When are we going to start running our cities as platforms?

Bloomberg’s “America’s Cities Are Running on Software from the ’80s”, reveals that many US cities are still using long-outdated technology such as the IBM AS/400, once the epitome of corporate management systems, featured above, and that will remind some readers of the good-old, bad-old days :-)

Antiquated IT is no small matter: if we are to run our cities efficiently, then they must become platforms for exchanging data, open APIs that manage information from the myriad services operating within them. Businesses operating in cities should be required to do so via a service interface that can be used to communicate internally and externally, without exception, regardless of the technology involved. On that basis, any service provider, notably transportation, should be required, as part of its licensing agreement, to cede all usage data that could be of use for running the city to feed the platform and enable integrated management. Whether Uber, taxi or scooter rental companies, the rule should be as simple as “no data, no party”. If companies are not willing to share and integrate data with the city, they needn’t bother applying for a license.

The smart city concept is essentially about information systems architecture. Logically, the construction of a platform that allows for integrated city management must necessarily be based on systems to enable that integration, providing a complete picture of what’s going on in real time, captured both through City Hall’s own systems (pollution sensors, security cameras, devices of various types, etc.), along with third party infrastructure and applications.

For example, City Hall needs to know how many vehicles are on the road at any time, allowing it to take reasonable measures to reduce it: some US cities are now seriously considering congestion charges, which will obviously require investing in technology.

Then there is the question of managing transportation as we move away from licensing systems based on scarcity to the coexistence of multiple platforms that promote abundance. But to avoid traffic chaos may mean establishing maximum vehicle quotas for service providers. Again, this will require specific, platform oriented technology.

The point here is that to make all this happen will require more than just overhauling obsolete systems. Instead, we need new systems architecture based on platform or API thinking, something that very few cities currently have.

(En español, aquí)