The smart cities trend has recently undergone multiple reforms, partly due to the pandemic. Fierce Electronics asked several city chief innovation officers to give us their read on which way the winds are blowing. David Graham, chief innovation officer in the office innovation and economic development for Carlsbad, California, offered his views. Located near San Diego, Carlsbad has more than 114,000 residents.
FE: What do you think are the next steps for the smart city movement?
Graham: Next steps for smart cities include redefining what it is and tempering expectations. Some have sold smart cities as the technology and data solutions that will solve all of the woes of cities. Sometimes people have over-promised and under-delivered.
I see a shift towards a focus on connected communities and an ever-increasing role of data in decision making. Deploying sensors throughout a city, using cameras with video analytics, and setting up digital kiosks, may all be good, but when technology is being deployed to try to achieve the label of “smart city,” the purpose of doing all of this work gets lost.
FE: What are the biggest challenges?
Graham: One of the big challenges is what to do with data. Cities are data rich but insights poor. Deploying IoT without having a clear understanding of the communications and data infrastructure needed to make this work and having the analytics capability inside the city to make sense of it all will mean the results will be underwhelming and all of the capabilities of the technology will not be realized.
For me, when considering a project the first question is what challenge are we solving, what other challenges are associated with that challenge that we can also solve, and have we looked across the entire community to make sure that we are addressing challenges that are adjacent to the solution that we are wanting to deploy.
When I put a finger to the wind and see where the smart city movement is blowing I think there are three areas that will see the greatest focus. It’s not autonomous vehicles, AI, or blockchain solutions. It’s information communications technology (ICT), addressing the digital divide, and mobility including rethinking mass transit.
Every city has experienced an onslaught of new services and offerings that needed to be put online as well as shifting the workforce to remote work. While some organizations may not have decided to have a significant portion of their workforce continue remotely, the collaboration tools have now been adopted and will continue to be used whether in person or remotely. Why? Because, for the naysayers and those who never took the time to learn, there are at least some efficiencies that have been experienced and that’s not going to change. Often the biggest hurdle to change is culture and COVID-19 blasted through cultural resistance to digital collaboration tools in a way that nothing else could have.
For similar reasons there is a renewed focus on addressing the digital divide and frankly it’s a winning political issue as well. Because of the issues with remote education there is a more stark picture that has been painted between those who are well connected and those who are not. This is an area that will see significant investment.
Finally, rethinking mobility and mass transit is going to be crucial. The disruption in transportation in general was so significant that I think there will be significant investment in infrastructure, services, and data-sharing that provides more options to users and better delivers people to the places they want to be safely.
In the recovery phase of COVID-19 there is a lot of funding that is being routed to cities and those that are smart will turn the lessons they learned during the response to the pandemic into improvements for the long-term.
FE: If you were given a pot of money, what top three smart city projects would you want your city to explore. You’ve already hinted at several.
Graham: First, Mobility – Building upon our successful pilot of an on-demand shuttle from our commuter train stations into the core areas of employment in the city, we would look at small scale mobility in our central business district, tying our transportation demand management program to improved mobility outcomes, and piloting a data solution that ties together all modes of transportation in the city into an easy-to-use platform to inform users of options and trip times to get to their destination.
Second, Information Communication Technology. We’re building upon our new digital information network and connecting up our centralized traffic management system, SCADA system for controlling water and wastewater, and exploring public Wi-Fi 6 opportunities. Public Wi-Fi was hot at one time years ago, but it’s kind of fallen out of style. I see a resurgence in public Wi-Fi and lightning fast speeds to address digital divide issues. So, in central business districts, education hubs, parks, community centers, and other outdoor areas wireless connectivity is no longer a perk, it is a necessity and one that I think cities that operation their own ICT network should explore again.
Third, building and unleashing the data reservoir. Building up our integrated data, deputizing people throughout the city through education to be able to use data, and enhancing our ability to deliver insights is key to everything we do.
Those are the three areas.
Editor’s Note: David Graham joins other experts on a smart city panel discussion as part of IoT Technologies Summit, March 15-16. Register for the free online event.
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