As cities around the world move into an era of Smart city planning and implementation, one of the key challenges is meeting the needs of an increasingly aging population.
Read MoreSmart City Development and the Needs of the Elderly
Category: Mobility
City of Philadelphia Announces SmartCityPHL Augmented Reality Challenge to Support Public Transit Accessibility
PHILADELPHIA—The City of Philadelphia today announced SmartCityPHL’s new challenge, SEPTA for All: Augmenting Transit with Augmented Reality. The challenge invites innovators to submit ideas that would use augmented reality technology to make public transit more welcoming, comfortable, and accessible to people with disabilities. Applications are due August 2, 2021. “The pandemic amplified how critical public transit is to Philadelphians,” said…
Read MoreNew Smart Tech Helps Visually Impaired South Koreans Increase Mobility
South Korea’s second largest city is using new, inclusive technology to bring down barriers to mobility for people who are blind.
Read MoreUrban Air Mobility Must Incorporate The Needs Of Disabled Citizens
Urban Air Mobility must incorporate the needs of disabled citizens if the promise – and full market value – of advanced air mobility and urban air mobility systems are to be fully realized.
Read MoreHow Well Are We Ensuring Contactless Fare Payment Is Accessible and Equitable for Everyone?
How Well Are We Ensuring Contactless Fare Payment Is Accessible and Equitable for Everyone? Considering equity and accessibility issues from the beginning will help ensure all travellers have barrier-free access to these new systems.
Read MoreAutonomous Vehicles Should Benefit People with Disabilities, But Progress Remains Slow
An MIT report estimates truly autonomous vehicles might not hit the streets for a decade. And when they do, it’s difficult to say whether they will fully accommodate all riders, including those with disabilities. Driverless car technology promises to remove barriers to personal transportation, but few self-driving operators have made headway on solutions for customers with mobility, vision, and hearing…
Read MorePersonalized Accessible Wayfinding for People with Disabilities Through Open Geospatial Data
Abstract Of the many features that smart cities offer, safe and comfortable mobility of pedestrians within the built environment is of particular importance. Safe and comfortable mobility requires that the built environments of smart cities be accessible to all pedestrians, mobility abled and mobility impaired, given their various mobility needs and preferences. This, coupled with advanced technologies such as wayfinding…
Read MoreAs Cities Embrace New Modes Of Transit, Gaps In Accessibility Remain
(Pittsburgh) — How we get from one place to another can have a big impact on our lives. Conjure up the feeling of sitting in a hot car, stuck in gridlock, and compare it to taking a short bike ride to work or to meet a friend. It may not seem like a big deal, but the difference between the…
Read MoreHow Steep Is That Sidewalk? A Digital Map for People With Disabilities
Most people know about Seattle’s rain, but they’re surprised to learn that the city, especially the downtown area, is steeper than Denver, the “Mile High City.” Seattle’s hills can render many buildings and businesses, including places like City Hall, inaccessible to people with mobility needs. For those people, apps such as Google Maps are not especially helpful because they show…
Read MoreTying Safety and Accessibility in a 21st Century Mobility Strategy
The concept of mobility encompasses far more than cars, buses, trains, taxis, bicycles and e-scooters. In their carefully researched book, Smart Cities, Smart Future (Wiley, 2018), authors Mike Barlow and Cornelia Lévy-Bencheton argue persuasively that accessibility is a primary element in successful mobility strategies
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