1 year smarter: A look back at our favorite stories

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of our daily launch, Smart Cities Dive has rounded up our most popular posts on everything from drug-sniffing robots to blockchain tech.

By Kristin Musulin • Oct. 23, 2018

What Ford’s AV partnership with DC means for the city’s future

Ford’s AVs will be tested across the District starting as early as Q1 of next year, with a goal of deploying a commercial AV service in 2021 that could include ride-hailing and food or package delivery.

By Chris Teale • Oct. 23, 2018

Verizon joins Spokane, WA smart city pilot

They will partner on areas like traffic, grid resiliency and air quality monitoring, initially targeting congestion and parking in the city’s University District.

By Jason Plautz • Oct. 22, 2018

NYC names former White House official as Chief Analytics Officer

Kelly Jin, a policy advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the Obama administration, will lead the city's data office and Open Data program.

By Jason Plautz • Oct. 19, 2018

DC leaders unveil long-term $291B regional plan to combat congestion

The Visualize 2045 proposal suggests new projects in addition to existing ones, and also outlines aspirational goals like having jobs closer to housing.

By Chris Teale • Oct. 19, 2018

Sidewalk Labs pitches third-party data storage for Toronto project

Bringing in an independent, non-governmental third party could help assuage concerns that Sidewalk Labs will abuse its power, but opens questions about who would manage the data trust.

By Jason Plautz • Oct. 18, 2018

Report: More than half of large cities are preparing for AVs

Although the federal government has been making moves, the report says "the action with autonomous vehicles is decidedly taking place on the ground at the local level."

By Jason Plautz • Oct. 18, 2018

San Francisco passes taxi reforms to ease pain from ride-hailing competition

The meteoric rise of Uber and Lyft has made a crippling dent in the taxi industry, where drivers have reported having to work longer hours for lower pay.

By Jason Plautz • Oct. 18, 2018

NYC comptroller aims to end ‘two-tiered’ transit system with lower rail fares

Scott Stringer called for reducing ticket prices to the subway base rate in a report MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota derided as "fiscally irresponsible."

By Chris Teale • Oct. 17, 2018

Baltimore City Council approves Complete Streets bill

The legislation requires the city's Department of Transportation "to the greatest extent possible, promote walking, biking and public transit."

By Chris Teale • Oct. 16, 2018

Report: Recession recovery emphasizes divide between prosperous cities, rural regions

A "great reshuffling" of jobs, capital and business creation greatly benefited already affluent areas, data from 2007 to 2016 shows.

By Jason Plautz • Oct. 16, 2018

City Innovate unveils 81 government contracting opportunities for startups

The program pairs companies with governments for 16 weeks to test new tech ideas, with the goal of landing the firm a contract at the end of the session. 

By Jason Plautz • Oct. 12, 2018

Philadelphia releases strategic transportation plan

An underlying theme throughout is the need to foster equity and make sure that people in all neighborhoods experience benefits from the system.

By Katie Pyzyk • Oct. 12, 2018

Chicago releases updated comprehensive plan

ON TO 2050 outlines CMAP's intended investments and regional priorities, guided by the principles of inclusive growth, resilience and prioritized investments.

By Katie Pyzyk • Oct. 11, 2018

78 cities get perfect scores for LGBTQ equality

The Human Rights Campaign's seventh annual Municipal Equality Index praised localities for protecting youth from bullying and "conversion therapy."

By Chris Teale • Oct. 11, 2018

The disengagement doldrums

Local government’s employee engagement levels are abysmal, and if we want a more dedicated public sector, leadership need to address the problem head on.

By Derek Prall • Oct. 10, 2018

Where do smart cities need to improve? 7 industry leaders weigh in

Some of those at Smart Cities Week in Washington, DC said more must be done to alleviate poverty, ease congestion and improve trust and planning.

By Kristin Musulin , Chris Teale • Oct. 10, 2018

Are regulators hindering EV acceleration?

Utilities and regulators are starting to scale up charging infrastructure but are finding it takes private vendor and utility "coopetition" to build the interoperable EV charging networks needed to satisfy drivers.

By Herman K. Trabish • Oct. 10, 2018

Mass timber: A solution to the affordable housing crisis

Editor's note: This article was originally published in American City & County, which has merged with Smart Cities Dive to bring you expanded coverage of city innovation and local government. For the latest in smart city news, explore Smart Cities Dive or sign up for our newsletter.No human s...

By Steve Conboy • Oct. 10, 2018

European Commission promises $800M sustainable transportation investment

The funding will go toward 49 projects across all major modes of transportation, including airports, ports, rail and battery-electric cars.

By Katie Pyzyk • Oct. 9, 2018

The route to resilience

Like people, striving for resilience can help a city weather various hardships, learn from them and bounce back stronger than before.

By Jason Axelrod • Oct. 8, 2018

On the smart city journey, everyone goes at their own pace

At Smart Cities Week in Washington, DC, leaders said that progress varies by jurisdiction, while it is key to change the conversation around innovation inside government.

By Chris Teale • Oct. 8, 2018

Why us? 6 months after ransomware attack Atlanta has no answers

It's possible a vulnerability was found during a random scan and a hacker said, "we got a live one here," according to a security advisor.

By Samantha Schwartz • Oct. 8, 2018

Philadelphia awards innovation grants to 7 pilot programs

The funding is intended to encourage municipal employees to share their ideas for improving government operations and services.

By Katie Pyzyk • Oct. 5, 2018

Chicago to pilot tool to boost disability access for smart cities

The Smart City Digital Inclusion Maturity Model, designed with Microsoft, analyzes a range of city functions and defines performance indicators and metrics towards expanding accessibility.

By Jason Plautz • Oct. 4, 2018