"Across the country, mayors are issuing open calls for smart city tech. One reason, as we've reported, is that second-tier cities are desperate to attract jobs and people — and boost their flagging and sometimes dire circumstances.
The effort is to beat a trend in which the best talent and money are going to so-called "superstar cities."
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Did you know Mesa is a smart city? What...
- City of Mesa, Arizona ...
https://www.facebook.com/CityofMesa/...mesa...smart-city.../339673003384882/
5 days ago
Did you know Mesa is a smart city?
What does that mean?
_________________________________________________________________________Giants like Alphabet, GE and Cisco are building tech that they claim can transform a city stuck in the past into a futuristic paradise, but their early projects have resulted in unelected companies making what typically are City Hall decisions. . ."
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by Erica Pandey
> They are letting the companies into every part of city operations, from managing citizens' data to building affordable housing.
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But the results so far are mixed:
- Cities like Las Vegas have made development a free-for-all of Big Tech, and ended up with urban hodge-podge and no coherent look.
- Others, like Toronto, have handed over responsibility to a single tech company and are finding their decision-making power usurped.
- Such cities are giving "an incredible amount of control [to] tech companies ... that certainly don't have the same general interest as what their governments should be focused on," says Ben Green, a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center.
> Here in Mesa we don't see the public even thinking about serious things: fast one-minute
BLOGGER NOTE:
"Tech is fostering civic engagement—by letting citizens suggest their own development policies. . ."
In the matter of the Google Data Center THERE WAS NO CITIZEN PARTICIPATION - the project was kept under-wraps cloaked in Code Name The Red Hawk Project
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BLOGGER NOTE:
"Tech is fostering civic engagement—by letting citizens suggest their own development policies. . ."
In the matter of the Google Data Center THERE WAS NO CITIZEN PARTICIPATION - the project was kept under-wraps cloaked in Code Name The Red Hawk Project
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- San Diego faced a public backlash when it was revealed that a network of smart streetlights installed by GE had cameras affixed that police were using to watch citizens.
- The city said there is no image recognition capability in the streetlights. "Nevertheless, once the infrastructure for the surveillance state has been built, it's very difficult to prevent government from eventually accessing it irresponsibly, or worse, oppressively," says Dave Maass of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- Kansas City, Missouri is looking for a single company to install “a fully integrated suite of sensors, networks, and data and analytics platforms." Now, it's sifting through 15 proposals, says Chief Innovation Officer Bob Bennett.
Google, Microsoft, Panasonic, Siemens, IBM, Oracle, Cisco, Verizon and AT&T are all pitching their services to cities
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by Kim Hart 3 Sept 2018
Link > https://www.axios.com/the-smart-city-race
Cities are increasingly marketing themselves as "smart cities" — hyper-connected, sensor-equipped communities — in their latest economic development pitch to attract workers and businesses.
> "Smart city" is the buzzword adopted by tech firms and mayors to describe areas that mash together fast internet, sensors and automation to power "smart" streetlights, energy meters, water monitors and transportation systems.
- If marketing materials are to be believed, smart cities will use gigabit-speed internet and future 5G networks to transform how citizens interact with schools, utilities, their neighbors and and local governments.
- For example, sensors at downtown intersections can monitor pedestrian traffic and direct stop lights when to turn red, while dimming street lights and monitoring weather and rush-hour patterns to send notifications to commuters and public transit drivers.
> The other side: Cities are being pitched on a range of newfangled technologies and apps intended to provide free Wi-Fi at bus shelters, smart parking systems, or sensors to clear intersections faster. But there are privacy and security questions around who gets access to data generated by those tools, . .
It's also a question of priorities, such as balancing spending on social issues or technologies.
"It feels like a lot of smart-city technology is nice to have, but not necessarily vital to the continuance of city processes. When faced with homelessness, immigration, major critical infrastructure issues — those things take priority over making life easier for people trying to park, for example."— Ginger Ambruster, City of Seattle
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RESOURCES: SMART CITIES
From getting a license to paying taxes, we routinely give cities granular data on who we are, where we live, what we do and how much we earn.
Why it matters: “City Hall has a treasure trove of information about you,” says Ann Cavoukian, a privacy expert at Ryerson University. “You have no choice but to give them information.”
The cities no one can afford to live
"Around the world, people are streaming into big cities. But owning a home in these places is out of reach for many Americans — and where most end up renting, the idea of a quick zip to work is a cruel joke.
By the numbers: This is a global issue. A recent survey by Demographia, a firm that researches cities, looked at 309 metros in 8 countries. Of these, just 9 housing markets (all in the U.S.) were judged to be "affordable . . . "
