One of the tenets of the Smart Cities Council is to "think big and start small." We recommend starting small to get any early win, to build momentum, and to generate savings that can help finance the next project. But only if a city has "thought big" first. Cities that don't build a masterplan end up with a series of piecemeal projects -- a collection of disjointed, disconnected apps that fail to generate synergies.
Dublin is the latest city to launch a "digital plan" as a roadmap to a smart city. When you combine it with those from cities such as New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Vancouver, B.C., we now have a solid core of thoughtful roadmaps from which others can harvest good ideas. Dublin's "Digital Masterplan," for instance, contains several elements that have become typical cornerstones:
- Fast broadband access to every home
- A special district for high-tech businesses
- A commitment to put all city services online
- A training program to improve digital skills citywide
It also has some unique elements, including support for local small business to work with multinationals and support for Dublin-based ecommerce. Click here to read about Dublin's digital roadmap. -- Jesse Berst
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Jesse Berst is the founding Chairman of the Smart Cities Council. Click to subscribe to SmartCitiesNow, the weekly newsletter highlighting smart city trends, technologies and techniques.
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