Smarter(er) Cities: At the Intersection of People, Data & Devices

The topic of smart cities is characterized by complexity. From a technical perspective, a smart city involves everything from devices to data to cloud and network infrastructure. Layered on top of this is the complexity of urban living and the mounting challenges of our modern society. Our city experience involves everything from how we get around, to how we access city services, to how we connect to the Internet, to how we engage with our elected officials. Equity issues are highlighted when these services are accessible for some, but not all. Smart cities have the potential to make amazing contributions, but there are important issues to resolve including data privacy/ownership, public-private partnerships and infrastructure resilience just to name a few. As overwhelming as this topic is, one aspect is very simple – smart cities are about solving challenges for people, not just about technology. Join us as we dive into the issues, sort the complexity and showcase projects that are producing tangible results in this fascinating space.