An accountant, a farmer and a teacher walk into a train depot... Sounds like the beginning of a great joke doesn’t it? Funny enough, I met people in each of those professions as well as many others at the AgLanta Conference 2018. At this year’s conference, we focused on the role of agriculture in ‘smart cities’. To start the conference off, Henry Gordon-Smith, Founder of Agritecture, so eloquently asked the audience: “can a city really be smart without agriculture?”
A peer-to-peer parking marketplace that connects Arizona State Universitystudents with nearby affordable parking options has won Phoenix’s third Smart City Hack competition.
Read MoreUS tech giant Microsoft Corp will work with more Chinese tech startups to boost their growth through its local accelerators, said its top executive.
Read MoreSmart energy startup Totem Power wants to change the way cities and residences function. In collaboration with cross-disciplinary design studio AE Superlab in Brooklyn, the Bedford, N.Y.–based company has created Totem, a multi-platform service that is able to provide uninterrupted power even during emergency conditions when electricity is sparse, or completely unavailable. The product's minimalist aesthetic is intended to accentuate urban landscapes, combining form and function in one elegant package. ARCHITECT spoke with Totem Power CEO Brian Lakamp via email about this platform, which is expected to go live in summer 2017.
Read MoreThe 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 MoreThe prevailing geographic model for high-technology industrial organization has been the “nerdistan,” a sprawling, car-oriented suburb organized around office parks. This seems to contradict a basic insight of urban theory, which associates dense urban centers with higher levels of innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity. This article examines the geography of recent venture capital finance startups across U.S. metros and within a subset of them by neighborhood. It concludes that the model is changing. The suburban model might have been a historical aberration, and innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship are realigning in the same urban centers that traditionally fostered them.
Read MoreEquipped with high-tech versions of common city fixtures — namely, smart benches and digital information signs — and fueled by a “deploy or die” attitude, MIT Media Lab spinout Changing Environments is hoping to accelerate the development of “smart” cities that use technology to solve urban challenges.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again. The “10 technology trends” and “5 ways the Internet of Things (IoT) will change your business next year” prognostications are coming out. I always read these and enjoy the critical thinking behind the authors’ lists. And every year I think about looking back at last year’s lists to see how well the forecasters did, but there isn’t much value in “I told you so” whether you are saying it or hearing it so I let that urge pass
Read MoreUK consulting engineer Arup has teamed up with the China Centre for Urban Development and banking group HSBC to launch a technology and investment hub to make cities smarter.
Read MoreRecent years have seen the growth of Smart City development across the globe. However, many cities face challenges in making smart cities a reality. Addressing the challenges in his opening speech during the Summit, Yan Lida, President of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said, "A Smart City is like a living being, with a brain and complex nervous system working together so that it constantly learns and enhances the physical world.
Read MoreInfiniti, in partnership with Hong Kong-based Venture Capital firm Nest, recently concluded the 12-week “Infiniti Accelerator 2.0″ program with an Investor Demo Day held at the Infiniti LAB, a co-working space on the first floor of the brand’s flagship showroom in Hong Kong
Read MoreMicrosoft Corp announced a partnership with China Development Bank Capital (CDBC) on Wednesday to promote technology innovation and smart city development in the country.
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