老司机视频

As we increasingly rely on technology to manage so much of our daily lives, it鈥檚 easier than ever to imagine our hometown as a smart e-topia. The smart city movement鈥攁 metropolis鈥檚 efforts to improve operational efficiency, share information, and achieve strategic outcomes through information and communication technology鈥� is in full swing. It touches upon every aspect of urban living, including healthcare, education, entertainment, recreation, industry, jobs, climate, transit, housing, and open space, to name a few.

Jonathan Reichental, author of Smart Cities for Dummies and adjunct faculty member and designer of the Leading Smart Communities program at the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Leadership, notes that every city has its own culture and priorities. Thus, the efforts of one city may not be appropriate for another. Common threads, however, are fast and reliable internet service and effective telecommunications at the municipal level.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 important to S茫o Paulo, Brazil, is different from what鈥檚 important to Melbourne, Australia,鈥� he says. 鈥淧robably the most important aspect of building a smart city for every community in the world is connectivity鈥� ensuring that everybody can have access to good quality internet.鈥�

As the chief information officer for the City of Palo Alto from 2011 to 2018, Reichental elevated the city鈥檚 technological services to a new level. He oversaw more than 250 technology projects, implementing a website that allowed citizens to file complaints, creating an open database displaying city finances and building permits, and establishing free WiFi at all public facilities. During his tenure, Palo Alto was heralded as one of the country鈥檚 top five digital cities for four consecutive years.

The need for the strong digital infrastructure and reliable internet service that Reichental fulfilled became all the more crucial during the pandemic as cities鈥� internet deserts became an apparent inequity earning the attention of service providers and city leaders.

鈥淣o one realized how important being connected was to getting an education and to accessing healthcare,鈥� Reichental says.

For example, the City of Los Angeles partnered with a public benefit foundation, a nonprofit organization, and the Los Angeles Unified School District to ensure that city residents could locate affordable internet service and access computers. Activists seeking to enhance internet access citywide in Cleveland, Ohio, obtained city funding for community internet projects. The local government in Austin, Texas, furthered its work of providing internet access to those living in low-income areas.

The pandemic also gave rise to a significant upgrade to the digital environment in Henderson, Nevada. Leading a community made up largely of seniors, Joseph Chidiac (MPP 鈥�19), Henderson鈥檚 long-range planner for community development, and his colleagues were particularly wary of moving away from analog interactions. Online services have refined much of the city鈥檚 transactions, but city employees do not insist that citizens use online tools.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a catch-22 for us,鈥� Chidiac says, 鈥渁s many in our community aren鈥檛 as knowledgeable or proficient in certain technologies. They have the option of doing things on paper if that is more comfortable for them.鈥�

If they want, however, residents seeking to build an addition to their home can file their request online and obtain approval for it much more rapidly. A new portal to the city鈥檚 updated development code allows developers and other individuals to quickly identify all the specifications for a particular building project, such as how many parking spaces they need to provide for their commercial enterprise. The upgrades have made a marked difference in how residents interact with and feel about their local government.

鈥淲e鈥檝e had nothing but positive comments about the changes we鈥檝e made,鈥� says Chidiac. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very user-friendly, and you can quickly search almost anything.鈥�

This type of good customer service goes far in creating brand loyalty for businesses but also works for local governments, notes Charla Griffy-Brown, Graziadio鈥檚 senior associate dean of executive and part-time programs and professor of information systems technology management.

鈥淭hinking through digital processes in terms of 鈥榗ustomer鈥� engagement is what we like to experience as citizens,鈥� she says.

Fast and reliable connectivity doesn鈥檛 just benefit a metropolis鈥檚 transactions. Reichental relates that Chattanooga, Tennessee, had found itself a city adrift. At one time a manufacturing hub, the city鈥檚 economy floundered with the loss of factories and jobs. Partnering with the local city-owned utility, the city invested in the expansion of its network to offer the fastest internet service in the country in 2010. As the only utility in the area, the provider serves every home and business in Chattanooga, and a few years ago, it had created America鈥檚 most comprehensive fiber network. Along with a low cost of living compared with other US cities, the high-speed internet has attracted new industry, new tech companies, and conferences and conventions.

鈥淥ver the past decade, people have started moving to Chattanooga for the quality of life and the new career opportunities,鈥� says Reichental. 鈥淐hattanooga demonstrates the relationship between very fast, low-cost internet and economic advancement. It has been a game changer.鈥�

Connectivity is also critically important to people experiencing homelessness, advises Griffy- Brown, who has worked with the unhoused community in Seattle, Washington. With a charged cell phone and access to WiFi, a person who is homeless is better able to locate essential services such as the address and hours of food banks and shelters. They can find local transit routes and stops, which makes it possible to get to healthcare clinics and libraries, the latter of which provides them with computers to assist in job hunting, completing forms for government services, and the like.

鈥淭he information and internet access public libraries provide are a huge part of the life of a homeless person who鈥檚 really trying to escape homelessness,鈥� notes Griffy-Brown, 鈥淏ut you鈥檙e not going to solve homelessness with digital architecture.鈥�

Americans generally agree that homelessness is an urgent problem, and Reichental cites the creation of innovation districts in some US cities as efforts to mitigate it through revitalization. Often developed in areas that were once the home of industry, innovation districts seek to attract new businesses, startups, universities, and hotels, thereby creating new economic opportunities.

He points to the dramatic efforts initiated in Aurora, Illinois, where the city鈥檚 chief information officer decided to turn the entirety of the city into an innovation district. The project includes expansion of the city鈥檚 fiber network, which has attracted skillful business partners and, perhaps most importantly, the trust and support of the entire city government.

鈥淎urora is a great example of a smart American city that is working to bring more prosperity to more people and reduce homelessness,鈥� Reichental says.

Cities around the world report record numbers of unhoused residents, and some urban areas outside the US have taken the dramatic steps needed to alleviate it. An uplifting example Reichental offered was the prioritization of eliminating homelessness in Helsinki, Finland. Beginning in 2008, the government adopted a 鈥渉ousing first鈥� policy, which, rather than providing short-term shelter for people experiencing homelessness, placed them in permanent housing. The government provides housing by supporting an NGO that buys and builds it and hires social workers to assist the residents with financial and other issues. In Helsinki, the number of unhoused individuals dropped substantially. What we seem to find an unsolvable problem is actually solvable. 鈥淭he city took an all-hands-on-deck approach,鈥� Reichental points out. 鈥淟eadership made it a priority.鈥�

As noted earlier, what is most important to each city will differ, and solutions to a given concern will vary from one city to the next. Fast, convenient, and sustainable transportation is a need that most of today鈥檚 cities share. In Henderson, Chidiac and his office are using GIS technology to locate areas where transportation services are lacking. The specificity of the data is invaluable.

鈥淚t鈥檚 useful in addressing both particular issues and in making broader policy changes,鈥� he says. Many readers of this magazine will know that the journey from one place to the next in Los Angeles falls outside its 鈥済reat place to live鈥� factors. Los Angeles actually takes fifth place in the worst traffic competition in the US, and the occasional added lane on the freeway seems unlikely to move the city into the sixth-place slot.

鈥淥ver the last 100 years, we have built our cities for cars with parking lots with thousands of spaces,鈥� says Reichental. But today鈥檚 smart city is reevaluating the value of the auto to both the individual and the larger community. As of January 1, 2023, developers in California cities no longer have to provide a minimum number of parking spaces for residential buildings situated within one-half mile of public transit. The law was designed to encourage increases in housing, but it speaks to a broader rethinking of cars as the primary form of transportation.

One rather low-tech answer to the traffic problem being adopted by many smart cities鈥擭ew York City, San Francisco, even Riyadh鈥攊s the bicycle. While many Europeans have been cycling their way around town for the past century, Paris, France, was an outlier. Reichental relates that Paris鈥� residents expressed little interest; queries from the government were met with 鈥淚t just isn鈥檛 Parisian.鈥�

But the city leaders gave it a try, launching a pilot project in 2007 by placing a number of trackable bicycles around the city. The response was overwhelming. Now V茅lib鈥�, the Parisian bike-share program, offers 20,000 bicycles, both manual and electric, to its 400,000 subscribers. Using the company鈥檚 app, you can find station locations and how many bikes are available at each. 鈥淓very photo of Paris today shows people cycling,鈥� says Reichental. 鈥淧eople are outdoors, it鈥檚 healthy for the person cycling, it diminishes carbon emissions, and it creates community,鈥� he adds.

Reichental predicts that transportation in the city of tomorrow will be very unlike it is today. Contemporary city planners are focused on strengthening public transit, building bicycle lanes, and making cities walkable鈥攃losing some areas to cars altogether. Electric, self-driving cars will have a great impact on traffic congestion, noise pollution, and urban air quality. And they鈥檒l remove a significant volume of the gas emissions responsible for climate change. He鈥檚 eager for this shift in the way we design our urban areas. 鈥淚 see a future city that is less about cars and more about people,鈥� he says.

As our metropolitan areas evolve and technology matures, what goes into our vision of an e-topia will undoubtedly shift. In venturing forward wisely, we should surely follow Griffy-Brown鈥檚 advice to think about the larger, long-term consequences of urban living technology, particularly in terms of data collection and use. 鈥淲e should be proactive,鈥� she says, 鈥渋n terms of thinking鈥攏ot just about how we do things, but why we do things and about how we help all members of a community while preserving their privacy and dignity.鈥�

Managing the small city that is 老司机视频鈥檚 Malibu campus includes providing housing, power, water, transit, and waste treatment services to its 2,800 residents and regular visitors. Much of campus planning is the brainchild of, and is overseen by, the University鈥檚 Planning, Operations, and Construction (POC) office led by its associate vice president, Ben Veenendaal (鈥�02). The POC team is constantly searching for ways to make daily life as safe and comfortable as possible for everyone on campus, and with that end in mind, it has implemented some very smart technology.

For example, Veenendaal and his office have installed and operate a state-of-the-art energy management system that allows them to remotely monitor and control the temperature inside every building on campus. The system is finely tuned, permitting the team to regulate the largest air conditioning and heating units down to their smallest component, a variable air volume system. It is both precise and financially sound. 鈥淲e can set every single thermostat,鈥� says Veenendaal. 鈥淏y doing so, we can not only maximize our efficiency, but also maximize comfort for each of the occupants.鈥� When buildings are unoccupied, POC can remotely shut down the system鈥攁 particularly useful ability that proved to be a cost-effective tool during the pandemic.

An added layer to the energy management system will be its connection to the 25Live Pro space reservation system. When the integration of the two systems is complete, POC will be able to provide precise temperature control for a particular space when it is in use. For example, a conference room reservation is automatically communicated to the energy system, which will respond by bringing the room to a comfortable temperature at the time the meeting begins and will return it to the correct energy-efficient midpoint after it ends. 鈥淭he automation of the energy use is a great way to conserve power and is leaps and bounds above controlling it manually,鈥� says Veenendaal.

Yet another layer of the smart technologies employed on the Malibu campus is an ultramodern access-control network. It interfaces with the currently used dual-authentication program, whereby a community member鈥檚 ID card and four-digit code provide them with building or room access. With this network, a POC manager or Department of Public Safety staff member is enabled to remotely lock or open any space on campus鈥攁 high-tech, immediate safety measure. Additionally, the access-control network provides data that helps POC optimize use of the limited space in Malibu.

Veenendaal stresses that he and his team are always monitoring industry breakthroughs and evaluating them for their sustainability and feasibility. It鈥檚 important that any new innovation employed is sound and a good fit for the campus. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to just jump into new technology before it is proven,鈥� Veenendaal says, 鈥渁nd we then want to incorporate it in a seamless way.鈥� The office鈥檚 professional goal is to always improve the buildings and infrastructure in ways that go unnoticed. But layered over that goal is a desire to simply make the campus more user-friendly. Veenendaal emphasized that this is made possible through the leadership of University administration and the dedication of the entire team across POC. 鈥淔or all of us,鈥� he concludes, 鈥渢he student experience鈥攁nd that of the entire community鈥攊s at the heart of all the decisions that we make.鈥�