Smaller Cities Primed to Become the Core of Sustainable Smarter Cities

A recent article in Wired Magazine written by Adam Davidson highlights that smaller cities not dominated by universities are attracting knowledge workers and entrepreneurs at a rate that matches or even exceeds larger cities.  This is good news for the development of Smarter Cities as envisioned by IBM Corporation.  By starting with smaller cities, especially those that will need to leverage a more interconnected infrastructure, the Smarter Cities movement can be modeled then tweaked for expansion to larger, more complex environments.

When married with the principles behind Sustainable Communities efforts led by EPA and HUD, these smaller cities become much more that a test bed for technology.  As these cities begin to evolve in a way that attracts a more conscientious population attuned to both technology and sustainability, they become templates that a broader coalition of partners can leverage drive these principles to a high level with greater scale.

As the populations of cities continues to grow over the coming decades, city infrastructures will need to accommodate not only the influx of people but the needs of people at work.  The forecast is that 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050.  The infrastructure issues of many cities, in their current state, will not be able to sustain this large population migration without help.

The promise of Smarter Cities as envisioned by IBM is exactly the kind of integrative support the Sustainable Growth policies and practices need to be realized within these smaller cities.  Smarter Cities and Sustainable Growth are complementary ideas that must come together in order to make the city the next frontier in smart growth.  As cities like Bethesda, Maryland and Lowell, Massachusetts lead the pack in revitalizing urban growth by appealing to a knowledge rich population with higher than average median household income, the technology needed to transform them into smart, sustainable metropolises is being implemented today by IBM and its Smarter Cities partners.  The question is will enough cities be in a fiscal position to create a truly smarter infrastructure?  That is a question though for a future post.

Small Cities Feed the Knowledge Economy | Magazine | Wired.com

Continued Single Family Home Price Decreases; An Open Window for Smart Growth Policies?

Recent news is not good for home prices across the country.  In a spot on CNBC today, market analyst Gary Kaminsky focused on the continued drop in the prices for current, single family housing stock.  While this continues to hamper recovery efforts within the US, the bright spot, according to Kaminsky is multifamily housing, where rents have continued to increase and mulitfamily real estate trusts continue to do well in trading markets.  As Kaminsky puts it, “things in the industry continue to worsen despite the government's best efforts. In short, there's a sea change in attitudes toward buying vs. renting.”

Could this be the sea change that Smart Growth policies, espoused by Smart Growth Network, have been waiting for to facilitate the transition of American housing from the unwieldy urban sprawl it has become to more environmentally friendly, affordable mixed use communities?  In it’s publication “Getting to Smart Growth; 100 Policies for Implementation” the Smart Growth Network spells out ten key policy principles that, if followed at the national level, could drive the development (and redevelopment) of communities that can achieve the benefits of Smart Growth.

For these principles to be effective, a shift in the way communities function, are financed, zoned, developed, governed, managed, and inhabited is required.  And for each of these changes to take place, the key stakeholders involved at each point must see the benefits of the change and be willing to invest to make it happen.  I believe the tipping point is near where lenders, burdened with ever deflating housing asset values, states, experiencing losses in tax revenues, and residents and business owners realizing the American Dream may not have to be delivered in sprawling suburbs, will each see the benefits or more sustainably created communities.

If current trends in housing prices continue or, at a minimum prices do not recover to pre-recession levels, Americans and American lenders will seek the stability of communities where housing prices are affordable and buyers will not have to overextend themselves to own their own home.  Where development of attractive communities will not have to be at the expense of farmland and natural resource areas.  Where mixed land use development will encourage living and working in close proximity so that transportation options can be more varied and available. And finally where people can develop a stronger sense of place and feel more connected to the decisions made around how their community is managed.

So while I, as a home owner, will most likely feel the effects of today’s news in the near future when I go to sell my home, I hold out hope that there is a positive side to current trends.  I also hope that the policy organizations, administration, and lending community take advantage of this open window and pursue the policies that will lead to a more sustainable housing future.

Earth – Already a “Smarter Planet”?

I recently Tweeted about a short blurb I read in the current issue (June 2011) of Wired Magazine having to do with the construction of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California’s Mohave Desert.  In the blurb, written by Boonsri Dickinson, a short list of pros and cons caught my eye.  In the last con, she writes that by itself, every square meter of the Mohave desert absorbs 106 grams of carbon annually.  This got me thinking about the campaign that IBM has propelled into the current vernacular over the last year and half – Smarter Planet.

There are three key ideas behind IBM’s Smarter Planet. First, that the world is increasingly becoming instrumented, meaning sensors are showing up in all types of products and locations.  Second, that these sensors are increasingly becoming interconnected, usually via the Internet. And third, that these interconnected instruments are being linked to massive data gathering and analysis systems thus making them intelligent… that is they can cause action based on the data they collect.  They way I interpret the item that Boonsri included in her cons list is that perhaps the greatest model of all for a Smarter Planet is the planet itself.

  Assuming one generally buys into some of the current theorizing about the interconnectedness of ecosystems, it’s not hard to see the comparison with Smarter Planet.  Ecosystems have their sensors… trees, water, grass, desert sand, etc…. and ecosystems are connected by proximity to one another.  The key therefore becomes the “intelligence” being applied to what these sensors are taking in.  Going back to the Wired article, the fact that the desert absorbs carbon at a rate of about 1,700 tons a year could be perceived as the action that comes from the intelligence that other sensors are feeding to just this ecosystem.

It is estimated that the Ivanpah Solar Electric plant will remove 13.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over its 30 year life.  While that’s way more than what the 5½ square miles of desert the site will consume can remove over the same period of time, it does make one wonder what impact the removal of a piece of one of the earth’s “intelligent sensors” will have on the whole system.

I’m a big believer that a lot of what we humans claim as inspiration comes from observing the patterns in nature.  It’s not a surprise to me that one of the most promising technical campaigns at one of the largest companies in the world has perhaps subconsciously mirrored one of the most advanced natural patterns on earth.

Contributing In My Own Way

Creating a new blog in this day and age is an act of a particular kind of lunacy.  The hopeful blogger, full of personal experience, wants to contribute to conversations (or start new ones) in an ocean of thoughts where his contribution might only be a drop.  However, because the ocean was started with such drops years ago, the hope is that each drop still can make a difference.

So this blogger is throwing his hat in the ring.  With the launch of Ahead, Warp Factor 1, I hope to contribute to the the ocean of conversation on what innovations in business, technology and society can drive increased sustainability in the world around me.

It's with this hope that this blogger makes the next drop.