A 'Smart Cities' Technology Revolution Underway

If the systems prove out - and first signs are positive - the companies stand to garner billions of dollars in business. But savings for cities, measured by dollars, by livability, by human lives protected, may be far greater," writes Neal Peirce.

One example from the column: "Now Memphis has a new 'Real Time Crime Center' that's able to pinpoint and relate crime incidents in seconds, to predict hot spots and redeploy police officers with high efficiency. Robberies, burglaries and forcible rapes have fallen to their lowest rate in a quarter century. Several million dollars in savings are being reported. And IBM has sharpened crime tracking and control software it can offer to cities elsewhere."