Smart ColumbusSmart ColumbusSmart ColumbusSmart ColumbusSmart ColumbusSmart ColumbusSmart ColumbusFor a $50 million pot meant to transform its future, Columbus, Ohio beat out 77 other US cities. The Department of Transportations Smart City Challenge was a first competition of its type. It was designed to provide a down payment that would help a city adapt to the new technologies that suddenly became ubiquitous. Uber and Lyft were the dominant ride-hail services, Car2Go was rising in national popularity, and autonomous vehicles appeared to be just around the corner.The city's proposal is innovative, and it pledged to support projects that help the city's most vulnerable neighborhoods. The city proposed to test Wi-Fi-enabled kiosks that could be used to assist residents in planning trips and to find parking spots.Although the Smart City Challenge has ended five years later, it is still a revolution. According to this month's final report by the Smart Columbus Program, the pandemic struck just as projects were starting to take shape. Six kiosks were placed in the city to plan eight trips between July 2020 - March 2021. EasyMile, a company that provides autonomous shuttles for passengers, launched them in February 2020. They travel at an average speed 4 miles per hour. 15 days later, an abrupt brake sent a rider into the hospital. This halted service. The truck project was cancelled. Pivot is an app that allows users to reserve and plan trips on shared bikes, scooters and ride-hail vehicles. It was downloaded by only 1,100 people.AdvertisementThe disparity between the promises of tech-savvy technology and reality in Columbus suggests a shift away form the idea of tech as a panacea and a greater awareness of the problems that web-based apps can cause on IRL streets. Smart city was an unmistakable marketing term that was associated with urban optimism. The idea of a sensor in every house is no longer as appealing as it was once.Columbus officials insist that the Smart City project wasn't a failure. The final report deemed the project a success. Columbus now wants to reconsider the slippery term.It's not meant to be a contest for who has the most sensors or any such thing, but we did get a bit distracted at one point," Jordan Davis, director of Smart Columbus (the organization responsible for continuing the challenges work), said. Some of the challenges will be continued. Davis states that the main focus of the project will be: How can technology be used to improve quality and equity in communities, mitigate climate change, and achieve regional prosperity?Recall 2015 and you will see how techno-solutionist goals were realized. The future was fast approaching, and the DOT hoped that its seed money would allow a city of medium size like Columbus to work with companies in order to plan for the future, while also keeping equity in mind. The department was impressed with the support pledged by local businesses when it chose the city. Anthony Foxx, then secretary, stated that the challenge lies in using advanced tools to improve the lives of all people, particularly those who live in rural areas. He is now Lyft's chief policy officer.It is clear that private companies cannot predict the future of cities, and may not be in their best interest. Davis claims that Columbus selection resulted in a flood of proposals by companies that proved to be difficult to manage and distracting. This is especially true after an Uber test vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian. Sidewalk Labs, Google's sibling, promised to build a sensored-up neighbourhood in Toronto in 2017. It was canceled last year due to the pandemic, and bitter political fight with privacy advocates, local groups, and developers.AdvertisementSmart-city projects are still ongoing around the globe. Toyota is creating a self-driving car-friendly community in Tokyo. Sidewalk Labs has just announced that it is advising real estate developers on innovation plans in a few US cities. Meanwhile, smart traffic projects in China, Malaysia and Macau continue to be led by Alibaba.The smart-city revolution in Columbus was perhaps too ambitious at the beginning. Many people expected too much from this project, according to Harvey Miller, a geography professor and director at the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, Ohio State University. He helped plan and evaluate it. He says that $50 million (40 million from the federal and $10 million from Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc., Microsoft cofounder) is not a lot, especially when it is spread over five years. Columbus is not responsible for the exaggerated industry claims about self-driving cars' imminent arrival.Miller says that Columbus was able to test new ideas. They learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t.Columbus says that this is what works. The autonomous shuttle was transformed into a food bank delivery service. It self-drove 500 food boxes per month from summer 2020 to spring 2021 to a local food pantry. This brought food closer to those in need. A safety operator was always present to supervise the tech. 27 Columbus residents with cognitive disabilities tried an app that helped them navigate public transit. 70% of those who used it reported their satisfaction. To get to their medical appointments, seventy pregnant women tried an app-based Uber-like Uber service. They visited pharmacies, doctors, and grocery stores more frequently than a group that did not use the app-based Uber-like service. Although the report states that rides are unlikely to provide safer births or healthier babies, it suggests they could make a significant contribution.Five of the eight challenges projects will be continued, including the citywide operating system that shares data between government entities and private entities, smart kiosks, parking and trip-planning applications, and a citywide operating platform to share data among all levels of government. Smart Columbus will also work to provide broadband access for all residents, a problem officials claim has become even more severe since the pandemic.Davis, Smart Columbus director, admits that it was sometimes difficult to design projects around community needs. They could only deviate slightly from the five-year-old plan. She says that the city will be relying more on empathy, engagement, and this is a really cool technology coming out of the private sectors.This article first appeared on wired.com.Listing image by Smart Columbus
