Not only have municipalities embraced the smart city concept—using technology to manage a city’s assets, improve the efficiency of services, reduce consumption of resources, reduce costs and improve the quality of life—but many are making it a reality.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has joined in to help cities implement smart city ideas, and it is offering a $40 million grant to the winner of its Smart Cities Challenge. The prize will go to the city that has the best plan for integrating innovative technologies such as self-driving cars, connected vehicles and smart sensors into their transportation network.
Recently the seven finalists made their final pitches, offering their ideas for the future of transportation. Below is a look at what they propose, including their video pitches.
The winner, which will be announced this month, will also receive $10 million from Vulcan Inc., as well as expertise, software and products from several companies involved in transportation, communication and environmental technologies.
Thanks to Austin’s economic energy, which includes a job market that grew during the 2008 recession while other cities’ shrank, the city has more people than ever living there. In fact, it has twice as many people as it did 30 years ago. Add to that the visitors who flock there for its music and social scene, and you have an urban mobility mess.
To fix the problem, the city has proposed several smart city ideas, including the following:
Columbus has a three-pronged approach for its future: to be a beautiful city, a healthy city and a prosperous city. That includes connecting all of its neighborhoods, designing safer streets, ensuring all residents have access to quality and affordable transportation, and reducing consumption and emissions.
To achieve those things, it has proposed 12 smart city initiatives, including the following:
Denver’s goal is to connect more with less. As its organizers wrote in the city’s proposal, “By connecting users, systems, and infrastructure with technology and information, our Smart City Program will generate fewer emissions, with fewer injuries and fatalities, and provide more transportation options and a higher quality of life.”
The smart city initiatives it proposed to achieve that include the following:
In recent years, Kansas City has experienced a city-wide revitalization. It has a thriving technical sector, a vibrant arts scene and the championship baseball team Kansas City Royals. It is no longer a fly-over city, and the growth in population and visitors is affecting the ability to easily travel in and around it.
To improve the situation, the city has proposed several smart city initiatives, including the following:
When Pittsburgh’s highway system was built, it provided a quick way into the business district but it created problems that the city is trying to fix today—bisected neighborhoods and increased asthma rates of people living near the highways, to name a couple. Plus, streets originally built for horse carts need to accommodate cars, busses, freight vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.
The city hopes smart city initiatives can help resolve the problems and has proposed several ideas. Its proposals include:
Portland is at the forefront of alternative modes of transportation (it’s hard to find a community more pro-bicycle than it), but it still has issues. Transportation safety for those bicyclists, as well as pedestrians and car drivers, is one challenge. It also wants to reduce its carbon emissions by 80 percent.
City organizers say the smart city initiatives proposed will address those. The core of the plan includes an app that would allow residents to compare transportation options—walking, driving, taking public transit or using a ride service—and pay for the option they choose within the app.
Other initiatives include:
San Francisco has been part of the international network of smart cities since 2011 and has been sharing its practices with its sister cities: Paris and Barcelona. It has used technology to make its building operations more efficient, reduce energy use, streamline its waste management system and expand its transportation system.
But city officials recognize that they can do more. The city’s new proposal is to expand and integrate mobility services across the city to incorporate shared connected automated vehicles. It would be a network of shared vehicles, accessible by an app. Officials say the network will eliminate traffic congestion, improve traffic safety, reduce emissions and noise, and more.
“Combined, shared mobility, public transit and CAV technology can reduce demand for street space and parking so that public right of way can be repurposed over time for walking, cycling, open space and to create more affordable housing,” the city’s proposal says.