As governments face new types of challenges, from higher expectations of citizens regarding quality and efficiency, integrating new technologies in administrative processes as well as a higher degree of participation, to the extent of co-creating solutions, the digital transformation has no way of being successful unless is being built on collaboration and partnership. But the …
UrbanizeHub had the opportunity to meet Prof. Albert-László Barabási, a distinguished professor from the Northeastern University, Central European University and Harvard University. He introduced in 1999 the concept of scale-free networks and proposed the Barabási–Albert model to explain their widespread emergence in natural, technological and social systems, from the cellular telephone to the World Wide Web or online communities. Author of …
Making cities smart is one thing. But making them green and sustainable in the future takes them to a higher level. Making cities sustainable makes them even smarter. This is what the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility could have had in mind when they first conceived and launched the Urban Sustainability Framework (USF) …
If cities across the globe today were to universally adopt and deploy smart city strategies, technology and services, what would that mean for citizens? An Intel-sponsored Juniper research has the answer to this query: dividend in terms of time and quality of life to each citizen. Examining a number of cities across the globe in …
If cities are the engines of economic growth, an efficient transport system is the oil that prevents these engines from seizing up. With that said, one of the features that should define the future of our cities is a sustainable transport. Urban transport is undeniably an indispensable component of city life that should be taken …
The world is experiencing a two-fold transformation process: a fast-paced urban development revolution and an accelerating smart city evolution. The race to making cities smart is a global trend. The concept of smart city evokes the image of ICT-infused infrastructures that enable the extensive monitoring and steering of city maintenance, urban mobility, air quality, waste …
There are two governance reforms that are becoming rapidly important in the area of governance across different countries as they serve as valuable channels to enhance transparency, openness, integrity, accountability and civic participation in cities, to wit: open data movement and the civic tech movement. The open data movement is a recent form of social …
Food waste is considered a global concern. On a global scale, the overwhelming amount of food that went squandered is just unacceptable. It is estimated that around 1.3 billion metric tons or a third of the global food production ends up in garbage bins and landfills. The vast amount of food that is being wasted …
The “Urban Investment Support” was recently launched by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank with the aim of helping cities plan investments. Consequently, their urban development strategies would be supported and there would be easier access to financing. Precisely this access to financing remains one of the biggest issues that cities have to …
We are all familiar with the catch-phrase “Think global, act local”. This remarkable TED Talk (found below) is the perfect representation of that, placed in a larger frame that Majora Carter calls “local eco-entrepreneurship”. She argues for smart infrastructure, for healthy local economic systems and for “hometown security”, using the example of three practical visionaries across …