\u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this in-depth webinar, Dr. Reichental delves into the ways in which digital transformation will affect the cities of the future. He touches on areas such as governance, transportation and energy.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Digital Transformation of Cities in the Pursuit of Social Good and Economic Opportunity","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-12-27 20:45:15","post_modified_gmt":"2019-12-28 04:45:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/siliconvalley.center\/blog\/digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":632,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2018-10-11 18:06:00","post_date_gmt":"2018-10-12 01:06:00","post_content":"\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this in-depth webinar, Dr. Reichental delves into the ways in which digital transformation will affect the cities of the future. He touches on areas such as governance, transportation and energy.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Digital Transformation of Cities in the Pursuit of Social Good and Economic Opportunity","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-12-27 20:45:15","post_modified_gmt":"2019-12-28 04:45:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/siliconvalley.center\/blog\/digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":632,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2018-10-11 18:06:00","post_date_gmt":"2018-10-12 01:06:00","post_content":"\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the future of cities is about, as best we can, bringing the city back to the people. After all, it is for the people,\u201d reflects Dr. Reichental. The smart cities of the future will have to be citizen-centric, a focus that will direct all innovations towards the improved quality of life of citizens. With megacities of 10 million+ residents, public and private organizations must come together to harness emerging technologies on behalf of these residents. Digital transformation will be at the heart of these innovations and so will compel local governments to not only invest in their own digital innovation and transformation agendas but also partner with tech startups to bring cutting-edge technologies to their cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this in-depth webinar, Dr. Reichental delves into the ways in which digital transformation will affect the cities of the future. He touches on areas such as governance, transportation and energy.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Digital Transformation of Cities in the Pursuit of Social Good and Economic Opportunity","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-12-27 20:45:15","post_modified_gmt":"2019-12-28 04:45:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/siliconvalley.center\/blog\/digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":632,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2018-10-11 18:06:00","post_date_gmt":"2018-10-12 01:06:00","post_content":"\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the future of cities is about, as best we can, bringing the city back to the people. After all, it is for the people,\u201d reflects Dr. Reichental. The smart cities of the future will have to be citizen-centric, a focus that will direct all innovations towards the improved quality of life of citizens. With megacities of 10 million+ residents, public and private organizations must come together to harness emerging technologies on behalf of these residents. Digital transformation will be at the heart of these innovations and so will compel local governments to not only invest in their own digital innovation and transformation agendas but also partner with tech startups to bring cutting-edge technologies to their cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this in-depth webinar, Dr. Reichental delves into the ways in which digital transformation will affect the cities of the future. He touches on areas such as governance, transportation and energy.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Digital Transformation of Cities in the Pursuit of Social Good and Economic Opportunity","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-12-27 20:45:15","post_modified_gmt":"2019-12-28 04:45:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/siliconvalley.center\/blog\/digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":632,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2018-10-11 18:06:00","post_date_gmt":"2018-10-12 01:06:00","post_content":"\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of how this can work is the City of Palo Alto\u2019s Open Data Portal<\/a>. By opting to be an open data city by default, the city has made it possible for private citizens to experiment with data collected by the city. The city is also planning to launch a city-focused innovation platform in partnership with a local startup, UrbanLeap<\/a>, where individuals, startups and enterprises can collaborate with government to bring to market city-centric innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the future of cities is about, as best we can, bringing the city back to the people. After all, it is for the people,\u201d reflects Dr. Reichental. The smart cities of the future will have to be citizen-centric, a focus that will direct all innovations towards the improved quality of life of citizens. With megacities of 10 million+ residents, public and private organizations must come together to harness emerging technologies on behalf of these residents. Digital transformation will be at the heart of these innovations and so will compel local governments to not only invest in their own digital innovation and transformation agendas but also partner with tech startups to bring cutting-edge technologies to their cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this in-depth webinar, Dr. Reichental delves into the ways in which digital transformation will affect the cities of the future. He touches on areas such as governance, transportation and energy.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Digital Transformation of Cities in the Pursuit of Social Good and Economic Opportunity","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-12-27 20:45:15","post_modified_gmt":"2019-12-28 04:45:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/siliconvalley.center\/blog\/digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":632,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2018-10-11 18:06:00","post_date_gmt":"2018-10-12 01:06:00","post_content":"\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he is quick to point out that government working alone cannot solve all the challenges associated with cities. \u201cThe only way we\u2019re going to solve the problems of the future is by collaboration, by public-private partnerships. And more and more, those problems are going to be solved in the private sector,\u201d he says. He goes further by pointing out that individual citizens also have a role to play in the transformation of their cities. By coming up with innovative ideas and sharing these with local authorities, he says synergies can be created to help move cities forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of how this can work is the City of Palo Alto\u2019s Open Data Portal<\/a>. By opting to be an open data city by default, the city has made it possible for private citizens to experiment with data collected by the city. The city is also planning to launch a city-focused innovation platform in partnership with a local startup, UrbanLeap<\/a>, where individuals, startups and enterprises can collaborate with government to bring to market city-centric innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the future of cities is about, as best we can, bringing the city back to the people. After all, it is for the people,\u201d reflects Dr. Reichental. The smart cities of the future will have to be citizen-centric, a focus that will direct all innovations towards the improved quality of life of citizens. With megacities of 10 million+ residents, public and private organizations must come together to harness emerging technologies on behalf of these residents. Digital transformation will be at the heart of these innovations and so will compel local governments to not only invest in their own digital innovation and transformation agendas but also partner with tech startups to bring cutting-edge technologies to their cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this in-depth webinar, Dr. Reichental delves into the ways in which digital transformation will affect the cities of the future. He touches on areas such as governance, transportation and energy.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Digital Transformation of Cities in the Pursuit of Social Good and Economic Opportunity","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-12-27 20:45:15","post_modified_gmt":"2019-12-28 04:45:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/siliconvalley.center\/blog\/digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":632,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2018-10-11 18:06:00","post_date_gmt":"2018-10-12 01:06:00","post_content":"\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Governance is the nexus at which innovation and large-scale applications intersect. As the appointed gatekeepers of the urban experience, governments are playing an increasingly important role in how innovation is integrated into the transformation of cities. Dr. Reichental knows the importance of government in innovation all too well. He points out that some of the most important technological innovations in recent history emerged from the government. Technologies like the Internet, GPS, barcode readers, and the microchip were all funded by government grants. He sees government as being able to take riskier bets in the advancement of mass-market innovations, something private companies may not be willing to undertake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he is quick to point out that government working alone cannot solve all the challenges associated with cities. \u201cThe only way we\u2019re going to solve the problems of the future is by collaboration, by public-private partnerships. And more and more, those problems are going to be solved in the private sector,\u201d he says. He goes further by pointing out that individual citizens also have a role to play in the transformation of their cities. By coming up with innovative ideas and sharing these with local authorities, he says synergies can be created to help move cities forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of how this can work is the City of Palo Alto\u2019s Open Data Portal<\/a>. By opting to be an open data city by default, the city has made it possible for private citizens to experiment with data collected by the city. The city is also planning to launch a city-focused innovation platform in partnership with a local startup, UrbanLeap<\/a>, where individuals, startups and enterprises can collaborate with government to bring to market city-centric innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the future of cities is about, as best we can, bringing the city back to the people. After all, it is for the people,\u201d reflects Dr. Reichental. The smart cities of the future will have to be citizen-centric, a focus that will direct all innovations towards the improved quality of life of citizens. With megacities of 10 million+ residents, public and private organizations must come together to harness emerging technologies on behalf of these residents. Digital transformation will be at the heart of these innovations and so will compel local governments to not only invest in their own digital innovation and transformation agendas but also partner with tech startups to bring cutting-edge technologies to their cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this in-depth webinar, Dr. Reichental delves into the ways in which digital transformation will affect the cities of the future. He touches on areas such as governance, transportation and energy.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Digital Transformation of Cities in the Pursuit of Social Good and Economic Opportunity","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-12-27 20:45:15","post_modified_gmt":"2019-12-28 04:45:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/siliconvalley.center\/blog\/digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":632,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2018-10-11 18:06:00","post_date_gmt":"2018-10-12 01:06:00","post_content":"\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Governance is the nexus at which innovation and large-scale applications intersect. As the appointed gatekeepers of the urban experience, governments are playing an increasingly important role in how innovation is integrated into the transformation of cities. Dr. Reichental knows the importance of government in innovation all too well. He points out that some of the most important technological innovations in recent history emerged from the government. Technologies like the Internet, GPS, barcode readers, and the microchip were all funded by government grants. He sees government as being able to take riskier bets in the advancement of mass-market innovations, something private companies may not be willing to undertake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he is quick to point out that government working alone cannot solve all the challenges associated with cities. \u201cThe only way we\u2019re going to solve the problems of the future is by collaboration, by public-private partnerships. And more and more, those problems are going to be solved in the private sector,\u201d he says. He goes further by pointing out that individual citizens also have a role to play in the transformation of their cities. By coming up with innovative ideas and sharing these with local authorities, he says synergies can be created to help move cities forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of how this can work is the City of Palo Alto\u2019s Open Data Portal<\/a>. By opting to be an open data city by default, the city has made it possible for private citizens to experiment with data collected by the city. The city is also planning to launch a city-focused innovation platform in partnership with a local startup, UrbanLeap<\/a>, where individuals, startups and enterprises can collaborate with government to bring to market city-centric innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the future of cities is about, as best we can, bringing the city back to the people. After all, it is for the people,\u201d reflects Dr. Reichental. The smart cities of the future will have to be citizen-centric, a focus that will direct all innovations towards the improved quality of life of citizens. With megacities of 10 million+ residents, public and private organizations must come together to harness emerging technologies on behalf of these residents. Digital transformation will be at the heart of these innovations and so will compel local governments to not only invest in their own digital innovation and transformation agendas but also partner with tech startups to bring cutting-edge technologies to their cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this in-depth webinar, Dr. Reichental delves into the ways in which digital transformation will affect the cities of the future. He touches on areas such as governance, transportation and energy.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Digital Transformation of Cities in the Pursuit of Social Good and Economic Opportunity","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-12-27 20:45:15","post_modified_gmt":"2019-12-28 04:45:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/siliconvalley.center\/blog\/digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":632,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2018-10-11 18:06:00","post_date_gmt":"2018-10-12 01:06:00","post_content":"\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of a sustainable city is the Chengdu Great City<\/a> in China. Envisioned as a fully smart city, \u201cthe project has been designed to use 48% less energy and 58% less water than a conventional development of similar population (80,000). It will also produce 89% less landfill waste and generate 60% less carbon dioxide.\u201d It is important to note that this prototype city will have a population density of 61,538 people per square kilometer, one of the highest in the world. Such a city would meet Dr. Reichental\u2019s threshold of what he believes is a city that balances quality of life with sustainability and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closer home, the City of Palo Alto built and deployed an open data portal using lean methodologies to provide citizens, vendors, and developers direct access to raw data produced by the city of Palo Alto. By cutting out the middleman (data miners and processors), the city hopes to make it easier for interested parties to access, process and consume government data. Dr. Reichental, who was part of the task force that spearheaded this project, believes that once the project reaches its full potential, the data may result in the development of scalable solutions that help the city better manage resources as well as possibly become an additional source of revenue for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor government to achieve strong progress in the digital transformation of cities it must attract more talent,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This talent, while currently flowing slowly but steadily, will make it possible for government to attempt more ambitious projects. However, because government is constantly balancing priorities while working with limited resources, the need for political will to move the digital transformation agenda forward is essential. Framing the smart cities conversation as one that revolves around urban human future, the reinvention of the very nature of living by digital technologies and an emergent climate crisis, it is possible to bring all parties to the table to build the smart cities of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From these estimates, solar will by far be the biggest winner, generating the lion\u2019s share of this anticipated output. Dr. Reichental, therefore, sees solar as the likely heir to the throne that is currently occupied by fossil fuels. As such, cities must invest in ways to integrate sustainable energy into their infrastructure by partnering with startups like Arcadia Power<\/a>, which gives renters and homeowners easy access to clean renewable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Governance is the nexus at which innovation and large-scale applications intersect. As the appointed gatekeepers of the urban experience, governments are playing an increasingly important role in how innovation is integrated into the transformation of cities. Dr. Reichental knows the importance of government in innovation all too well. He points out that some of the most important technological innovations in recent history emerged from the government. Technologies like the Internet, GPS, barcode readers, and the microchip were all funded by government grants. He sees government as being able to take riskier bets in the advancement of mass-market innovations, something private companies may not be willing to undertake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he is quick to point out that government working alone cannot solve all the challenges associated with cities. \u201cThe only way we\u2019re going to solve the problems of the future is by collaboration, by public-private partnerships. And more and more, those problems are going to be solved in the private sector,\u201d he says. He goes further by pointing out that individual citizens also have a role to play in the transformation of their cities. By coming up with innovative ideas and sharing these with local authorities, he says synergies can be created to help move cities forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example of how this can work is the City of Palo Alto\u2019s Open Data Portal<\/a>. By opting to be an open data city by default, the city has made it possible for private citizens to experiment with data collected by the city. The city is also planning to launch a city-focused innovation platform in partnership with a local startup, UrbanLeap<\/a>, where individuals, startups and enterprises can collaborate with government to bring to market city-centric innovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think the future of cities is about, as best we can, bringing the city back to the people. After all, it is for the people,\u201d reflects Dr. Reichental. The smart cities of the future will have to be citizen-centric, a focus that will direct all innovations towards the improved quality of life of citizens. With megacities of 10 million+ residents, public and private organizations must come together to harness emerging technologies on behalf of these residents. Digital transformation will be at the heart of these innovations and so will compel local governments to not only invest in their own digital innovation and transformation agendas but also partner with tech startups to bring cutting-edge technologies to their cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this in-depth webinar, Dr. Reichental delves into the ways in which digital transformation will affect the cities of the future. He touches on areas such as governance, transportation and energy.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Digital Transformation of Cities in the Pursuit of Social Good and Economic Opportunity","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-12-27 20:45:15","post_modified_gmt":"2019-12-28 04:45:15","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/siliconvalley.center\/blog\/digital-transformation-of-cities-in-the-pursuit-of-social-good-and-economic-opportunity\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":632,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2018-10-11 18:06:00","post_date_gmt":"2018-10-12 01:06:00","post_content":"\n Rapid urbanization and a shift in industry from agriculture to manufacturing and now to information have resulted in an unprecedented population shift from rural to urban areas. Consider the following facts from the UN World Urbanization Prospects Report 2018<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dramatic rise in urban populations has resulted in the growth and expansion of cities. Today, a conversation about the future of the planet involves discussing the future of cities, which are poised to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity. We spoke with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, chief information officer of the City of Palo Alto about the future of cities. As a technology expert with experience from both the private sector and government, he shared his thoughts on the future of smart cities and what governments, the private sector, and citizens ought to focus on to make the dream a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, an International Telecommunications Union working group distilled the definition of a smart city<\/a> into one statement: \u201cA smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.\u201d Dr. Reichental distills this definition further, \u201cSmart cities are the application of digital technologies for improved livability, sustainability, and workability.\u201d However, with this integration of digital technologies, especially through the application of smart sensors and smart devices like smartphones, comes the inevitable discussion about data collection and privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe live in a post-privacy world,\u201d says Dr. Reichental, \u201cone where everyone must give up a certain level of privacy in a tradeoff for increased convenience and utility.\u201d For smart cities to thrive, he says, the conversation about data and privacy must be framed as a tradeoff and not an all-or-nothing situation. While today the conversation rages on because of the monetization of personal data by large corporations, this conversation can take a different turn when government and civic participation is looped in. Due to the nature of public participation in government, this impediment to the emergence of truly smart cities can be overcome. But for this to become a reality, a second aspect must be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We asked Dr. Reichental where he sees the momentum for the establishment of smart cities coming from. \u201cThe push for smart cities will come from three areas; citizens, government and the private sector.\u201d As citizens live more digitized lives and demand more convenience and efficiency in service provision, government will be compelled to take steps, both regarding investment and in legislation, to support this trend. One example of such legislation is the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017<\/a> which is currently before Congress. While legislation may be slow to catch up with technological advances, it holds the key to unlocking the potential of smart cities by regulating technologies like self-driving cars, clean energy generation, smart grids, and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this, Dr. Reichental explains, government relies on the private sector to come up with tried and tested innovations that can be deployed at scale. Considering smart cities are a trillion-dollar opportunity, there is enough incentive for the private sector to push for smarter cities. However, he says, this push from the private sector must include government interest for it to scale to a sizeable urban population. Recent experiments like Google\u2019s plans to build a smart city in Toronto<\/a> while laudable, fall short of what is needed to create the sort of momentum needed to drive the smart cities agenda. The right approach to smart cities should include government, citizens and private sector with an outlook, not of generating consensus, but rather having the difficult conversations involved with moving today\u2019s cities into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of the push for smart cities is the need to establish sustainable cities. Due to the massive numbers of buildings, vehicles and other machinery and equipment in cities, quality of life tends to get eroded through noise and air pollution, carbon emissions, and others. This is seen, for instance, in some Chinese cities, where air pollution has become a major challenge. \u201cIf we are to achieve the dream of smart cities, we must have the focus of creating sustainable cities that help solve the climate challenge,\u201d says Dr. Reichental. This will involve the large-scale adoption of clean energy, as energy is at the core of everything that makes a modern city run. This adoption of clean energy will have to span transportation, lighting and heat generation as well as powering smart IoT devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\nConclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Watch an In-depth Webinar on The Digital Transformation of Cities by Dr. Jonathan Reichental<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Giving Cities Back to People<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Watch an In-depth Webinar on The Digital Transformation of Cities by Dr. Jonathan Reichental<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Giving Cities Back to People<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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