Global Resources and Promising Practices for Building and Refining Accessible and Inclusive Smart Cities from Darren Bates LLC.
Understanding the needs of the population helps to design effective urban projects and create better cities and public spaces. Photo by Mariana Gil / WRI Brasil Cidades Sustentáveis / Flickr Our impressions of a city are formed mainly by the quality of public spaces. If they are not pleasant and preserved, or if they transmit a sense of insecurity, we…
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Urban rejuvenation projects are most successful if they are designed with shared community goals in mind. Photo by Elisa Greco/Flickr Our impressions of a city are formed mainly by the quality of public spaces. If they are not pleasant and preserved, or if they transmit a sense of insecurity, we will seldom return. Good planning of these spaces should be the…
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Designing for Inclusion Inclusive design, design for all, digital inclusion, universal usability, and similar efforts address a broad range of issues in making technology available to and usable by all people whatever their abilities, age, economic situation, education, geographic location, language, etc. Accessibility focuses on people with disabilities — people with auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual impairments. The…
Read MorePutting Digital Equity in Cities Front and Center There are plenty of opportunities and challenges for municipal leaders who want to expand access to high-speed Internet in their communities. WASHINGTON — Providing Wi-Fi hotspot devices that can be checked out from libraries, connecting residents in public housing with high speed Google Fiber service and beaming down wireless Internet signals to…
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What is the Digital Divide, and why should I care? It’s hard to imagine that in a city like Austin there is still a large segment of the city that has no idea how to use a computer; however, even in this high tech mecca, the digital divide exists. The digital divide is a term that describes the disparity between…
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Net Inclusion 2018 welcomes digital inclusion community practitioners, advocates, academics, Internet service providers, and policymakers to discuss local, state and federal policies and policy innovations impacting digital equity, sources of financial and programmatic support of digital inclusion programs, plus digital inclusion best practices from across the country. Net Inclusion 2018 will begin Tuesday, April 17th with pre-conference events in the…
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Smart City Seattle: The Digital Equity Initiative Seattle’s Digital Equity Initiative was launched in response to the City’s quadrennial Technology Indicators Report, released in May 2014. The Report found significant disparities in internet access and digital literacy skills for those of lower education, low-incomes, seniors, disabled, minorities, and immigrants. The Initiative is one part of the Mayor’s broadband strategy to…
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Smart Cities Need Technology That Understands All Humans Cities need to be accessible to all, including those with hearing and sight impairments, and restricted mobility The world’s cities and their populations are growing at an unprecedented rate. The United Nations predicts that by 2050, 66 percent of the world’s population will live in urbanized areas, compared to just a…
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