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Creating Citizen-Centered Inclusive Smart Cities

Creating Citizen-Centered Inclusive Smart Cities

ities all over the world are investing in infrastructure like fiber-optic networks, a range of sensors, and interactive touch-screens and in practices like open data collection in a race to become “smart and connected.” Cities are rushing to get “smart” in order to create new economic opportunities, to take advantage of potential systems efficiencies, and to not be left behind the technological curve. They’re making smart-city investments with the best of intentions to improve quality of life and increase opportunities for commerce, tourism, and their citizens alike.

As part of these smart and connected investments, many communities are developing smart-city strategies to guide development and implementation. For example, members of the Mayors Bistate Innovation Team published a digital playbook in 2011 in order to leverage a newly installed Google Fiber network to spark economic development, advance opportunities, and improve daily life in Kansas City. In 2013, the mayor of London formed the Smart London Board, which published the “Smart London Plan” to harness “the creative power of new technologies to serve London and improve Londoners’ lives.“ The plan lays out the numerous ways the city will utilize technology and big data to re-create London not only as a cutting-edge city, but as one able to handle the influx of people expected to move there by 2030. Creating and executing such a plan in a way that is intentionally responsive and relevant to the whole of a community can create the opportunity for a city to go beyond “smart” and instead become an “intelligent community.” This is, of course, easier said than done, but some essential steps toward enabling an intelligent community to flourish are outlined below….

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Persons with disabilities not to be left behind in smart cities  

Persons with disabilities not to be left behind in smart cities  

The answer seems to be a hopeful yes. At least 100 buildings each in 50 cities will be made accessible in a couple of years. These are part of the much hyped, technology intensive and ambitious ‘Smart Cities’ in the country. The Government had decided to turn 100 cities Smart.

The Government has selected these 50 cities under the Accessible India Campaign. Accordingly, the focus will be on auditing and ensuring access to atleast 25-50 of the most important government buildings in these cities fully accessible to these people by the end of 2017. By end of 2018, the target is to cover 50 per cent of all government building of the national capital region and all state capitals within reach….

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How to design a smart city #accessible to all

Screenshot-2017-12-14 Usbe How to design a city accessible to all

Cities are becoming more and more populated, and their design, services and urban elements directly impact on the way their citizens relate. It also has an impact on the economic and social development of the city. That is, the city in which we live, directly influences our quality of life and our social relations.

In this context, many cities have already included technology to increase the efficiency and sustainability of their services, turning them into smart cities. But many of them, have forgotten the most important, adapt the design, services and furniture to make them accessible cities. This is fundamental because a city that is not inclusive will prevent people with functional disabilities from being independent and will prevent their social inclusion….

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Technology Is Not Enough to Create Connected and Sustainable Smart Cities

Screenshot-2017-12-12 Technology is not enough to create connected cities – here’s why

The United Nations (UN) estimates that by 2050, 66% of the world’s population will live in cities. This creates an unprecedented pressure on cities around the world to optimise the standard of living for citizens, organisations and institutions.

Cities such as Dubai, Singapore, Yinchuan and Copenhagen are experimenting with new technology and digital services to target specific problems that affect their citizens. Copenhagen, for example, has set the target of becoming the first carbon neutral capital by 2025. The city reduced CO2 emissions by 38% between 2005 and 2015.

As part of a wider research project, we conducted research with the team at Copenhagen Solutions Lab (CSL), Copenhagen’s innovative incubator for driving smart city initiatives.

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What is the Difference between Citizen Engagement and Participation?

What is the Difference between Smart City Citizen Engagement and Participation?

Over the last years, there has been a shift from a top-down governance to a more horizontal governance. This new way of governing includes all the stakeholders of a public policy project, such as public organisations, businesses and citizens, into the implementation process. For instance, cities tap into their citizens’ wisdom through citizen engagement initiatives. The idea behind citizen engagement is that citizens should have some powers over the decisions that affect their lives. Yet, it is important to distinguish it from citizen participation. …

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CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT FOR SMART CITY DEVELOPMENT

CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT FOR SMART CITY DEVELOPMENT

The greatest advantage cities provide is the efficient utilization of resources- human, capital, land, water, and others- to achieve liveability objectives and also monetize the resources. The essence of the smart city concept is to achieve ‘more for less’. The proliferation of technology in the form of smartphones and super-fast wireless connectivity over the past decade has made it possible to give a technological angle to normal urban products and services….

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Wheelchair users to get an easier and safer ride| @ UOW @SMART_facility

Screenshot-2017-12-12 Wheelchair users to get an easier and safer ride

Internet of things project to create maps for wheelchair users

The University of Wollongong (UOW) will be the first university campus in Australia to have dedicated directional mapping for wheelchair users, making moving around easier and safer for people with a disability.

Briometrix, a start-up that specialises in technology for wheelchair users, has launched its pilot mapping project in partnership with the Digital Living Lab, an internet of things (IoT) initiative by UOW’s SMART Infrastructure Facility….

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W3C releases video introducing Web Accessibility and W3C Standards

Screenshot-2017-12-12 Video Introduction to Web Accessibility and W3C Standards

The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has released a video introducing Web Accessibility and W3C Standards. The four-minute video highlights why accessibility is the right thing to do, how it is essential for people with disabilities and useful for all. It was published as part of an accessibility project the Internet Society (ISOC) is working on to realize their vision: “The Internet is for Everyone”. It is also timed in recognition of the United Nation’s annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December. For more videos and information on specific accessibility topics, see Web Accessibility Perspectives Videos: Explore the Impact and Benefits for Everyone. For a general introduction, see Accessibility – W3C.

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Accessibility awareness remains low as deadline approaches

Accessibility awareness remains low as deadline approaches

Beginning Jan. 18, 2018, government agencies across the U.S. will be required by law to make their websites accessible to the more than 60 million Americans with visual, hearing or other disabilities. Yet more than 87 percent of 430+ local government respondents to Vision’s 2017 What’s Next Survey said they have moderate, weak or no knowledge of federal web accessibility requirements.

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Accessible Technology: It Starts with Procurement by @jeffkline2 | @PEATWorks

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This article was contributed by Jeff Kline, the author of Strategic IT Accessibility: Enabling the Organization. Kline is the current Statewide Electronic and Information Resources (EIR) Accessibility Coordinator at the Texas Department of Information Resources and previous EIR Accessibility Coordinator at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Before entering public service, he spent 26 years at IBM, during which he managed its Worldwide Accessibility Consulting and Business Transformation initiatives and several other efforts related to product development, industrial design, software development and system usability.

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People-Centered Smart City Planning

georgia tech center for innovation

The term “smart city” has become common parlance in city planning circles in recent years. While there is no universally agreed upon definition, descriptions of smart cities typically refer to integrated and interoperable networks of digital infrastructure and information and communication technologies (ICT) that collect and share data and improve the quality of urban life (Allwinkle and Cruickshank 2011; Batty et al. 2012). However unlike related concepts such as the digital city, the intelligent city and the ubiquitous city, the smart city is not limited to the diffusion of ICT, but also commonly includes people (Albino, Beradi, and Dangelico 2015)….

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Incorporating Accessibility into Procurement with Bonus Samples

procurement strategy

Creating Web accessibility policy has become a common approach taken by education institutions and others (e.g., local, state, and federal government agencies, and businesses). These organizations want to ensure accessibility for all their constituents (e.g., clients, users and staffs) including those with disabilities. Often this is because organizations see the value in accessibility for (1) ethical, (2) business, or (3) legal reasons. Policy then becomes a mechanism to realize the commitment or obligation the organization has to an accessible Web presence.

Establishing policy provides recognition that system reform does not occur in a vacuum. Moreover, policy assures that access is to be equal across the entire system, rather than at the discretion of individuals within the system. Finally, policy helps align organizational resources to accomplish newly defined priorities. In the case of Web accessibility, it can be a complex issue in part because of the shear size of the problem. Moreover, the presence of a policy can act as a demonstration of a good faith effort to comply with applicable statues (e.g., Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and state laws)….

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3 Principles To Create A More “People Centered” Smart City

Chicago Downtown aerial view

When it comes to dealing with the government, it’s rare that you find someone excited about the concept. City departments are notorious for mountains of paperwork, confusing rules and inefficiency.  But according to a presentation titled “Reimagining the User Experience of Government” led by Brenna Berman and Mike Duffy, much of that is beginning to change.

Berman and Duffy are experts on the topic. Berman serves as Executive Director of City Digital, at UI Labs and was most recently the Chief Information Officer for the City of Chicago after spending more than a decade with IBM. Duffy is the Founder and CEO at CityBase, which is a company that “creates technology that makes government more personal and responsive.”

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Smart city experts on importance of digital and cultural inclusivity in cities

Screenshot-2017-12-10 Transcript Transformers – Cities

Beth Blauer, Founder of GovEx at Johns Hopkins University, Kate Garman, Smart City Coordinator for the City of Seattle, and Erie Meyer, Senior Director of National Network at Code for America, describe the importance of digital and cultural inclusivity for the future of smart cities.

On November 14, The Washington Post brought together city officials, urban strategists, innovators and technologists to discuss and debate the advancements that are shaping the future of cities across the country.

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10 Things to Improve Smart City Accessibility and Inclusion

10 Things to Improve Smart City Accessibility and Inclusion

Medellín, Colombia used to be notorious for the dangers of homicide and drugs and used street art as part of its revitalization strategies. Photo © Juancho Torres (Source: theguardian.com)

Citizens are the life of a city. We drive the growth, and we have the right and responsibility to take care of our natural and built-up environments.

We are faced with everyday challenges in our cities, from hours of traffic to parking spaces, lining up for the MRT or the shuttle vans, inhaling all the air pollution, and finding safe places to walk on so we get from one point to another. So how do we improve our situation?

Here are 10 things everyone can do to improve city life….

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Google Crowdsources Wheelchair-Friendly Maps – CityLab

Screenshot-2017-12-10 Google Gets Serious About Mapping Wheelchair Accessibility

The tech giant is tapping into its global army of users to make its Maps app more useful for people with disabilities.
If there’s one thing Google’s got at its disposal, it’s a global army of avid map users. Now the company is leveraging that power to make its Maps feature more useful for people with mobility challenges—a group that often gets overlooked in the world of transit and urban innovation.

Google Maps already indicates if a location is wheelchair accessible—a result of a personal project by one of its employees—but its latest campaign will crowdsource data from its 30 million Local Guides worldwide, who contribute tips and photos about neighborhood establishments in exchange for points and small prizes like extra digital storage space. The company is calling on them to answer five simple questions—like whether a building has accessible entrances or bathrooms—when they submit a review for a location. In the coming weeks, Google will host workshops and “geowalks” specifically focused on mobility across seven cities, from New York City and London to Tokyo and Surabaya, Indonesia….

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Using Technology To Build Inclusive Smart Cities

Using technology to build an inclusive smart city and digital society at the Enable Makeathon

Engineers, innovators, students and people with disabilities came together as
part of Enable Makeathon 2.0, to discuss the use of technology to build a
more inclusive society.

This is an initiative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
and its partners, and this year’s focus is on crowd-sourcing prototype
products and solutions to address the challenges regarding accessibility and
employability of people with different disabilities, ranging from vision,
hearing and mobility….

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Despite its promise technology often fails to help disabled users

Despite its promise, modern technology often fails to help disabled users – TechRepublic

Advances in speech recognition, wearable technology, and mobile apps have offered welcome improvements for many people who are disabled. Yet while new technology is often praised for aiding communication for those who are blind and deaf, innovations can sometimes have unintended effects, hindering communication and access to information for those with disabilities.

In a talk at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard titled Disability, Technology, and Inclusion, Elizabeth Ellcessor, assistant professor in the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington, and Meryl Alper, faculty associate with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, discussed some of the hidden downsides of tech for the disabled.

Ellcessor began by questioning what is meant by “accessibility…”

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All Ireland Smart Cities Forum

All Ireland Smart Cities Forum | Seán Kyne TD

My address to the first All Ireland Smart Cities forum which took place in Croke Park Conference Centre on Wednesday, 13th September.

“Good morning, I’m delighted to be here today. It gives me great pleasure to open, along with Dr. McCormick, the first All Ireland Smart Cities Forum.

As Minister with responsibility for Digital Development, I welcome the opportunity to be part of the sharing of information that is taking place here today.

The increasing use of digital technologies is impacting on every aspect of our lives: from transport, to education, to leisure and entertainment, to health services and beyond. And this trend is going to continue and will likely intensify. The increasing use of digital technologies is impacting on everyone – on individuals, on families, on businesses, on community and sports organisation, on Government itself.

Government is committed to transparent, collaborative engagement both with citizens and businesses, and use of digitisation and technology to continuously improve public services. The new eGovernment Strategy published this year sets out a vision to improve the delivery of whole-of-Government projects, expand shared services to increase efficiencies, and share data.

We need to continue to enhance the competitiveness of our cities, and build on existing smart projects. We also need to go beyond our cities and recognise the benefits that the smart agenda can bring to our regions because this is not and cannot solely be about cities such as Dublin and Belfast…

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Smart Cities for the Blind

Screenshot-2017-12-9 Smart Cities for the Blind

Smart Cities for the Blind Posted by Lena Jukna on Nov 16, 2017 categories: Smart City tags: Accessibility, Blind, Inclusivity, smart city, Smart Technology, Urban Mobilty, Visual Impaired Would you be able to find your way across a big city at rush hour if you were visually impaired? 285 million visually impaired people worldwide are facing this challenge every day,…

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