Smart Cities

Illustration of nighttime city with white lines connecting nodes to illustrate technology and connectivity

Leveraging Blockchain Tech to Build Smart Cities

Blockchain is far from exclusive to cryptocurrency. Smart cities have a lot to gain from the technology and can thrive with its application.

June 15, 2023 - Devin Partida

View of street in Chattanooga, Tennessee with vintage buildings

Chattanooga Expands ‘Smart Intersection’ Network

The city is building on a smaller test project that uses sensors to gather data about traffic movement to help transportation planners make more informed traffic management decisions.

January 9, 2023 - Smart Cities Dive

Electric cars parked curbside and charging on a city street

Tech Trends for Cities and States

Smart cities technology is well behind schedule, but the technology industry hasn’t given up on new digital solutions, self-driving cars, curb management, and AI-powered systems.

January 4, 2023 - Smart Cities Dive

Books

The Top Urban Planning Books of 2022

An annual list of the must-read books related to urban planning and its intersecting fields.

November 28, 2022 - James Brasuell

Still image of EPCOT city concept from Disney's 1966 promotional film

EPCOT: The Original 'Smart City'

What can today’s futurists learn from Disney’s unrealized utopia?

October 7, 2022 - Diana Ionescu

Subway riders in Bangkok wear masks during the pandemic.

A Sustainable Future Requires Smart, Data-Driven Public Transport Networks

Devin de Vries, CEO of WhereIsMyTransport, makes the case for new and improved mobility as a tool for sustainability and equitable economic development.

September 14, 2022 - Devin de Vries

Aerial view of crosswalk with digital 'smart' crosswalk concept

Behind the Allure of the ‘Smart City’

The glamour of digital technology can obscure the hard work of building healthy, sustainable cities.

June 28, 2022 - Technology Review

Boston, Massachusetts

Opinion: High Tech Won't Save Cities

After some notable disappointments in the development of 'smart city' projects, experts are increasingly critical of the movement to use tech to solve urban problems.

February 3, 2022 - Treehugger

A grid of connected energy, shown as an imagined web over the night sky of an unnamed city.

Smart Power Grid Technologies for Smart Cities

Smart power grid solutions are becoming increasingly important for the development of smart cities. Here's what you need to know.

December 23, 2021 - Devin Partida

Noise

Using Tech to Control Noise Pollution

Several cities are piloting programs that use machine learning to identify and understand urban noise patterns and enforce noise ordinances.

December 13, 2021 - Bloomberg CityLab

Smart City

Mayors Define the 'Smart City'

As the pandemic forces cities to redefine their priorities, mayors around the country express their plans and hopes for technology and the 'smart city' of the future.

November 8, 2021 - Smart Cities Dive

COTA Bus

Lessons from the Smart Columbus Pilot Program

The former program manager for Smart Columbus discusses the successes, challenges, and unexpected opportunities encountered by the city as it worked to integrate technology into city services and programs.

October 19, 2021 - Smart Cities Dive

Silicon Valley aerial view

How the AI Economy is Shaping Cities

Like other technologies, artificial intelligence tech seems to be clustering in a small group of cities, prompting questions about its uneven deployment.

September 27, 2021 - Bloomberg CityLab

Smart City

'A City is Not a Computer:' Why 'Smart Cities' Fail

The 'smart city' concept fails to take into account the necessary slowness of democracy and the unpredictability of a city's human inhabitants.

August 18, 2021 - Fast Company

Smart City

Report: Cities Falling Behind on Security and Accessibility in 'Smart City' Tech

While cities around the world are introducing tech tools to improve services and increase their efficiency, many have failed to implement appropriate privacy and security protocols.

July 22, 2021 - Smart Cities Dive

Bikeshare and murals

Five Years Later, 'Smart Cities Challenge' Promise Unfulfilled

The "Smart Cities Challenge" paid Columbus, Ohio $50 million to kick start a revolution of urban technology. The revolution never arrived, according to a recent assessment by Wired writer Aarian Marshall.

July 7, 2021 - Wired

Coronavirus and Transportation

Tech and the Post-Pandemic City

To steer American cities into the future, public and private sectors—and citizens—must work together to build broad, lasting support around complicated issues such as transparency and data privacy.

April 6, 2021 - Sara Maffey

Delivery Services

The Link Between Smart Cities, Fleet Technology, and Economics

The theoretical planning of smart cities could help make city economies stronger as purchasing becomes more straightforward.

December 20, 2020 - Devin Partida

Akon City

Akon's City Dream Takes a Tentative First Step

Akoin, the cryptocurrency backbone of a new master planned smart city in Senegal, is available for purchase. Akon City could be the next dream to become a reality.

November 13, 2020 - Smart Cities Dive

Toyota Future City

Toyota Working on the Smartest City Yet, Built From Scratch

Checking in with Toyota's plans for an interconnected smart "city of the future" means considering how their approach might differ from other attempts at similar projects.

November 8, 2020 - Smart Cities Dive

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.