Diana Bowman was recently quoted in a Phoenix Business Journal article about Smart Cities. The article, “Greater Phoenix Cities Lead the Way,” discusses the implementation of smart city technology and the challenges that could arise. Bowman is quoted discussing the aspects of the smart city evolution and how jurisdiction comes into play. She offers some examples of designing infrastructure that supports autonomous vehicles to promote independence in an aging population, or how access to the internet opens up job opportunities and could educate young children. To her, infrastructure is critical to the growth of smart cities, saying, “I would argue that the infrastructure should be viewed as the enabler for the delivery of services and opportunities that will drive quality-of-life improvement and promote, for example, sustainability.”
Bowman is also quoted discussing the Greater Phoenix region’s efforts in implementing smart city technology, also how each challenge that our area is facing, impacts all of its residents. Bowman says, “In my view, recognizing that we can scale solutions quickly by working collaboratively has been one of the key drivers behind the cities, towns and county supporting The Connective.” The Connective is a new disciplined way of adopting smart technology and advancing the digital framework. Bowman discusses The Connective, saying “Our approach with The Connective is that everyone in the region should be involved; a regional initiative needs to have everyone at the table — big or small, in terms of cities and towns — so that we are able to co-design what the vision of the region is. Key challenges facing the Greater Phoenix region — from transportation through to sustainability, for example — impact us all.”
As for implementation, Bowman believes that interoperability is key to a smarty city or smart region and has been a driving force behind The Connective, saying, “Interoperability recognizes that people move across jurisdictional boundaries all day, every day,” she says, “and having systems — albeit parking or traffic signals — that talk to each other allows for the streamlining of operations and greater efficiencies across the board.”
To learn more about the challenges, and impact on business growth that smart cities could bring to the Phoenix area, as well as what other industry leaders are saying about this technology, check out the article here.