Many of these stories support the wider definition of Smart cities as above which incorporates:
a) Investments in human and social capital
b) Investments in traditional (ex transport) and modern(ex ICT) communications infrastructure
c) Sustainable economic development
d) Higher quality of life with a wise management of natural resources
e) Participatory governance
Después de unos años de debilidad las soluciones tecnológicas atacan de nuevo. Todos aquellos que conocen mi defensa de la eficiencia en el funcionamiento de edificios, ciudades y territorios, puede que se sorprendan de este ataque frontal a una de las etiquetas (Smart City) que, últimamente, aparece por todas partes como la solución a nuestros males. Pero es que creo poco en que la serie de inventos tecnológicos que están apareciendo con el objetivo supuesto de aumentar la eficiencia del sistema urbano resuelvan el problema.
Spain may be facing significant economic and political challenges these days, but Barcelona's city-building remains one of the best models in the world. Few cities inspire my thinking more.
Thus it was a fitting location for the second Global Smart City Expo/Congress, and my invitation to speak was a good excuse to return, and share some of the best "steal-able" lessons. The Congress may have talked a lot about urban technologies, but Barcelona reminds us how Smart the fundamentals are when it comes to making great cities.
One of the problems I have with a lot of what passes for smart infill development - on the whole, a good thing - is that parks and green space are treated as afterthoughts at best, and frequently ignored altogether.
Last year, I spent considerable time researching best practices for climate resilient cities--an endeavor that culminated in what I believe was the first ever global ranking of resilient cities. Now, after extensive research on smart cities initiatives around the globe, I have developed what may be the first ever global rankings of smart cities.
But the question remains: How exactly - in what ways and through which channels - does density make our cities more productive?
That's where a recent study published in the Journal of Regional Science breaks new ground. Conducted by economists Jaison Abel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Ishita Dey of the University of Georgia, and Todd Gabe of the University of Maine, the study provides new evidence of the relationships between density, human capital, and urban productivity. It uses detailed statistical models to gauge more precisely the effects of density and human capital, separately and together, on productivity of more than 350 metro areas.