Research Outline

Smart City Projects List

Goals

To provide a list of smart cities projects, developed since 2015, in India and in the following metropolitan areas: Boston, Dallas, Austin, Phoenix, Charlotte, Nashville, Miami, Baltimore, Singapore, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. The list will provide a brief description of each project.

Early Findings

Our initial findings indicate that the city of Boston and the town of Everett are the only municipalities in the metropolitan area (aside from Union Point) which are employing smart city technology. Research for the towns of Cambridge, Sommerville and Brookline did not discover any smart city initiatives additional to their participation in the BlueBikes program.

City of Boston Smart City Initiatives

  • In Boston city proper, there are 5 'smart city' public projects currently in operation.
  • 1. Certain high-traffic streets are monitored via an array of technology devices to inform the city on transit patterns and safety.
  • 2. Boston and five other cities in the metropolis area operate a public bike-share program, BlueBikes, which spans the followign five cities: Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, and Brookline.
  • 3. Boston has allowed multiple companies to test autonomous vehicles in the past couple of years. Currently the project is still in the testing phase.
  • 4. Wicked Free Wifi is free, public, outdoor wifi provided by the city of Boston. It is designed to help residents access Boston more easily.
  • 5. Boston operates seven apps for residents of the city, which allow them to check on school bus locations in real time, report neighborhood or city problems, and access information available parking, road conditions, and trash collection hours, among others.

Smart City Initiatives near Boston

  • Union Point is a planned suburban 'smart development' 12 miles south of Boston. Rather that implementing specific technology end-use projects, the development aims to provide the 'foundation' onto which smart technologies can be built by tenants of the development.