Although 80 percent of Americans live in cities, urban issues are often put on the nation’s back burner. But residents still expect their city governments to deliver the day-to-day services that make or break their quality of life.
Read MoreOver the past six weeks I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with over twenty cities across the United States and Australia. Whether I was speaking with a small rural council or a large metropolitan city, the challenge of citizen engagement came up in almost every conversation; specifically, the ever-increasing gap between current engagement strategies and large pockets of the community.
Read MoreLast week, city officials from around the country gathered in Los Angeles to share ideas about how government can be more data-driven, creative and effective in solving public problems. The raison d'etre for the Government Performance and Innovation Summit, an annual event hosted by Governingmagazine and its nonprofit partner Living Cities, is to showcase, spread and scale up promising programs and practices in local government.
Read MoreLocal governments are solution-driven and strive to improve residents' lives. But not all cities seek solutions in the same manner, or have the same success.
Using failure as a learning moment and building partnerships are among the lessons from the three-day conference in Kansas City, MO.
Read MoreWASHINGTON — To help state and local governments leverage digital technologies, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a leading science and tech policy think tank, along with Government Technologyand Governing magazines and 11 state and local governments, today announced the launch of the government Digital Transformation Exchange (DTE), an online platform powered by ProudCity, for public agencies to share and discuss strategies for using technology to modernize and improve state government operations. The first-in-the-nation partnership will accelerate adoption of new technologies and digital government platforms by empowering collaboration and sharing of standardized best-practices among government agencies.
Read MoreSince 2010, the Philippines national government has tried to address the country’s chronic infrastructure challenges, while maintaining strict fiscal discipline. The focus has been on initiating a series of reforms that some think has revived the country's P3 program. These reforms have resulted in the awarding of nine projects (with a total investment of US$3 billion). This P3 program's roll-out aims to support the government's intention to raise private investment in infrastructure from 0.4 percent of GDP in 2013 to 1.1 percent of GDP. Spending in infrastructure is expected to grow at around 10% a year during the next decade, reaching a total of US$27 billion per year by 2025.
Read MoreJuniper Research has revealed the UK’s top 10 smart cities, following a study that took into account a wide range of indices and metrics in order to reach a final ranking.
Read MoreWe asked city officials to give us their best ideas for how to finance innovation in government, and they came up with a solid list of actionable concepts. Here are the top 8...
Read MoreThe Town of Cary, located in the heart of North Carolina's research triangle, may not be the first location that comes to mind when identifying "smart cities." Yet the home of approximately 160,000 residents — self-proclaimed as the "technology town of North Carolina" — is on a mission to change that.
Read MoreMIAMI, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In an address at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Annual Meeting in Miami, Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the American Cities Initiative, a suite of new and expanded investments that will empower cities to generate innovation and advance policy that moves the nation forward. In an era of unprecedented challenges – from rapid technological change to Washington D.C.'s deepening disengagement on urban issues to the climate crisis – cities need new tools that will allow mayors to do what they do best: innovate, solve problems, and work together to move the needle on the issues that matter to citizens and America's future.
Read MoreThere are a number of converging factors that can turn a municipality’s vision for a smart city into reality: the steady rollout of high-speed public Wi-Fi networks; the rapid evolution of Internet of Things devices that enable people, businesses and government agencies to measure and get data in real time; and the new transportation and business models created by the NATU (Netflix, Tesla, Airbnb, Uber). Just as significant a factor is the renewed embrace among both government officials and business leaders of public-private partnerships (P3s). That’s encouraging, because without a P3, a smart city plan will most likely remain stuck on the drawing board.
The Smart Cities movement has produced a large number of projects and experiments around the world. To understand the primary ones, as well as their underlying tensions and the insights emerging from them, the editors of this special issue of the California Management Review enlisted a panel of experts, academics, and practitioners from different nationalities, backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. The panel focused its discussion on three main areas: new governance models for Smart Cities, how to spur growth and renewal, and the sharing economy—both commons and market based.
Read MoreGoverning a city is arguably one of the most complex management tasks facing organizational leaders. Based on an analysis of Vienna, London, and Chicago, this article demonstrates that city leaders treat cities as ecosystems, structured and governed either as “extended enterprises” where inputs from specialized organizations are coordinated and integrated into the final service or as “platform markets” where direct interactions between third-party service providers and citizens are facilitated by the city leaders. If cities are viewed as the “ecosystem of ecosystems,” then successful city governance requires an orchestration approach where leaders choose the appropriate structure and manage the ecosystem dynamically in a constantly changing environment.
Read MoreIn a world where people can increasingly choose to live anywhere, cities have to compete in ways that they never anticipated. International finance, global supply chains, connectivity, automation, rapid transit and transportation have all combined to heighten mobility in unprecedented ways. Specifically when it comes to economic development, there are many traditional metrics that city executives know that business leaders evaluate: Tax and regulatory environment, Workforce development and readiness, Transportation and transit solutions, Connectivity