped to steer Dublin into a smarter future.
Topics:
Smart City Solutions
Smart City Technology
Smart City
Internet of Things (IoT)
Sustainability
Smart People
Big Data
11 MIN. READ
Citizen’s Perspectives on Data Privacy in Smart Cities
By Joe Appleton on Nov 2, 2020 10:09:00 AM
As smart cities get smarter, citizens have begun to express concerns about the use of their data, and whether their privacy is being sacrificed for the benefit of big data.
Ever since the concept of a smart city first emerged, it has been clear that technological innovation, intelligent systems, and big data would be three key ingredients to a city’s success. While there’s no clear-cut definition of what a smart city is or has to include (see also our article Redefining the Smart City Concept: A New Smart City Definition), it has been universally acknowledged that the purpose of a smart city is to improve the lives of its residents.
Topics:
Smart City Solutions
Smart City
Internet of Things (IoT)
Smart People
Smart Security
9 MIN. READ
The Importance of Cyber Security & Data Protection for Smart Cities
By Joe Appleton on Oct 22, 2020 3:03:09 PM
In 2012, Austrian author Marc Elsberg released his best-selling novel Blackout: Tomorrow Will Be Too Late. It’s a disaster thriller that focuses on cyber-terrorism. A group of disenfranchised hackers manipulates a network of European power stations, destabilizing the grid, and plunging Europe into chaos.
The loss of power is a catalyst that leads to a domino effect of disasters, from food shortages and the devaluation of money to nuclear catastrophes and societal collapse. Elsberg was praised for his meticulous research and realism. Of course, Blackout takes the dangers of a cyber-attack to the extreme, but it’s all within the bounds of possibility.
Though the events that take place in Blackout are a work of fiction, as more cities embrace inter-connectivity and smart technology, the threat of serious cyber-attacks on digital infrastructure is very real. In 2015, a cyber-attack compromised Ukraine’s power grid, compromising corporate date, denying the distribution of energy, disabling IT infrastructure, and destroying countless data files.
As cities get smarter, it begs the question: if a power station can be hacked, what else can be?
Topics:
Smart City Solutions
Smart City
Internet of Things (IoT)
Smart Security
11 MIN. READ
Leading North American Smart Cities to Watch in 2019
By Lily Maxwell on Sep 25, 2019 10:55:27 AM
In a 2018 report completed by the Eden Strategy Institute, 12 of the globe’s 20 smartest cities were located in the USA. Founded upon a spirit of innovation, it is perhaps no surprise that many of the country’s smart cities are so high-ranking, providing inspiration to other cities all over the world. Following our exploration of 4 up-and-coming North American Smart Cities in Part 1, we’ve chosen to take a brief look at 4 of the most prominent smart cities in the country in Part 2. From 2018’s highest ranking smart city worldwide, New York, to its start-up hub, San Francisco, we’ll take you through some of the smartest initiatives the US has to offer.
Topics:
Smart Government
Smart Mobility
Open Data
Internet of Things (IoT)
Citizen Engagement
Blockchain
Smart Infrastructure
14 MIN. READ
Rising North American Smart Cities to Watch in 2019
By Lily Maxwell on Aug 26, 2019 10:58:58 AM
The US is, in many ways, the birthplace of innovation: it was there that Ford launched the first affordable car and there that Steve Jobs founded Apple Inc. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that the US has also produced some of the world’s most innovative smart cities. With so many to choose from, we’re going to dive right in and take a look at some of the less obvious smart urban centres to see how they’re changing their city’s physical and social landscape in order to improve the lives of their citizens.
Topics:
Internet of Things (IoT)
Urban Innovation
Smart Infrastructure
Smart City Projects
11 MIN. READ
Rising Asian Stars: Smart Cities in Asia to Watch in 2019 - Part 1
By Lily Maxwell on Jun 19, 2019 2:02:08 PM
There were an estimated 47 megacities in existence in 2017, and the majority were located in Asia. The region is facing urbanization on a scale far beyond that of other regions, with an estimated 1.1 billion moving into Asian cities in the next 20 years. Many Asian countries are also in areas that are prone to extreme weather patterns or natural disasters, and this is only becoming more of a problem with climate change. Cities across the continent urgently need to prepare for serious population growth, and the strain it will place on their public services, and the risks that environmental changes pose. For this reason, becoming more resilient and ‘smarter’ is inevitably at the top of most Asian cities’ political agendas. In this article we are going to explore some of the Asian cities investing in becoming smarter and more sustainable in order to make their citizens safer and happier.
Topics:
Smart City Strategy
Smart City Solutions
Smart Living
Smart Government
Smart Mobility
Smart City
Internet of Things (IoT)
Climate Change
Smart City Projects
13 MIN. READ
Boyd Cohen on the Future of Smart Cities
By Lily Maxwell on May 28, 2019 12:56:28 AM
The importance of smart cities & smart citizens: In our interview series, smart city leaders comment on the future of smart cities, the role of technology, and the benefits for citizens. In our second interview of the series, we have asked urban strategist and smart city expert Boyd Cohen to share his expertise, thoughts and insights with us on a number of important smart city topics.
Topics:
Smart City
Internet of Things (IoT)
Sustainability
Smart People
Urban Innovation
Blockchain
Urban Mobility
Smart City Projects
9 MIN. READ
Blockchain Technologies: The Next Frontier of Smart Cities - Part 2
By Lily Maxwell on Aug 20, 2018 10:06:01 AM
As we discussed in our previous article (Blockchain: The Next Frontier of Smart Cities - Part 1), blockchain has the potential to transform our communities, making the places we call home more collaborative, democratic and sustainable places. It is no surprise then, that a whole bunch of cities - from Santiago de Chile, Toronto, Tel Aviv, Oslo, and Milan, to London, and Stockholm - are already developing blockchain-based projects. Dubai is going even further, aiming to become the world’s first fully ‘blockchain-powered city’ by 2020. Lofty ideals aside, as we examined in part 1, blockchain does actually seem to offer some concrete benefits for communities, as we shall see below.
Topics:
Smart City Solutions
Smart Government
Smart City
Internet of Things (IoT)
Smart People
Smart Cities
Blockchain