by Jacqueline Li
Smart Cities: The Age of Risks & Partnerships
[dropcap size=big]D[/dropcap]ata security risks1 notwithstanding, there is little debate left on the opportunities that smart city technology and the Internet of Things can bring to urban planning, be it through improved maintenance of the built environment and public spaces, or more efficient and safe roads. Like many other cities2 across the globe, New York City has arrived at the age of civic technology3 and innovative problem solving in which everyone has an important role to play. Whether you are a student, a technologist, an engineer, a scientist, an activist, an artist, a businessperson, a city administrator, a parent, or simply an engaged citizen, the civic tech movement calls for all hands on deck.
Civic technology encompasses the opportunities for leveraging digital tools to benefit the common good. According to the Brooking Institution’s TechTank, the government spends $25.5 billion on external information technology (IT), $6 billion of which is spent on civic technology. Although there is debate around the definition (including who exactly is involved), there is a general consensus that government investment in civic technology can lead to partnerships that innovate and improve public services.
The idea of leveraging technology to benefit the public is rooted in a collective realization that data unto itself and technology for technology’s sake is only so powerful. From an urban policy and planning perspective, technology is merely a tool inside of a toolbox. When used strategically and appropriately amongst other tools, it has the potential to inform policy and create meaningful change. Moreover, the more people who can effectively use the tool, the more collaboratively we can create solutions to difficult problems. Likewise, a city’s data analysts can be only so innovative unto themselves. The real potential for urban innovation is bounded by the extent to which analysts, technologists, planners and policy makers work together to create mutually reinforcing products and services.
For example, San Jose recently partnered with Phillips on a “smart poles” project4 that benefits every entity involved. Since it wasn’t within the city’s capital budget to upgrade its streetlights to a safer and more energy efficient alternative, Phillips has paid for the retrofits upfront under the condition that it can outfit the poles with cells that transmit data traffic. The project allows residents to receive better cell reception, creates a new revenue stream for Phillips from cellular service providers who lease the poles, provides safer lighting to the neighborhood, and offers cost savings to taxpayers through reduced energy usage.
If intelligent cities are a puzzle worth solving, partnerships are the central piece that will allow for a sum that exceeds the puzzle’s parts. The age of smart cities and civic tech demands new kinds of cross-sector partnerships that are timely and strategic. As the digital divide5 closes6, and civic technology bridges sectors that have historically worked independently, an important question to ask ourselves is how we can prepare our students and diverse workforce for the intersection of disciplines and innovative partnerships that will make the risks of smart cities worthwhile. A good place to start is the creation of a municipal policy framework that organizes collaborative discussions among data scientists, technologists, planners and city administrators that can lead to a data-driven and intelligent policy-making process.
The Case for Collaborating Towards Better Buildings
One area in particular that requires substantial collaboration is the improvement of our old and inefficient building stock. Buildings account for nearly three-quarters of New York City’s carbon emissions, and thus will be a central part of meeting OneNYC’s goal of reducing carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 (“80×50”).7 One City Built to Last has set out to reduce building based emissions 30 percent by 2025 in order to achieve the “80×50” goal.
The Mayor’s plan and the corresponding Local Law 84 (LL84) honor the old management adage that “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” It is arguably just as important to clearly define what we are trying to measure. Sustainability goals for our built environment need not be limited to reductions in water and energy consumption. If we limit the framing of the problem, we risk missing out on important observations that could inform big solutions. For example, the impact of a building’s air and environmental quality on productivity, social interaction, and wellness are all metrics that are only just beginning to shape the design and maintenance of buildings.8 Accounting for such measures involves the fusion of disciplines, especially engineering, data science and the social sciences (think human centered civil engineering).
Given the critical role that buildings play in the City’s larger sustainability goals, we should be engaging all stakeholders on the widening range of sustainability metrics, and the ways in which we will track and evaluate those metrics. Finally, urban policy makers and planners should work with technologists and data scientists to create a real time open data solution for building performance information that is user-friendly for a variety of building professionals and occupants. At stake is a cleaner, healthier and more productive New York City.
[1] U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Future of Smart Cities: Cyber-Physical Infrastructure Risk.August 2015.
[2] The Economist. “Clever Cities: The multiplexed metropolis.” The Economist. 13 Sept. 2013. Web. Apr. 2016.
[3] Meriwether, Kristen. “In New Civic Tech Hub, A Family Legacy of Community Building Continues.” Gotham Gazette. 15 Jan 2016. Web. Apr. 2016.
[4] Herrera, Sonya. “San Jose’s ‘SmartPoles’ a worldwide first for street infrastructure.” Silicon Valley Business Journal. 8 Dec. 2105. Web. Apr. 2015.
[5] Digital Divide is a term that refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology, and those that don’t or have restricted access.
[6] Choubey, Neeraj and Panah, Ali Yazdan. “Introducing Facebook’s new terrestrial connectivity systems- Terragraph and Project ARIES.” Facebook Code. 13 Apr. 2016. Web. Apr. 2016.
[7] The City of New York. One New York: The Plan for a Strong and Just City. Apr. 2015.
[8] See International Well Building Institute.