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Smart cities: why now?

The US Department of Transportation’s Smart Cities Challenge was just the latest event to expose the growing interest for cities using technological solutions to solve pressing transportation problems like reducing transportation costs while also making it easier to get around, making housing more affordable and ensuring that low-income residents benefit from our increasingly prosperous cities.

Flickr photo by Paul Krueger. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pwkrueger/9220398978/

While the verdict is out on just how the trends we outline below will affect our cities, one thing is certain: we’re in the midst of the most significant shift in urban transportation in decades. To wit, just a few weeks ago, Uber’s self-driving pilot kicked off in Pittsburgh.

The creation of the interstate system to connect cities (and also speed commuters through them to new outlying suburbs) was the last truly epochal shift in urban mobility. We’re on the cusp of the next one right now. So why does this appear to be “the moment” for the interest in being a smart city?

Cities are bursting at the seams with new residents

Since 2008, for the first time in human history, more than 50 percent of the global population lives in cities. Experts estimate cities will house 70 percent of the global population by 2050. In the United States alone, urban areas account for 85 percent of the total population and nearly one in three Americans lives in the ten largest metro regions.

This surge has created new opportunities for thriving urban areas, but it also brings new challenges and exacerbates existing ones.

Cities of any size thrive on their ability to efficiently move people, goods and ideas from point to point, yet many cities still struggle to provide the basic infrastructure to do so, whether a comprehensive transit system to move large numbers people in limited space, well-maintained roads and streets for automobiles, buses or bikes, or safe sidewalks — because almost everyone begins or ends their trip with a walk. And it’s an ongoing struggle to keep it all running smoothly. Washington D.C.’s Metro is currently undergoing a such an extensive repair project that whole sections of the system are shut down for weeks at a time, while New York is preparing to close one of its most popular subway lines for 18 months.

The demand for urban living is at an all-time high, but that opportunity comes with a greater challenge of moving even more people safely, affordably and efficiently.

High-speed internet access is ubiquitous and consumer demand is growing

Since 2000, whether at home, at work or on mobile devices, high-speed internet access has become ubiquitous in cities, driven both by innovation and consumer demand. High-speed internet availability hovers near 100 percent in urban areas in the U.S. and Wi-Fi coverage is also available for free or low cost in most buildings, stores, and coffee shops. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the cost of broadband has actually dropped by a factor of nearly 40 times over the past 10 years.

Beginning largely with the release of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, smartphones have saturated the market. 68 percent of Americans owned a smartphone last year, nearly double the number of just five years ago.

Unfortunately, far too many lower-income residents still lack affordable access to broadband or a connection to the useful tools driving this movement. Though this movement presents cities with additional challenges of equity and access to solve, the fact that the majority of urban residents now have an internet-connected supercomputer in their pocket all day long has fed a growing demand for more data and real-time information about the cities we inhabit. Which leads us to…

Data sensors and processing power have become more affordable and accessible

While the demand for having more information at our fingertips is also driving an expectation that everything should be online and connected, two other factors are making this possible.

First, over the last decade prices for sensors — that can monitor everything from when your laundry is done to air quality to location — have dropped by roughly 50 percent over the last decade. Second, during that same time period, the low-cost and availability of virtually limitless computing power through cloud computing has given the power of aggregation, analytics and visualization to anyone with a desktop computer or smartphone. The result of all of this is that startups, entrepreneurs and “makers” are testing the addition of sensors in every conceivable context.

There are hundreds of civic applications for these sensors — such as measuring air quality in low-income neighborhoods to water pipe leakage to knowing precisely where a bus or train is located to predict its arrival — that cities can take advantage of to give them a better idea of what’s happening in their communities.

Huge private sector investments in new business models & disrupting old ones

Enabled by all this data and processing power, the penetration of smartphones and the desire for improved urban mobility, the last five years have been marked by private sector efforts to “disrupt” traditional transportation markets. Scores of private companies, whether old guard car companies like Daimler (through Car2go) or new providers like Lyft or Uber, have been investing money and resources to provide new options for getting around. Google is a primary investor in Uber, while also developing its own self-driving car.

Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing companies are also still on shaky ground when it comes to their business models and are ultimately seeking automated solutions (i.e., self-driving cars) to bypass their biggest cost: labor. Uber has lost over $4 billion since it was founded with $1.2 billion in the first half of 2016 alone. And, while some of that is certainly caused by developing automated vehicles and their expansion troubles in China, much of it comes from incentivizing drivers to maintain their market share in the U.S.a

With the decline in auto ownership led by millennials, even some old guard auto manufacturers are attempting to rebrand themselves as mobility companies, investing in or acquiring dozens of startups and testing out new product lines unthinkable for them just five years ago. Just a few weeks ago, Ford not only purchased shuttle service Chariot, but also launched a partnership with Motivate to expand bike-sharing operations in San Francisco.

It’s a perfect storm right now, and the “smart” cities will be the proactive ones

We’ve reached a tipping point where the ubiquity of technology has coincided with a growing need for our cities to become or remain prosperous, equitable, enjoyable places to live. While connected and automated vehicle technology certainly has the potential to dramatically improve pedestrian and driver safety, decrease traffic congestion, and improve freight and shipping technology, there are real consequences to be mindful of.

We’re clearly at a crossroads as we tip over into this monumental shift in urban transportation. But as we mentioned in our last blog post, smart cities are those that thoughtfully take advantage of the new technological tools at their disposal to accomplish what’s most important to them.

The smartest cities will take advantage of this moment in time and this transformation to become more prosperous, efficient, affordable and equitable.

What will happen to the cities that innovate without including everyone?

This post was written by our smart cities team of Russ Brooks, Rob Benner and Steve Davis

An overwhelming number of cities applied to join our smart cities collaborative

Nearly 60 local governments from 31 states applied to join our collaborative for smart cities, including nearly half of the cities that entered USDOT’s Smart City Challenge. Applications closed two weeks ago — so what’s next?

smartphone-bus

After the outpouring of interest in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart Cities Challenge, perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised to see tremendous interest and enthusiasm from cities nationwide for our smart cities collaborative in partnership with Sidewalk Labs.

Nearly 60 local governments from 31 states applied to join the collaborative — including nearly half of the Smart City Challenge applicants and a number of the seven finalist cities — underscoring their desire to find ways to thoughtfully use technology to solve their pressing transportation and mobility challenges.

The applications came in from an incredibly diverse range of cities, from small to large and from coast to coast, including places like Seattle, WA; Kirkwood, MO; Charlotte, NC and Los Angeles, CA. A diverse group of cities will be at the table as members of the collaborative begin to define and design the “connected streets” of the future.

What do cities want?

Each applicant city identified a transportation-based problem they’re challenged by, an outcome they’re seeking, and a specific project they’re interested in developing to meet their needs. The applications showcased a diverse array of projects that shared an innovative drive toward problem identification, solution generation, and a willingness to take risks.

The application also included a list of fifteen potential technical and topical working groups to focus on in the collaborative. So far, cities expressed the greatest interest in connected and automated vehicles, carbon reduction strategies, shared mobility and first- and last-mile solutions, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) implementation, and performance measures and data analytics. Although there was enthusiasm for all of the groups, we’ll eventually be narrowing the field down to just a few of the groups with the deepest interest.

In addition to the applications, we also received nearly 100 responses to our State of the Smart City Survey, which will help provide an incredibly valuable picture of where cities are at when it comes to technology and smart city ambitions.

This detailed survey asked cities to evaluate themselves on their status in implementing smart cities projects and technologies. Their submissions will enable T4America to develop a better understanding of what cities want, what gaps need to be filled, and how we can begin to provide technical assistance on a national scale.

We’re thrilled to work with local leaders and help them learn from each other as they figure out how to move forward with their ambitious plans.

We’ll be releasing the results of the State of the Smart City later this fall as well as sharing the work from the collaborative and what we’re all learning along the way as it takes off over the next few months.

This post was written by our Smart Cities team of Russ Brooks, Rob Benner and Steve Davis.

What does it mean to be a smart city?

What does it mean to be a smart city? Though the definition is certainly evolving and will continue to do so, it’s important for municipal leaders and advocates in aspiring smart cities to begin developing a good answer to this basic question.

Real-time bus arrival information in a Seattle bus stop. Flickr photo by SDOT.

This year’s Smart City Challenge from USDOT generated a tremendous amount of excitement and also forced cities to step out of their comfort zones, work across departments and put together a coherent business plan for their ambitions. Overall, as we noted in our last post, as we read through the applications, it’s still really hard to put a finger on precisely what a smart city is right now, and what it means to be one.

One of the first tasks for our Smart City Collaborative will be to start defining that question.

t4america sidewalk labs partnership The Smart City Collaborative is our national, multi-city collaborative with Sidewalk Labs to help cities use technology to meet their pressing transportation challenges. Cities in the collaborative will join working groups focused on one aspect of a smart city and collaborate to develop pilot projects, share successes and failures, and engage with one another to come up with new, creative solutions to their unique problems. Find out more and apply here.

At Transportation for America, we start with the concept that a smart city uses technology to discover where people are going and where they want and need to go, and learns from that information to create safer, more efficient, and affordable transportation options that accelerate access to opportunity for all of their residents.

While technology is important, it’s only a tool in the toolbox. It’s the means, not the ends. But what ends? What goals? Every conversation about smart cities should start with outcomes and purposes first, such as:

Engaging a wider range of our community and solicit feedback from people who might have been left behind in the past.
Building a more efficient city that gets greater returns from each investment.
Developing a more equitable and inclusive city with improved access to opportunity for everyone.
Understanding as much as possible about residents’ needs, in order to craft solutions to better meet them.
Testing and failing and learning from mistakes quickly to take charge of their destiny.

Technology is a part of helping cities reach those goals, but it needs to be wielded thoughtfully and intentionally. As Allison Arieff said in an interesting New York Times piece recently, “Are we fixing the right things? Are we breaking the wrong ones? Is it necessary to start from scratch every time?”

Cities don’t need to have social media or a fancy app to meaningfully engage their residents. There are still proven ways to improve transportation options for more people without on-demand transit or new mobility apps. Cities can smake safety for people walking or biking a high priority immediately without new vehicle-to-infrastructure technology or smart traffic signals.

With these thoughts in mind, here are four things starting to emerge as core aspects of a smart city.

Smart cities are more equitable and inclusive

Smart cities ensure that new technologies are used to accelerate access to opportunity for all residents — not just certain segments of the population. The most successful cities are good at creating opportunity for people of all incomes. This starts with the city driving the discussion and ensuring low-income residents and communities of color, and especially the unbanked and digitally disconnected, are always included in the conversation. It’s critical that any new developments or technologies reduce the divide between the transportation haves and have-nots.

Smart cities use technology in a way that brings benefits to every resident — regardless of age, ability, income, or zip code.

Smart cities work closely and transparently with constituents

Engaging more people in more productive ways is a bedrock of better, more inclusive decision-making. Like the process of creative placemaking (chronicled in depth in this T4America resource), when residents are involved in meaningful ways in the process, they’re not only more likely to feel ownership of the outcome, but the end product is almost always better.

Face-to-face, old-school community meetings should still be a staple of any city’s efforts, but new technologies offer the chance to receive feedback from people in new ways; real-time feedback and data on everything from air or noise pollution to dangerous intersections to places where transit service is lacking.

Smart cities are dealmakers who aren’t afraid to take risks

Cities that sit on the sidelines while these disruptions take place will see their cities shaped by others, without their feedback, and very possibly without the best interests of all of their residents in mind.

Cities need to learn how to drive the discussion and be the dealmakers. The old 20th century regulatory framework no longer applies. Cities need to make deals and negotiate vendors and providers on their terms and ensure that these changes enhance transportation choices for everyone.

A cultural shift within municipal governments will also be necessary; political and executive leadership will need to be willing to test and fail. As former Chicago and Washington, DC transportation head Gabe Klein illustrates with real-world examples in his terrific short book Startup City, cities need to think more like flexible, nimble tech startups than lumbering bureaucracies.

Cities need to be willing to launch pilot projects, test ideas, learn from those experiments, and be willing to share the results even when they fail. Big companies, universities, and startups across the country are developing new pilot projects for first/last-mile solutions, automated vehicles, urban delivery technologies, new parking platforms, and much more. Smart city leaders are the ones that proactively engage these groups to help solve their major challenges to accomplish their city’s goals. Innovation and solutions are coming from every direction today.

Smart cities know what data to collect and how to use it

It’s important that cities know what’s happening in their communities and on their networks, and that means collecting data — lots of it. That information can come from a variety of sources; from residents, sensors, cell phones, vehicles, cameras and much more. Cities need to have a complete and holistic picture of what’s happening in order to make the best possible decisions.

Cities must have a process in place for analyzing and understanding their data in order to accomplish their goals. Only then will they begin to know how to use it to inform their day-to-day operations and long-term policy goals. And this is the underlying goal that can often be lost in the “smart city hype:” finding ways to make more informed and educated decisions to help a city become what they want to be.

As urban populations continue to grow, many of the problems of yesterday and today – congestion, economic inequality, pollution – grow with them. There are ways to leverage technology and better data in order to combat these challenges in new and more efficient ways and be vibrant, attractive, inclusive, prosperous places to live.

This post was written by our Smart Cities team of Russ Brooks, Robert Benner and Steve Davis.

Applications are open for T4America’s smart city collaborative

Today, Transportation for America opened the application process for our national, multi-city collaborative with Sidewalk Labs. This partnership, announced back on June 1st, will help cities use technology to meet their pressing transportation challenges.

sidewalk lab music

When USDOT kicked off the Smart Cities Challenge and over 70 cities from across the country scrambled to put together applications detailing their smart city ambitions, it was clear that Secretary Anthony Foxx at USDOT had tapped into something vital unfolding in cities of all sizes across the country.

As we read through all 78 of those applications this spring, one thing became very clear: It’s really hard to put a finger on precisely what a smart city is right now, and what it means to be one. There are cities that have been opening up massive sets of municipal data to citizens for years allowing them to create apps or brainstorm ways to improve government services. Some cities have found new ways to use their own data to determine where transit services should be provided, but aren’t, and adjust accordingly. Some cities are testing partnerships with shared mobility providers to experiment with adding transit coverage or providing valuable last-mile connections.

Yet there are other cities that are clearly just dipping their toes into this arena, and are swept up to some degree by the availability of the grant money or enamored with technology as an end unto itself — often not yet certain of the specific problem that they’re trying to solve.

So what’s the norm? Where should a city be in relation to their peers?

To help establish a baseline and get a more organized sense of where cities are in this evolution, we’ve also distributed a State of the Smart City benchmarking survey to gather data from cities on the technologies and strategies they currently employ along with the tools they have at their disposal. T4America will use this survey as a baseline to measure the implementation of smart city technologies at both the national level and for individual cities in the coming years.

Whether or not your city is planning to apply to join the collaborative, you can help us get a better picture of your community by completing the State of the Smart City survey.

Our new national collaborative will bring cities into several working groups, each focusing on one aspect of a smart city, such as how to create a level playing field where a tiny startup of students can compete with a massive technology firm to create a new civic mobility app, ensure that new mobility options also serve the unbanked or low-income communities, or deploy congestion pricing in a way that helps provide more transportation options to more people.

The cities in the collaborative will work to develop pilot projects, share successes and failures, and engage with one another to come up with new, creative solutions to the problems at hand. If you and your city are interested in participating in the Smart City Collaborative, please fill out a short application here.

As we build this collaborative over the next few months and hear back from cities that are on varying points of this spectrum, we’ll be starting to coalesce around an idea of what a “Smart City” truly is. We have ideas, but no one has 100 percent of the answers at this point as this idea evolves, and cities should likely be skeptical of anyone who says they do.

We think a smart city is one that uses technology to discover where people are going and where they want and need to go, learns from that information and uses it to create safer, more efficient, and affordable transportation options that accelerate access to opportunity for all of their residents.

Those are our thoughts, but we’re eager to hear your feedback as well.

So what do you think a smart city is? What does a smart city look like? How would you define one in a sentence or two?

Though not selected as finalists, other Smart Cities Challenge applicants still hopeful to make their plans a reality

Though 77 cities will leave USDOT’s Smart Cities competition empty-handed later this summer, T4America is looking to help many of those cities advance the great ideas still deserving of help.

Seven cities were selected two weekends ago as semifinalists in the first-ever Smart City Challenge from USDOT, a competition that will eventually award $40 million to just one of those seven cities to help them rethink urban mobility, powered by innovative new technologies. Which means that 77 of the 78 will ultimately walk away empty-handed without any funding. (Save for the $100,000 that the seven semifinalists received to further develop their initial proposals.)

After reaching out over the last few months to all of the cities that applied, T4America held an invite-only conference call earlier this week to offer advice and support for advancing parts of their applications forward; applications with interesting responses to the question of how to rethink the future of transportation within cities of all sizes.

USDOT was a guest on our webinar, offering ideas, suggestions about other possibly little-known federal programs that can be used to advance certain ideas, or more information about grant programs like TIGER or the new freight grant program that can meet the need.

One of the most interesting things that USDOT shared with everyone was this graphic showing a list of 13 challenges facing cities. (There are certainly others, but this is fascinating summary of some of the most pressing.)

USDOT smart cities — challenges for cities

Win or lose the Smart Cities Challenge, these issues above are ones that cities of all size face today or will be facing in the future for years to come as the landscape radically changes due to the impact of new technologies, consumer preferences and new mobility options.

We at Transportation for America are excited to find ways to support these other cities that are eager, engaged and motivated to become smarter cities and ask big questions about the future of mobility in their communities. This week was a small step forward, and we’re hopeful for more chances to help support cities that are ready to rethink the status quo when it comes to transportation.

Are you associated with one of the cities that applied (or chose not to for whatever reason) and missed the invite-only conference call this week? Email us at smartcities@t4america.org