Does it contribute to making the community better ? That is , to creating or maintaining a great place to live , to work , to earn a good wage , get an education , start a business , raise a family and prepare the way for the next generation ? The last time I checked , that ’ s what elected and administrative leaders are supposed to be doing – making the place called home better in ways that matter to its people .
MAKING THE PLACE CALLED HOME BETTER Viewed through that lens , the most popular smart city investments may have a different look . Take one of the top ten : dynamic traffic management using connected , remotely controlled stoplights . Properly executed , it delivers good value in the form of less traffic congestion . But then , there ’ s that pesky question : is less traffic congestion what your city or region needs most ?
It could be – if gridlock is holding back your city ’ s development . Or maybe it would be more productive to spend a fraction of that money on a hackathon . Let ’ s say a university student participates in the hackathon and builds an app that accesses the city ’ s data on the GPS location of buses run by private companies . In a South American city of 7 million , it became one of the most downloaded apps and helped launch a thriving mobile tech sector .
IS IT EDUCATION OR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ? In the state of Victoria , Greater Geelong decided that key to its economic development was finding a way to deliver quality STEM education to the greatest number of students in the most cost-effective way . To do it , partners collaborated to create the Geelong Tech School . At first glance , it looks like STEM programs found in most of the Intelligent Communities ICF has identified . It offers courses in robotics , coding , drones , data analysis , IoT , CAD / CAM , VR and many other technology fields .
What sets it apart is its design as a service to the broader region . Rather than having its own student body , it delivers education through partnerships with 31 schools in Greater Geelong . It offers professional development for teachers and builds relationships with local industry and community organizations . As a result , the programs and staff of this single hub facility can reach 25,000 students in class and online .
Greater Geelong ’ s other innovation is in formalizing the involvement of young people in city governance and community groups . A Youth Council Advisory Committee recruits young people ages 12-17 to serve one-year terms representing the young people of Geelong to government . They gather monthly at City Hall with guest presenters who are seeking their advice on meeting the needs of youth , and they participate in mentoring programs with members of Geelong ’ s Council , through which they both learn and offer recommendations . Along the way , they gain skills in public speaking , leadership and civic education . They also develop relationships that are likely to retain them as residents and build the habit of engagement in civic life that will pay dividends in the future .
Today , big sums of public money are flowing into making municipalities smarter and more connected , after a pandemic taught us the immense public value of such systems .
A similar program , Youth on Board , places 12-15 year-olds on the management boards of local organizations , from sports clubs to social welfare . The program recruits , mentors and supports young people to ensure that a youth voice is heard in planning and decision-making . The young people gain skills in interviewing , presenting , governance , data analysis , legal operations , financial management and communications . These are skills that will drive career success and can contribute directly to the growth of the local economy .
TECH THAT FITS THE NEED Despite recent controversies relating to prior leadership , The City of Ipswich is now winning awards for transparency and public accountability under Mayor Teresa Harding , elected in 2020 as the city ’ s first-ever female leader . In 2018 , Ipswich had been named an Intelligent Community based on policies and programs that were preparing it for prosperity in an economy dominated by digital .
The city put a great deal of work into a successful bid to win one of the first NBN fiber deployments . But while that effort slowly advanced , it created innovation assets for business and government . It created Fire Station 101 , a hub for startups and innovators that provides education , mentoring and even potential funding . The hub has been open since March 2016 as a place where entrepreneurs come to build new ideas around digital technology . By raising the profile of entrepreneurship and innovation in the community , Ipswich aims to foster economic diversification while developing a skilled , knowledge-based workforce and jobs .
In 2016 , the hub began serving as home to Ipswich ’ s Application Studio . The Application Studio is a formal framework for city service experts , open data analysts , and innovators to collaborate in developing new city services and projects . In its first year , the program brought in over $ 190,000 in new public-private funding of projects by the city , state , local hospitals , universities and associations . Due to this success , the Queensland State Government allocated a further $ 500,000 for a new Application Studio initiative to build a schools-focused entrepreneurial program and a variety of accelerator programs .
Smart City investments were not neglected – they were just targeted at the city ’ s most pressing needs . Prior to 2018 , citizens perceived public safety to be a major issue , ranging from disorderly conduct and drug dealing to theft and assault . The city responded by engaging with a Queensland initiative , Safe Night Precinct , centered on the Nicholas Street retail and entertainment zone . It leveraged its municipal network to create a safer environment in its central business district via video analytics , smart lighting and noise detection .
FINDING THE HOT SPOT Smart City technology is a big area of investment for cities in Taiwan . One of them is New Taipei City ( NTPC ), a ringshaped municipality surrounding the capital city of Taipei . It is ICF ’ s Intelligent Community of the Year for 2023 .
NTPC offers lessons on putting technology to work to re-imagine the delivery of services to citizens . The city ’ s Research , Development and Evaluation Commission has introduced a system called Hot
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL VOL 16 NO 3 2023 19