Urban technology
City Mayors reports on technological advances that benefit cities and other urban areas

American cities use knowledge
technology to reduce urban stress
6 July 2015: “Platform” is one of the current trendy words in American English. It is a generic term for the operating system of a computer. But it is also a metaphor for a stage upon which a person or an organization can rise above the commonplace and engage with people in a meaningful way. In the United States, the current fashion in public administration is to view local government as a platform, and progressive mayors as leaders who can build that platform. Based not on the traditional means of citizen participation - volunteerism, voting, public meetings - government as platform relies on technology to engage people. Its point of departure is the idea that data are a vital resource, which can empower people by allowing them to create their own solutions. MORE

Silicon Valley is the role model
for many cities around the world
24 November 2012: While Silicon Valley is still the world’s number one location for start-ups, a number of cities around the world have successfully emulated the Californian region in San Francisco’s Bay area. According to a report by Startup Genome there are now 20 cities worldwide, which offer budding entrepreneurs with the right ecosystems to turn new ideas into commercial success stories. With nine cities in the top 20, North America still dominates the list, but the report’s authors already rank Tel Aviv second and also include London, Paris, Moscow and Berlin as well as cities in South America, Asia and Australia. More

Local democracy strengthened
by new social media platforms
2 June 2011: Around the world, governments at all levels are facing new demands, new expectations and a fast-growing array of new technologies and tools by which such demands and expectations can be met. At the heart of those new technologies lies social media and it promises development towards increased and enhanced citizen participation in politics. More

London borough uses technology
to deal with residents’ grievances
25 February 2007: Next year will see the tenth anniversary of the increasingly ubiquitous camera phone. In South East London it, along with the introduction of the borough council ‘Love Lewisham’ website (www.lovelewisham.org), has transformed the way many residents report environmental problems and engage with the council. It may be the harbinger of a new ways of working between local government and the people it serves. More

Wireless technology offers low-cost
internet access to underserved areas
Wireless internet technology has the potential to bridge the digital divide by providing low-cost broadband internet connectivity to underserved areas and local communities. Leapfrog wireless technologies may be deployed rapidly to help foster economic development and workforce productivity and to enable delivery of social-service applications in the areas of eHealth, eEducation, and eGovernment. More

Cerritos first US city to offer
wireless internet access to all
Cerritos, a small community in southern California, will be the first city in the US to offer all its citizens wireless internet (Wi-Fi) access. Until now the town's 51,000 inhabitants had to be content with slow internet access via 56k modems. Broadband has not been not on offer because the city is too far from the telephone company’s main exchange and internet access via cable had been ruled out for economic reasons. More

Siemens installs emergency
call system in 113 Italian cities
Siemens Business Services, a subsidiary of Munich-based Siemens AG, has implemented Europe's largest mobile emergency call system for the Italian police force (Carabinieri). The order for the system, which has gone live in 113 Italian cities, is worth nearly 80 million euro. More

Chicago named as
top US internet city
A research study by Ohio State University ranked Chicago, Illinois, the premier US city for internet accessibility. The US capital Washington DC was placed second ahead of Dallas, Texas. The researchers, Professor Morton O’Kelly and Tony Grubesic, determined accessibility by the number of internet connections to and from each city through 41 major commercial internet backbones in 2000. Cities that had more connection were rated as more accessible. Based on their analysis, the researchers compiled a list of the top 30 cities in terms of internet access. More

Scandinavian and German cities
judged to have best websites
Copenhagen is the 2002/2003 holder of the annual European eCity Award. The award is based on a study of 130 European city websites. Judges from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the UK evaluated city websites based on five criteria. The jury judged websites on their usefulness to citizens, business and tourists. The judges also looked at design features and awarded points for innovation. More

German data highways
cross at Frankfurt/Main
Frankfurt is Germany’s internet capital, according to a report by the research organisation TSN emnid. In Frankfurt, home to the European Central Bank (ECB), some 61 per cent of the population are connected to the internet. The figures for Munich and Berlin are 58 and 57 per cent respectively. More