How Food Fed the Vision for San Antonio’s Pearl Complex

Once among the San Antonio’s largest employers, the Pearl Brewery closed in 2001, and the surrounding area had been neglected as development focused on the suburbs, said Bill Shown, managing director of real estate at Pearl developer Silver Ventures, speaking at the recent ULI Texas Forum. Shown’s firm decided to take a chance converting the run-down property into a mixed-use destination.

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Report: Smart city investment will double by 2021

A report published Tuesday found that the smart city market reached $342.4 billion in 2016 and is projected to more than double by 2021, to an estimated $774.8 billion. The increase equates to an overall 17.7 percent growth rate. But despite this rapid growth, researchers estimate it will be years before the smart city sensor systems, predictive analytics tools and energy efficient buildings now being purchased become ubiquitous technologies.

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Smart Cities Connect & US Ignite Application Summit Explore Perennial Challenges, New Solutions

It’s perhaps fitting that the Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo– held in Austin last week, and collocated with the US Ignite Application Summit – wrapped on the eve of a (very) long 4th of July weekend. Because rethinking the running and management of our cities–with the help of new technology and data tools– is a good way to honor this country’s birthday. If sorting out the key smart cities issues means looking beyond past accomplishments and entering some uncharted waters at the confluence of deep technical, political, and demographic tides, all the more reason to jump in feet first. And jump in we did last week in Austin, with a major conference exploring the use of technology, policy, data, and more to help cities become more efficient, secure, and sustainable–while improving the quality of life of its citizens and visitors.

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How 5G Can Help Municipalities Become Vibrant Smart Cities

For decades, the evolution of communications technology has laid the foundation for broad economic growth across the United States benefitting towns and cities large and small. The next generation of wireless network infrastructure will be built using small-cell networks employing 5G wireless technology. The connectivity and computing capacity unleashed by these high-speed wireless networks will bring the power of Smart City solutions to municipalities across the country.

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With Panasonic's Help, Denver is Building a Smart City Within a City

You can’t really talk about what’s happening in Denver without mentioning what’s happening 5,800 miles away in Fujisawa, the Japanese town Panasonic built on top of its old factory outside Tokyo. Its 600 homes and 400 apartments — all sold out but still filling up — were designed to withstand earthquakes, are all outfitted with solar panels, and are all hooked up to the smart grid. It took over a decade to get Fujisawa up and running, but Panasonic wanted to reproduce it in the U.S. using an already established city.

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