Smart Cities catalyze the digital transformation of urban ecosystems to produce systemic environmental, financial, and social outcomes. Smart Cities are, by definition, focused on using emerging technologies and innovation to make cities more livable, and offer new services and economic opportunities.
The cities and communities in North America have made significant strides in Smart Cities by leveraging technology and aligning services with the needs and expectations of residents. To recognize outstanding Smart Cities projects, IDC launched its Smart City North America Awards (SCNAA). Now in its seventh year, the 2024 awards recognize the progress North American municipalities have made and also provide a forum for sharing best practices to help accelerate Smart City development in the region.
Winners will be honored at Smart Cities Connect being held May 7 - 10 at the Raleigh Convention Center. Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo offers the most comprehensive conference, exposition and accelerator of smart city innovation in North America. To learn more about the event, please visit https://spring.smartcitiesconnect.org/.
Smarter Together Initiative – San Antonio, TX
The Smarter Together Initiative is a bold and innovative approach for building an accessible, connected, and efficient city that...
The Smarter Together Initiative is a bold and innovative approach for building an accessible, connected, and efficient city that keeps residents informed and safe. We used a “people-centered” model for smart city development, where residents drive guiding principles for how city government should use technology, data, and innovation to solve problems and increase quality of life. The Initiative is comprised of a community-driven strategic plan, the “Smart Cities Roadmap,” a funded smart city testbed, the “Smarter Together Testbed”, and a governance model, “Smart Cities as a Service” that streamlines a process for prototyping emerging technologies. Since its launch in June 2023, the initiative has reached over 6,000 residents, launched 4 prototype projects, and been featured in over 25 articles and publications.
Cherokee Nation Tribal Citizen Access Portal - Cherokee Nation
The Gadugi (Cherokee word for "working together") Portal was implemented to digitally connect Cherokee citizens with critical...
The Gadugi (Cherokee word for "working together") Portal was implemented to digitally connect Cherokee citizens with critical services. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is the largest tribe in the US with over 460,000 citizens living across a 7,000+ square mile reservation in Oklahoma and throughout the world. Through the introduction of key services like COVID-19 assistance, clothing and coat assistance for school-aged children, and scholarship funding into a digital framework, Cherokee citizens' connection to their tribe has been expanded beyond those living within driving range of Cherokee offices to those across the Cherokee reservation and beyond to citizens living across the globe. The Gadugi Portal has delivered on the objective of quickly delivering assistance to larger numbers of geographically diverse Cherokee populations. To date, over $740 million in assistance has been delivered to Cherokee citizens with quick turnaround times from Gadugi Portal application submission to ACH or paper check payments to citizens. Close to 900,000 electronically submitted requests through the Gadugi Portal have been fulfilled without the addition of staff to process requests.
Smart Parks - Las Vegas, NV
The City of Las Vegas's Smart Parks Project tackles urban challenges with innovative technology, enhancing public safety,...
The City of Las Vegas's Smart Parks Project tackles urban challenges with innovative technology, enhancing public safety, community engagement, and overall quality of life. Its significance is amplified by Las Vegas's dual role as a major tourist destination and a home to 2.5 million residents in the Las Vegas valley. The Smart Park Project strategically deploys advanced sensors across city parks, providing insights into park usage and fortifying public safety measures. From license plate recognition to occupancy and pedestrian analysis, gunshot detection, and strategically placed cameras, the initiative embraces a holistic approach to park management and safety. Integration of Geographic Information Systems, GPS technologies, drone mapping, and artificial intelligence adds sophistication, offering valuable insights into park usage patterns. This data-driven approach positions the City of Las Vegas as a pioneer in creating a smarter and safer park experience. Aligned with broader city goals, the Smart Parks Project reinforces the City of Las Vegas's status as a technologically advanced urban center. Anticipated outcomes include a safer park experience, increased community engagement, and Las Vegas further establishing itself as a leader in leveraging technology for urban advancement, emphasizing a commitment to innovation and resident and visitor well-being.
City of Allentown Fleet Services - Allentown, PA
The City of Allentown uses the Samsara Connected Operations Cloud to achieve massive improvements in safety and efficiency. By...
The City of Allentown uses the Samsara Connected Operations Cloud to achieve massive improvements in safety and efficiency. By providing real-time visibility on the road and improving employee safety, they’ve achieved a 25% reduction in incidents and a 95 percent reduction in citizen calls. Quick and efficient video retrieval has transformed how they investigate incidents, saving their team roughly 10 hours per week and an estimated $1M+ in taxpayer dollars due to avoided legal fees, claim costs, vehicle replacement and downtime costs, and employee time.
Inclusive Design Initiatives at the City of Seattle - Seattle, WA
Led by the Seattle Information Technology Department, the City of Seattle has made a deliberate effort to create inclusive...
Led by the Seattle Information Technology Department, the City of Seattle has made a deliberate effort to create inclusive practices through a set of policies and standards for public-facing digital experiences. These experiences must adhere to federal and local regulations, and more holistically, must reflect the equity and inclusion that a government is expected to provide. These practices span design, content, and technical initiatives, all leveraging a human-centered approach. This approach has led to expanded design standards, providing clear and inclusive requirements for digital properties, from brand consistency and URL naming to digital equity, accessibility, and privacy. We address content strategy practices, such as navigation, information architecture, and plain language writing. And finally, we have shifted our technical practices and built expertise in accessible software development and progressive enhancement to focus on flexibly serving all users’ needs, abilities, and devices.
Fairfax City Smart Restroom Pilot Program - Fairfax City, VA
In 2023 the City of Fairfax launched a smart restroom pilot to improve restroom access in City parks and public spaces. These...
In 2023 the City of Fairfax launched a smart restroom pilot to improve restroom access in City parks and public spaces. These three smart restrooms were placed throughout the city and offered residents and visitors an accessible, clean, and secure alternative to the standard portable toilets. These units leveraged enhanced technology to ensure units ran without interruption, required no utility hook-ups, and offered clean enhanced facilities. During the initial 8-month rollout, the three smart restrooms had an average “uptime” (time available or in use during hours of operation) of 95.07% and 17,835 total uses. A community survey found that 94% of people said their Throne public restroom experience was either “Amazing!” (74%) or “A good bathroom solution (20%).
UTC's Quantum Initiative & Research Institute - University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
How do you address the challenges of rapidly approaching quantum future? By becoming the first university to house a commercial...
How do you address the challenges of rapidly approaching quantum future? By becoming the first university to house a commercial quantum node on campus. And, indeed, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has become the first academic institution to be so connected, through EPB’s Quantum Network, powered by Qubitekk. UTC connected to the network via a node within a quantum technology laboratory on campus in December of 2023. UTC’s quantum technology lab was established along the MLK Boulevard Smart Corridor, co-located with the UTC Research Institute, Center for Urban Informatics and Progress, Interdisciplinary Geospatial Technology Lab and UTC’s doctoral program in computational science. Through this co-location, quantum research and Smart City development will remain deeply connected, addressing the most pressing needs of communities — from cybersecurity applications protecting critical utility infrastructure to training the workforce of the future. These combined Quantum Initiative and Research Institute efforts encompass three key goals: (1) Stimulating cross-disciplinary R&D capacity; (2) Providing bleeding-edge, experiential learning to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as lifelong learners and jobseekers through the Center for Professional Education; and (3) Engaging with community and economic development partners across the region to improve quality of life for every resident.
Dallas County Health and Human Services Disease Surveillance and Investigation System – Dallas County, TX
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed existing gaps in public health disease surveillance and investigation infrastructure and posed new...
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed existing gaps in public health disease surveillance and investigation infrastructure and posed new challenges for public health systems. Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) worked with Accenture and utilized enterprise-level software, including Salesforce, Informatica MDM, MuleSoft, Rhapsody, and Power BI to craft a seamless solution that is adaptable and scalable, improving Dallas County’s long-term preparedness to address future threats more readily. Data from the System during the COVID-19 pandemic were critical for monitoring disease trends and informing policy decision-making to reduce transmission. Data was also used for improving neighborhood-level visibility to identify at-risk areas with higher burden of COVID-19 incidence and lower rates of vaccination. This system was pivotal to effectively reducing COVID-19 transmission in Dallas County, resulting in decreased rate of hospitalization and mortality related to COVID-19. This system has also proven applicability beyond COVID-19, as it was employed to address the recent Mpox outbreak and is currently being expanded to accommodate all reportable conditions. It will soon also accommodate other data sources (including Homeless Management Information System data, emergency response data and other social service data) to address other public health issues of importance such as chronic disease, opioid overdoses, and other conditions.
Whisper Valley - Austin, TX
Whisper Valley is a 2,067-acre master planned community (MPC) that, at buildout, will include 7,500 residences, retail/restaurant,...
Whisper Valley is a 2,067-acre master planned community (MPC) that, at buildout, will include 7,500 residences, retail/restaurant, office, three schools, a transportation hub, parks, and amenities. It is the largest sustainable community in the nation focused on energy efficiency, technology, the environment, healthy living, and attainability. The community features an innovative geothermal energy supply system as the basis of a comprehensive program that allows home builders to use their existing plans and vendors to build zero-energy capable homes at affordable prices by combining geothermal, solar PV, high efficiency appliances and smart home technology in a new way. The community also preserves 700 acres for green space for a 600-acre public park, a nature preserve, professionally managed mini-farms, pool, fitness centers, playgrounds, event lawns and an extensive trail system. Whisper Valley has become an award-winning, successful MPC and is the model for future attainable sustainable development in the United States.
FloodVISION-AI - Virginia Beach, VA
FloodVISION-AI (Flood Visual Inference of Stage Identification by Observation Networks – Artificial Intelligence) is a smart...
FloodVISION-AI (Flood Visual Inference of Stage Identification by Observation Networks – Artificial Intelligence) is a smart river stage detection project focused on aiding Virginia’s flooding resiliency initiatives through innovation of next generation water level sensors through the award-winning StormSense Project. Flood VISION-AI was deployed in 2022 by training a machine learning algorithm to optically derive water levels in near-real time from 4K-resolution web cameras with InfraRed night-vision capabilities. These sensors are a new type of low-cost, low-energy, passive remote sensing water level sensor being used to complement the established networks of active remote sensing water level sensors maintained through the US Geological Survey’s (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA), and StormSense’s sensors throughout the coastal zone. The river stage-derived water level monitoring data are then extracted via artificial intelligence and fed to StormSense and the USGS’ Hydrologic Imagery Visualization and Information System (HIVIS) in real time. The FloodVISION-AI Project is a collaboration between the City of Virginia Beach, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at William & Mary, and the USGS’ Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) office and it addresses multiple specific recommendations for improved flood data quality and quantity from the federal and state governments.
Coral Gables Custom Smart City AI-Powered Modular Poles - Coral Gables, FL
The City of Coral Gables Innovation and Technology department collaboration with industry and academic innovators led to the...
The City of Coral Gables Innovation and Technology department collaboration with industry and academic innovators led to the installation in Coral Gables of the first modular AI-powered smart city poles in North America. The project showcased the integration of aesthetic design –recently enhanced with our partnership with the Italian industrial design firm Pininfarina– with cutting-edge technology developed by aerospace engineers, reflecting our commitment to enhancing the city's visual appeal and technological capabilities while reducing the footprint of technology furniture in the right of way. This cutting-edge smart city intelligent connected infrastructure (ICI) poles fosters quality of life improvements in public safety, emergency response, mobility, energy efficiency, sustainability, resiliency, accessibility of digital services, digital inclusion and economic growth, by providing hyper-connectivity, visibility, control and hyper-automation capabilities that enhance public services for our community.
The City of Alexandria is committed to achieving zero traffic deaths by 2028, necessitating a substantial infrastructure investment for safer multi-modal travel. However, limited information on traffic patterns in the North Potomac Yard area, heightened by a new metro station and sports stadium, impedes safety initiatives. To address this, five "smart intersection" devices employing video or LiDAR detection have been simultaneously deployed at Potomac Avenue and E Glebe Road. These devices classify and record road users, providing crucial insights for road redesign and safety measures. The "Near Miss Analysis" identifies potential collisions, offering a proactive safety indicator. Additionally, the devices capture data on turning movements, lane speeds, and entry violations, aiding in signal timing adjustments based on risk patterns throughout the day. Operating around the clock, they furnish a comprehensive understanding of peak periods, outliers, and nighttime performance. Moreover, this initiative serves as a pilot to evaluate and compare the efficacy of different smart intersection devices. Conducted in collaboration with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, the comparison against a "ground truth" system assesses device performance under diverse conditions. The findings will inform the city's decision to scale smart intersection technology, ensuring sustainability in enhancing road safety across various intersections.
Launched in 2019 by the City of South Bend as a Bloomberg Mayors Challenge winner, Commuters Trust provides innovative solutions to help local residents overcome transportation insecurity. This public-private partnership involves the City, local employers, transportation vendors and other partners to fulfill the critical need for reliable transportation in the community by acting as an ”insurance policy” to give employees the ability to get to work when other modes of transportation are unavailable. In 2022, Commuters Trust provided 45,200 bus rides and 11,350 rideshare trips to 700 residents. By sharing transit costs with local employers such as Goodwill Industries and the University of Notre Dame, Commuters Trust has helped reduce employee stress, increase employer/employee satisfaction, and improve employment stability for participants.
S.A.F.E.-T. (Smart Aerial Fleet for Enhanced Transportation) Initiative
NJ TRANSIT, a major transportation and logistics agency with over a million daily riders, unveiled the S.A.F.E.-T. initiative,...
NJ TRANSIT, a major transportation and logistics agency with over a million daily riders, unveiled the S.A.F.E.-T. initiative, employing drone technology for enhanced operational safety and efficiency across the tri-state service area. Having secured FAA approval and waivers for beyond visual limits (BVLOS) operations, S.A.F.E.-T. has brought significant improvements to NJ TRANSIT, resulting in cost savings and paving the way for future logistic initiatives. In a groundbreaking move, NJ TRANSIT became the first public transportation company in the U.S. to receive Public Aircraft Operator (PAO) status. Leveraging 5G for command and control, along with optical "detect-and-avoid" video analytics, the initiative gained access to restricted airspace above the busy Hudson River near the Hoboken terminal. S.A.F.E.-T's drone technology actively monitors and addresses transport and logistics roadblocks, enhancing equipment maintenance and safeguarding personnel from potential hazards. This innovation has notably improved return on investment and eliminated safety risks associated with traditional monitoring methods across NJ TRANSIT's extensive network of transportation and logistics infrastructure. The versatility of the S.A.F.E.-T. initiative promises limitless possibilities beyond the current operational scope.
Using Microclimate Modeling and Digital Twin to envision Raleigh's Future – Raleigh, NC
In response to the mounting complexities of urban life and climate change, Raleigh took a groundbreaking approach by introducing...
In response to the mounting complexities of urban life and climate change, Raleigh took a groundbreaking approach by introducing a digital twin paired with an advanced microclimate modeling system. This innovative solution can guide more intelligent and resilient urban development. The team crafted a detailed digital replica of Raleigh, with the primary objective of leveraging it to comprehend the microclimate, to provide tools and data-driven evidence demonstrating how urbanization can be executed more securely, making cities more resilient to climate change.
By addressing these challenges, the initiative positions Raleigh as a leader in smart urban development, presenting a model that could be emulated by other municipalities grappling with similar challenges.
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