Are Smart Cities The Next Great Disruptor?

When the city of Columbus, Ohio, submitted its bid to become Amazon’s HQ2, city officials rolled out the usual fanfare: an assortment of tax incentives, promotion of its major educational institutions and real estate deals. But the hallmark of its proposal was a pitch to create a smart city by “embracing the reinvention of transportation…

Smile, Your City Is Watching You

Walking through the streets of New York City, you can feel the thrill of being lost in the crowd. As throngs of people filter past, each going about their days, it seems possible to blend in without being noticed. But as municipalities and companies pursue the dream of “smart cities,” creating hyper-connected urban spaces designed…

Managing Tight Resources: Alternative Service Delivery in Local Government

Local governments face a number of challenges when determining how to best deliver services to their communities. With fiscal stress, environmental concerns, and state policies affecting local government resource allocation, many leaders face decisions about the tools they use to address service delivery. “Pragmatic local government managers seek to maintain services and continue to serve…

Don’t Let ‘FOMO’ Ruin Transportation Planning

“More likely than not, your elected officials are basing mobility policy decisions not on cost-benefit analysis or strategic foresight, but on a classic modern insecurity: FOMO.” That’s David Zipper’s theory, explained in an article for CityLab. When transportation decision makers start make the FOMO mistake, cities get saddled with expensive demonstration projects for autonomous vehicles…

Sen. Rubio touts DHS cybersecurity resources

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is encouraging Florida League of Cities and Florida Association of Counties officials to take advantage of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resources to bolster cybersecurity efforts. Rubio recently forwarded correspondence to both organizations in response to reports two Florida cities used taxpayer funds to pay cybercriminals following ransomware attacks, officials said,…