What makes a city smart? Smart cities use data and technology to improve quality of life for residents by optimizing city functions, reducing daily inefficiencies, and promoting economic growth. Smart cities often leverage real-time data to allow local governments to understand patterns of daily life and respond with low-cost, fast solutions. Smart cities are composed of three distinct layers. First is the technology base, which consists of a network of sensors and a critical mass of smartphone users. The second layer is specific applications, created by app developers and technology companies, which local governments can use to solve specific problems in the city. The final layer is usage and adoption within the smart city.
Smart cities have the opportunity to solve many daily problems of urban life. From improving the environment through air and water quality monitoring, to optimizing daily commutes through public transportation apps and real-time traffic management, these applications can have a significant impact on residents. However, their impact relies on widespread adoption by the public and support of the local government bodies. According to a McKinsey report, “Many applications succeed only if they are widely adopted and manage to change behavior. They encourage people to use transit during off-hours, to change routes, to use less energy and water and to do so at different times of day, and to reduce strains on the healthcare system through preventive self-care.”
One such developing smart city is Pittsburgh, one of six finalists in the 2015 Smart City Challenge, a competition designed by the Department of Transportation to award $40 million in funding to the mid-sized American city with the best vision to evolve into a smart city. While Columbus, Ohio took home the grand prize, Pittsburgh is also beginning to implement its vision with its new “Smart Spines” program. Smart Spines is a traffic management project, part of Pittsburgh’s initial larger proposal that focused on transportation improvements like an autonomous shuttle network, a municipal fleet of electric vehicles, and a real-time traffic condition mobile app. The Smart Spines program uses technology to improve congestion and traffic flow in key traffic corridors in the city by using sensors and CCTV cameras to collect real-time traffic data. Phase one of construction of the project is set to begin this summer where it will eventually cover 150 key intersections in the city and is expected to cost $28.8 million. The technology is based on Surtrac, an intelligent traffic-control system developed at Carnegie Mellon University and has since been commercialized by Rapid Flow Technologies, which has sold the platform to 18 cities so far. Surtrac corridors are capable of reducing traffic congestion by 40% and emissions by 20%
Programs like the DOT’s Smart City Challenge are just one example of the federal government’s encouragement of smart city efforts. The infrastructure bill passed by the Biden administration in November 2021 allocated over $500 million to the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grant program, which will help cities pay for smart-city projects over the next five years. This program is meant to be used on smart city projects like adding EV charging stations, or installing connected street lights. As CEO and cofounder of smart-grids and smart-cities consulting firm CMG Consulting Andres Carvallo explains, “There has been a lot of talk about doing things, but cities are not well-funded. They don’t have a lot of money to spare. This is going to be huge.”