Smart Cities for All: A Vision for an Inclusive, Accessible, Urban Future

Smart cities aspire to use technology to put people first. In an era of connected technologies, our cities have the potential to be built to respond to our needs and smooth the path as we lead our lives. This smoother path will help all citizens, especially those across a range of ages and physical or cognitive abilities. Imagine a city where a person in a wheelchair or pushing a stroller can chart a route to the local park using curb cuts and avoiding barriers. There she will wirelessly log onto the park itself and receive notifications of upcoming park events, and perhaps even participate in an interactive lesson on the trees and flowers currently in bloom. Imagine a city where refrigerators will provide alerts of any diminishing essentials so that caregivers can adjust their grocery list before they visit their parents’ home. Smart cities offer a new vision for daily living where the world around us is conducive to making life easier, and lets us focus on the personal connections that make city life vibrant and full of purpose.

The global smart city market is expected to grow to $1.565 trillion by 2020 and this growing economic opportunity inherently involves the opportunity to engage, inform and improve the lives of citizens. For the 25% of people in U.S. cities who are aging or living with disabilities, these technologies must be built to deliver on better access and fuller participation in the life of their cities. New interconnected solutions will enable improved mobility solutions, increased opportunity for aging-in-place, and other technologies that will support independent living and transform cities into more enabling environments. The ecosystem of impacts goes beyond any one community: this new connectivity will support millions of families and caretakers, and provide a platform for citizen entrepreneurs to craft unique civil tech solutions.