Global Resources and Promising Practices for Building and Refining Accessible and Inclusive Smart Cities from Darren Bates LLC.
Australia’s Smart Cities Plan largely conveys a limited role for people: they live, work and consume. This neglects the rich body of work calling for better human engagement in smart cities. Cities are first and foremost for people. If our cities are to continue to meet their residents’ needs, it is essential for people to engage and participate in planning…
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I.B.M. has designed a new operations center for the city of Rio de Janeiro, coordinating all kinds of functions under one roof. The company hopes the project will lead to a huge worldwide business. However, such approaches revealed many shortcomings, most notably the lack of civic engagement. I 2010, Rio de Janeiro launched the Integrated Centre of Command and Control,…
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The Australian government recently released an ambitious Smart Cities Plan, which suggests that cities should be first and foremost for people: If our cities are to continue to meet their residents’ needs, it is essential for people to engage and participate in planning and policy decisions that have an impact on their lives. Source: While governments talk about smart…
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Inclusion Summit Yoo, who is Senior VP for Corporate Affairs at Cisco, says over the years Cisco’s Networking Academy has benefited over 3,000 students with disabilities and the company has made a commitment to more than triple that number in the next five years. “We believe that helping people with disabilities develop technical skills is a win-win,” writes Woo. “It…
Read MoreConcern that the proliferation of smart cites will widen the gap between persons with disabilities, aging communities and the rest of the population is the impetus behind the global Defining Accessible Smart Cities Initiative. Learn more about the effort to infuse accessibility into smart cities programs. Source: Smart Cities Council | Making smart cities more accessible for people with disabilities…
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Last month at Smart Cities NYC 2017, nonprofits G3ict and World Enabled launched their Smart Cities for All toolkit to help city leaders, urban planners and technology companies design accessible and inclusive smart cities for all citizens. It contains four tools to help smart cities include a focus on ICT accessibility and the digital inclusion of persons with disabilities and…
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Can’t find parking space? Smart parking system helps you find one. Finding a parking place in a crowded city like Bengaluru is a horrendous task for city travelers. For this, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has come out with a solution that will not only solve the parking issues, but also help citizens to book parking spot well in…
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THERE ARE NUMEROUS OPPORTUNITIES THAT GROW OUT OF THE COLLABORATIVE/SHARING ECONOMY AND THE SHARING CITY INITIATIVE, SUCH AS: an increased sustainable- and efficient use of scarce resources; an enhanced affordability and accessibility of products and services for consumer; nurturing innovation of products & services; attracting creative industries and fostering a knowledge economy; increasing social cohesion and safety; improving efficiency…
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Sharing City Seoul | A Sharing Smart City Initiative Solve Urban Problems Through Sharing Sharing City Seoul mitigates various social problems by promoting shared use of both public and private resources while boosting civic engagement and supporting local businesses at the same time. Seoul Metropolitan Government proclaimed the Sharing City Seoul initiative on September 20, 2012, along with a…
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Build Global Cities That Are Engines of Inclusion – 100 Resilient Cities Cities are increasingly punching above their weight as engines of global economic growth, and the leaders are doing it while emphasizing inclusiveness. Urban development has historically focused on the structure of the local economy, business development, job creation and, increasingly, education and workforce preparedness. But cities have rarely…
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Maps That You Can Hear and Touch Sighted people read maps almost every day. Maps help us get off at the right subway station, grasp global affairs, plan museum trips, and remember the new office floorplan. And our use of maps, and sense of what they represent, is based almost entirely on looking at them. So it’s disorienting to think…
Read MorePart 3: Inclusive Cities Are More Resilient Cities Speaking at the 2015 McKinsey & Company Global Infrastructure Initiative, 100RC President Michael Berkowitz discussed a host of topics relating to urban resilience. and inclusion. “One of the key attributes of a resilent city is inclusiveness. We can evaluate that in a number of different ways, but certainly it’s that the most poor and vulnerable…
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The role of technology in building the sharing city, one open platform at a time… People-centric smart cities seem to be the focus of much industry dialogue now, as it should be. Ensuring that investments in creating technology solutions to improve liveability, workability, and sustainability outcomes is critical. Those companies that don’t do that won’t survive. Source: Smart Cities Council…
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The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is an independent research and innovation lab that focuses on educating children in a rapidly changing media landscape. Source: Joan Ganz Cooney Center – Advancing Children’s Learning in a Digital Age
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The quality of families’ Internet connections, and the kinds and capabilities of devices they can access, have considerable consequences for parents and children alike,” the report states. “When Internet access is intermittent — either because families have trouble paying monthly service charges or are using the Internet only in community locations — they face constraints on what they can…
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Compassionate Cities Initiative Compassionate Cities is a Smart Cities Council initiative to raise awareness about ways communities can reduce suffering and improve the lives of vulnerable populations through the use of digital technologies already being applied to solve other city challenges. Click here to learn more about the initiative – and scroll down for articles highlighting how technology is helping…
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Digital Inclusion Broadband Pilot Program Currently the pilot program is delivering free 1 Gigabit broadband, and at least one desktop computer, to community rooms at the 10 selected affordable housing complexes, allowing K-12 students and their parents without broadband or computers in their home to walk downstairs and access the internet for homework help and research. “Broadband is no…
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ConnectHome is a public-private collaboration to narrow the digital divide for families with school-age children who live in HUD-assisted housing. ConnectHome creates a platform for community leaders, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and private industry to join together and produce locally-tailored solutions for narrowing the digital divide. Through these stakeholders’ specific commitments to provide free or low-cost broadband access, devices, and digital…
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A 2015 study by a University of Tennessee economist found that Chattanooga’s much heralded smart grid and citywide gigabit Internet service had resulted in at least 2,800 new jobs and added $865.3 million to the local economy. The figure was due to a reduction in power outages resulting in part from smart grid technologies provided by S&C Electric Co., plus…
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It’s difficult to understand how, in 2017, the digital divide still exists. And it doesn’t just exist in developing countries – one report suggests 14% of people in Europe have never used the Internet. And 2015 U.S. Census data found about one-fifth of Americans don’t have Internet access at home. The good news is that we’re regularly seeing new initiatives…
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