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Stories
The best information to help you turn bold ideas into innovative solutions
Policy & Governance
Article
Digital privacy law is being updated for the first time in decades, and it’s imperative we get it right
Canadians need to ensure Bill C-11 is framed to give proper digital privacy protection.
Article
How can we be assured smart city tech will do more good than harm? It all comes down to governance
“Governance” is a somewhat nebulous term that orbits around the politics of smart city technology, frequently cited but rarely defined with any degree of precision. How can ordinary people — and the public institutions that act on their behalf — be assured that these emergent technologies deployed in and around cities will do more good than harm?
Article
Innovation in times of pandemic: initiatives of the Community and Social Health Cluster in Montréal-Nord
How can we keep our focus on social innovation projects when the proximity necessary for their successful implementation is contrary to the sanitary measures in force?
Article
Launch of LICER, a laboratory designed to overhaul municipal regulations
Initiated as part of the Smart Cities Challenge, the Laboratoire d’innovation civique pour l’expérimentation réglementaire (LICER) – Civic and Regulatory Innovation Laboratory – is a collective project led by the MIS, with the aim of removing regulatory blockages that can hinder innovation at the municipal and local levels.
Article
Vancouver uses virtual open houses to ensure citizens are engaged on re-zoning proposals
The City of Vancouver has introduced virtual open houses to allow residents to have their say on proposed re-zoning applications and how a property or area can be used or developed.
Insight
What Does The Next Generation Of Smart Cities Look Like?
How do we build a world ready for the future, today? Smart cities are an emerging solution to this question.
Article
Civic-Indigenous 7.0
On October 9, 2019, 16 people from diverse expertises and worldviews gathered in Toronto to explore socio-ecological pathways that weave civic and Indigenous imaginations to better support current and future generations.
Opinion
How to prioritize people over tech when planning smart cities
Deploying innovations is difficult, but community involvement can be key to efficiency.
Opinion
Why open standards are fundamental to deploying data for smart city services
In order to improve the citizens’ quality of life smart cities will have to be built in an open and standardised way.
Opinion
Safe. Smart. Connected
Policing needs to get back to basics in order to enable ‘smart cities’ to be safe cities.
Opinion
Can Indigenous culture ever coexist with urban planning?
More and more acknowledgement of Indigenous “ownership” of lands is done. But does it really grant them with some determination over the lands upon which cities are built?
Opinion
Partnerships are essential for smart cities to make a difference for citizens
Creating new citizen experience thanks to new services is at the core of smart cities. To make it work, partnerships are a key component for success, not only on a financial point of view but also on a social one.
Opinion
How municipalities can bring their smart city visions to life
Economic development and sustainability are at the core of most of the smart cities' strategies. If they want their cities to actually help improve the lives of their residents, they have to explore different funding options and intelligent infrastructure upgrades.
Opinion
Is Inclusive smarter than Smart?
In response to the threat of growing inequities, global organizations should rethink who the cities should be made for and how it should be done in order to solve this complex challenge and make the smart cities of the future really inclusive.
Opinion
Beware of these unintended harms of Smart Cities
If one is not cautiously implementing new smart city technologies or methods without consideration of unintended consequences can diminish their social impact. Leaders must acknowledge the possible practical implications of smart cities.
Opinion
Improve Government With Algorithms - Without Politicians
Algorithmic governance is a radical, digital reimagining of government centred on computerized processes. Algorithmic government may sound far-fetched, but it is already happening in smaller, more localized ways.
Opinion
Innovation Nation: How smart cities may be too smart for their own good
In the next few decades, powerful technological forces will transform the global economy. Large multinational companies have jumped out to a headstart in the race to succeed, and Canada runs the risk of falling behind.
Opinion
Winning the smart cities challenge with equity, inclusion
The winner of the Smart Cities Challenge will likely be the city that best aligns technology, efficiency and equity, while not losing sight of residents.
Opinion
Without a critical approach to big data it risks becoming an increasingly sophisticated paradigm for coercion
The ability to quantify has become so embedded in the discourse of “innovative knowledge production” as to constitute an epistemic virtue.
Article
City of Markham continues its digital strategy with Your Voice Markham
The online engagement platform is a new avenue for the city to unveil project plans as well as for citizens to voice their opinions and ideas for projects, submitting opinions and ideas to be viewed publicly.
Opinion
How will Ottawa build a successful digital government?
If the government of Canada is going to reimagine its service relationship with citizens, it has to make key changes to how the public service works.
