Smart Cities

Using Tech to Control Noise Pollution
Several cities are piloting programs that use machine learning to identify and understand urban noise patterns and enforce noise ordinances.

Mayors Define the 'Smart City'
As the pandemic forces cities to redefine their priorities, mayors around the country express their plans and hopes for technology and the 'smart city' of the future.

Lessons from the Smart Columbus Pilot Program
The former program manager for Smart Columbus discusses the successes, challenges, and unexpected opportunities encountered by the city as it worked to integrate technology into city services and programs.

How the AI Economy is Shaping Cities
Like other technologies, artificial intelligence tech seems to be clustering in a small group of cities, prompting questions about its uneven deployment.

'A City is Not a Computer:' Why 'Smart Cities' Fail
The 'smart city' concept fails to take into account the necessary slowness of democracy and the unpredictability of a city's human inhabitants.

Report: Cities Falling Behind on Security and Accessibility in 'Smart City' Tech
While cities around the world are introducing tech tools to improve services and increase their efficiency, many have failed to implement appropriate privacy and security protocols.

Five Years Later, 'Smart Cities Challenge' Promise Unfulfilled
The "Smart Cities Challenge" paid Columbus, Ohio $50 million to kick start a revolution of urban technology. The revolution never arrived, according to a recent assessment by Wired writer Aarian Marshall.

Tech and the Post-Pandemic City
To steer American cities into the future, public and private sectors—and citizens—must work together to build broad, lasting support around complicated issues such as transparency and data privacy.

The Link Between Smart Cities, Fleet Technology, and Economics
The theoretical planning of smart cities could help make city economies stronger as purchasing becomes more straightforward.

Akon's City Dream Takes a Tentative First Step
Akoin, the cryptocurrency backbone of a new master planned smart city in Senegal, is available for purchase. Akon City could be the next dream to become a reality.

Toyota Working on the Smartest City Yet, Built From Scratch
Checking in with Toyota's plans for an interconnected smart "city of the future" means considering how their approach might differ from other attempts at similar projects.

Envisioning the Post-Pandemic City
The coronavirus has upended urban life, but it also provides an opportunity to look to new and innovative redesign of cities in the future.

4 Urban Planning Fails We Need to Correct in 2020
Here are four urban planning fails that should be near the top of the list as professionals assess what to address in 2020 and 2021.

Tourism-Based Urban Economies Will Have to Innovate to Survive the Pandemic
It is time to make bold, disruptive changes to Barcelona's economy, according to this article, by fueling innovation, sustainability, and policies to improve residents' quality of life.

For Success, Smart Cities Need Stakeholder Engagement
Smart cities technologies are not going to lead to the right outcomes unless end users are recognized as integral players in the planning process.

How the Pandemic Is Reshaping Ideas of the 'Smart City'
Accelerated investment in smart city technologies presents increased opportunity for connection and data-driven decision making, so long as cities can avoid the common pitfalls of implementation.

Sidewalk Labs Cancels Smart City Plans for Quayside on Toronto Waterfront
The high-profile experiment in smart city planning and technology seems to have suffered a final setback.

Will Infrastructure Planners Become Responsible for Facial Recognition Systems?
Facial recognition offers both benefits and risks. Planners can have a role in ensuring more of the former than the latter.

New Orleans 'Smart City' Program Would Install Video Cameras in Public
The video cameras would be used to collect data on street light outages, but could also potentially used by police in the city's crime surveillance program.

Waterfront Toronto Greenlights Most of Sidewalk Labs' Quayside Master Plan
An evaluation committee made up of Waterfront Toronto staff has given a green light for the Sidewalk Labs master plan for Toronto to proceed to the next stages of planning.
Pagination
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)