Could the future of money be city currencies?
It’s just possible that this week marks a tipping point in the events that have engulfed the UK banking industry since the economic crisis that began in 2008. Around that time, I questioned whether...
View ArticleThe simple idea behind Smarter Cities: take better-informed, more...
(Photo by Tanakawho)
View ArticleAre Smarter Cities the Key to Social Mobility?
Social mobility in the context of Smarter Transport systems is the ability to move people and resources in an informed way that achieves positive social outcomes. The real challenge for such systems is...
View ArticleHow Smarter Cities Get Started
I was delighted recently to be invited to join Birmingham’s new “Smart City Commission”. The Commission is meeting for the first time today, and leading up to it I gave some thought to what the common...
View ArticleFive roads to a Smarter City
(Photo of Daikoku junction by Ykanazawa1999Recently, I discussed the ways in which cities are formulating ”Smarter City” visions and the programmes to deliver them.
View ArticleThe amazing heart of a Smarter City: the innovation boundary
(Photo of a mouse by pure9)Innovation has always been exciting, interesting and valuable; but recently it’s become essential.
View ArticleFour avatars of the metropolis: technologies that will change our cities
(Photo of Chicago by Trey Ratcliff)
View ArticleTen ways to pay for a Smarter City (part one)
Birmingham’s striking new Library, which will open in 2013, is one example of the regeneration projects currently underway in cities despite the chal
View ArticleTen ways to pay for a Smarter City (part two)
Cities across the world are pursuing Smarter City strategies for common reasons including demographics, economics and the environment; but they start in very different social, financial and...
View ArticleFive steps to a Smarter City; and the philosophical imperative for taking them
(Photo of digital lights in “The Place” in Beijing by Trey Ratcliff)
View ArticleThe new architecture of Smart Cities
I’ve been preparing this week for the next stage of work on Birmingham’s Smart City Commission; our task on the Commission is to develop a strategic vision for Birmingham as a Smart City and a roadmap...
View ArticleOpen Urbanism: Why the Information Economy Will Lead to Sustainable Cities
The lack of access that some city communities have to economic and personal opportunity is in part a social consequence of the way that systems such as education, transport and planning operate. Can we...
View ArticleWhy Open City Data is the Brownfield Regeneration Challenge of the...
(Graphic of New York’s ethnic diversity from Eric Fischer)I often use this blog to explore ways in which technology can add value to city systems. In this article, I’m going to dig more deeply into my...
View ArticleShould technology improve cities, or should cities improve technology?
I was honoured this week to be invited to join the Academy of Urbanism, a society of professionals, academics and policy makers from a variety of backgrounds whose work is concerned in some way with...
View ArticleZen and the Art of Messy Urbanism
Over the past few months and weeks, some interesting announcements have been made concerning emerging frameworks and protocols for Smarter Cities.
View ArticleThe Six Steps to a Smarter City and the Philosophical Imperative for Taking Them
As I remarked last week, in the past months some interesting announcements have been made concerning emerging frameworks and protocols for Smarter Cities – such as the “City Protocol” collaboration in...
View ArticleSoft Infrastructures For Smart Cities
At Birmingham’s Smart City Commission, we have been trying to answer an interesting question: What makes the difference between a “smart city” and a city where smart projects take place? “Smart”...
View ArticleNo-One Is Going To Pay Cities To Become Smarter
(The Bristol Pound, a local currency intended to encourage and reinforce
View ArticleA Pattern Language for Smarter Cities?
The UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills held a workshop recently to determine how to create guidance for cities considering their approach to Smarter Cities.
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