Top Articles: Smart Cities as Ecosystems
Week 34, 2018
Cities are no longer passive entities. They have become platforms in their own right. Smart Cities are intertwined ecosystems that engage with those around them and act as a vehicle for new experiences. Emerging Smart City platforms are changing the way that cities function, from transportation, work, education, and more. This, in turn, has changed the way people interact with the world around them. People are embracing co-working spaces, “checking in” to physical locations on their social media accounts, and getting real-time updates about traffic, weather, and events that will affect how they go about their day. These are all examples of how people’s relationship with cities has changed. In other words, Smart Cities are a new opportunity to connect with consumers in an immersive and engaging way.
Our First Look at Alphabet’s Smart City
By Aileen Kwun from Fast Company
Google’s Sidewalk Labs is turning Toronto into a fully-fledged smart city. It is being touted as “the world’s first neighborhood built from the Internet up.” The company has released early design plans for the city, including shape shifting streets that can be reconfigured depending on need, sustainable buildings, a focus on public parks and spaces, and universal automation. These design choices point towards the idea of reclaiming the physical world for people instead of things. Vehicles and structures will take a secondary position as cities become human- and community-oriented.
Is Your Company Ready for the Rise of Smart Cities?
By Jonathan Woetzel and Jaana Remes from Harvard Business Review
Engaging cities represent a business opportunity for brands. Governments and municipalities cannot accommodate every application and service needed, which opens the door for businesses to fill the gap. Beyond providing these services, however, the new completely connected city will disrupt how businesses operate in general. New technological integrations and reconfiguring of public spaces will change how brands will be able to interact with consumers. It’s time to start considering these implications.
Drivers Are Ready to Engage in Commerce during Commutes
From Payments
Part of the Engaging City revolution is the future of transportation. Most of the conversation revolves around how vehicles will move, with most speculation leaning towards self-driving transportation. But there is much more to consider, particularly what consumers will do inside these vehicles. This will depend on whether or not these vehicles are shared or individually owned, of course, but the current thought it that it will become a new marketable space. Consumers expect that their future commutes will include commerce options.
Social Media’s Future Is Live-Event AR
By Jeff Green from Venture Beat
Augmented Reality typically involves pointing a camera at a single object in the real world and watching it come to life in the digital world. However, the true power of AR comes when the experience is scaled to a city-wide event. When thousands of users can experience an event together in community spaces like restaurants, museums, parks, and stores is when the real magic happens. Engaging Cities need to provide entertainment that lets people interact with the space around them and AR experiences like these are cornerstones of this future.
How Two Bit Circus Is Turning Its 21st Century Carnival into One Giant Game
By Bryan Bishop from The Verge
Location-based entertainment is usually referenced in connection with the future of VR, but it is just as if not more applicable to the future of cities. Companies are reimagining entertainment spaces as high-tech and immersive experiences. These locations blur the line between digital and physical with an emphasis on social interaction. Two Bit Circus’s 21st Century Carnival is a great example of what this could look like. Not to mention, it’s an excellent branding opportunity.
