The CES 2019 stage brought together key players from across the smart cities ecosystem to share ideas, hurdles and promising developments.

Smart Cities Are Good for Citizens, Good for Business

Different industries play major roles in creating smart cities. From city planners and educators to government officials and law enforcement, key players must all be involved and collaborate to implement an effective and efficient smart city and address some of the major challenges of smart cities:

• How do city planners encourage political acceptance of smart cities?
• How does the abundant data collection of a smart city affect residents and city decision makers alike?

Can We Afford to Become a Smart City?

The economic benefits of a smart city are abundant. Now stakeholders from across industries are exploring ways to finance smart cities, looking at assets from across cities to invest for a resilient future.

• A correct partnership of public sector and private sector participation can help smart city planners achieve their funding goals.
• City government owns only a small portion of the city, but other players — developers, universities, home owners and more — can offer a larger view of the city and suggest and accelerate city solutions on a broaderscale.
• Investment in foundational infrastructure systems can decrease the risk of collecting critical data.

Smart Cities Are Prepared for the Worst

Tech developments in smart cities are preparing the world for disasters. For example, new communication networks are allowing law enforcement and first responders to have priority access to their service to receive emergency updates. Smart devices throughout the city can provide data to efficiently resolve or even prevent disasters.

How is data being transferred back from the city’s smart devices to allow city officials to not only manage and maintain areas in the city but also predict and prevent city problems like water leaks?

Smart Cities Get People Places

In the move toward alternative transportations, city planners and city government must think about the effect they have on the community and the mobility of the population. City governments and infrastructure providers alike are integrating technology to safely mobilize cities with alternative transportation, such as self-driving cars and e-scooters.

Transportation in smart cities will address the more than 37,000 fatalities in the U.S. and 1.2 million global fatalities each year due to vehicle transportation.

“We don’t want to drive people out of the city [because of transportation advances], we want people living in the city,” said Catherine E. Pugh, former Major of Baltimore.

Blockchain Can Help Make a City Smart

The collected, integrated and accurate data of blockchain technology can help resolve many of the challenges that cities face and break down the silos of the city, ultimately making it smart.
Blockchain will prove trustworthy for citizens by providing real value, such as:

• Fight corruption through e-voting.
• Improve health care.
• Assist in mortgaging.