Chattanooga leading the way

Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA downtown skyline at night.

What makes a city a smart city?
So many combinations go into the development of what people are calling nowadays a "smart" city. And the usual list comes to the fore — infrastructure, services, sport and park facilities, pride, the arts, the recognition of the past — and these combinations will provide for residents a sense of wellbeing and community.

Being added to the usual list is also the value of investing in communication technology including public Wi-Fi, and this is the trend that is moving across Europe and North America as more and more cities believe in an aggressive investment in high-tech internet communications infrastructure which can help rebuild cities, close the digital divide and spur new industry and create jobs.

Access to high-speed internet service and low-cost or free Wi-Fi is being considered essential to the downtown areas of the modern city though paying for it is the "elephant in the room" — who is going to fund it? Who will pay for equipment and access? And the debate continues on these lines while other cities have considered it necessary to their development rather than have the "elephant" sit in the boardrooms of the local council and to be debated ad infinitum until another election looms.

Libraries generally have a free Wi-Fi service where those without their own service can access the web to scour job ads and access other personal services such as bank accounts, local schools for their children's grades and attendance and their families on an immediate basis when necessary.

Many cities have seen the necessity for the development of this technological "flame" and invested in fibre-optic and other infrastructure that is proving a spur for new investment in their cities, aid in reducing crime and pollution and helping to conserve valuable resources. Smart technology can help reduce traffic congestion with the use of smart sensors on traffic lights and can aid in a better response time for emergency medical teams. Power outages can cost businesses millions of dollars but smart sensors on power lines can significantly reduce outage time by detecting the exact location of outages, diverting current around them and more precisely guiding repair crews to fix them.

These are an example of the 'smart' city and there are many other benefits that accrue from the technology. In practically every aspect of the modern city officials are finding that the initial investment in technology for their city may seem financially daunting to begin with the results within a very few years are of a greater benefit in all aspects in the life of their city. The leading technology city for benefiting their residents and their city is not in any of the "tech" places in North America such as Toronto or California with their specialised technological businesses — it is a small city that is mentioned a lot in smart city discussions — a city that has already saved its businesses an estimated $40 to $45 million in the reduction of power outages alone in one year! CHATTANOOGA!

Once ravaged by suburbanisation, loss of manufacturing, deteriorating municipal infrastructure, social division and high air pollution, Chattanooga has done an about face. People are moving back. Businesses are investing.
Its rebirth was capped by a robust, roughly $270m investment in about 8000 miles (12,874km) of fibre-optic lines and various smart-grid applications.
According to a 2015 study by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Department of Finance, the city's investment led to "incremental economic and social benefits ranging from $865m to $1.3 billion while additionally creating between 2800 and 5200 new jobs". Another study showed the city attracting new residents at a rate roughly 30 per cent faster than the national average with baby boomers and millennials driving the moving vans.

Progress can be difficult and too often the election of the "old-guard" politicians can negatively affect the positive growth of a city. Gradually that is changing across both Canada and the US but sometimes Progressive City A is the beneficiary of Negative City B's reluctance to progress with the times. Hopefully Negative City B's politicians start to see the need to look further ahead than their personal goal of re-election and living off the public purse!