Smart Cities

Cities sometimes sign contracts for technology like digital twins after they've been presented a best-case-scenario pitch from software vendors. Here’s a guide for procurement officers who want to avoid common pitfalls.

The city modernized 14 lots and garages it owns with new touchless parking payment technology — eliminating gates, queuing and other features of traditional urban parking. Response so far is positive.

The six-month project, aimed at advancing options for electrified delivery, offered new understanding of digital curb management, its opportunities — and whether parked vehicles are permitted users.

A proposal before the Wake County school board would involve the county, sheriff’s office and a vendor in putting cameras in school zones and on bus stop-arms, potentially discouraging speeders while raising revenue.

The state has already deployed roadside devices and onboard units in state maintenance vehicles. Next, the North Carolina Turnpike Authority will work with a hand-selected 100-person test group.

Streets’ many users, their large amount of potential data and the complexity of standing up digital curb systems can pose challenges. A digital map or street inventory can be a first step for local government.

A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy urges regulators and utilities to make the grid operate more efficiently. There are ways, experts said, to absorb part of data centers’ growth.

Transit buses in the Silicon Valley city are traveling 20 percent faster following a technology upgrade that gave them traffic signal priority at certain intersections. The project, an official said, is scalable.

Having realized efficiencies through their use of a technology project management platform, city officials are contemplating where else it might bring transparency, save time and accomplish routine tasks.

A four-person team from the University of Michigan earned a $15,000 prize in the 2025 MiSpace Hackathon, for creating technology that gives four-day forecasts of ice formation on the Great Lakes.

The city’s tourist-heavy Oceanfront neighborhood is using a digital parking solution from eleven-x to improve parking management and grow revenue in its “resort area.” Area residents will get parking credits.

California electric utilities plan to launch a program to help pay for electric vehicle charging, for income-qualified households that do not have charging at home. Other initiatives are already underway.

Hawaii’s capital city is using CivCheck’s platform to review applications and speed up the permitting process. Bellevue, Wash., also uses AI permitting process tools, and Louisville, Ky., will soon pilot them.

New technology is helping digitize the credit card account management and accounts payable processes for the small Idaho city. Doing so has saved more than 100 staff hours a month.

A freight ferry and two cargo bikes were part of a project to show how fresh seafood and other freight can move through New York City without traveling on a delivery truck through city streets.

After launching a fiber-optic broadband network, Chattanooga, Tenn., has seen robust economic development and better Internet service for residents. Chico, Calif., recently broke ground on its own fiber project.

Michigan Central in Detroit is quickly becoming a center for air and ground mobility innovation. The state Advanced Air Mobility Initiative, announced in July, aims to stimulate drone development.

“Experiential learning” can let people discover technologies firsthand, a panelist said at the inaugural CoMotion GLOBAL conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Residents must be kept in mind, said another.