Planning Smart Cities with Enterprise Software

The American Planning Association defines a smart city as one that equitably integrates technology, community, and nature to enhance its livability, sustainability, and resilience while fostering innovation, collaboration, and participatory co-creation. To meet this standard, planners must have the right tools and be able to mindfully deploy them. To this end, choosing the right enterprise community development software is essential when it comes to planning a smart city.

Smart City Planning Requires Integration

There are three smart city "ecosystems" to be considered when planning a smart city:

• Government technology is the use of technology to increase the efficiency of government operations and services.
• Civic technology, which makes government more accessible to community members.
• Urban technology, which is the use of technology to improve urban infrastructure.

The right enterprise community development software will encompass all three smart city ecosystems. This is necessary since planning a smart city requires a holistic approach that unifies these branches and allows all stakeholders to interact in the planning and growth of their city.

Enterprise Software Enhances Transparency and Connection

On the Government technology front, the right enterprise software will allow planners to connect the city directly to residents while filling gaps in systems and services. For example, a citizen-facing portal can increase transparency and efficiency with streamlined workflows and online self-service while providing real-time actionable intelligence on project status.

A mobile app can bring together the Civic and Urban technology branches by enabling community members to connect directly with public works by reporting potholes, vandalism, or other issues impacting the community while circumventing long lines at the office or phone queues. This enables agencies to increase their response time when addressing concerns. Other enterprise software features, such as a digital resident assistant to guide users through the application process, can further improve community accessibility to the planning process.

The right enterprise software will also address the concerns inherent in a data-driven approach: data integrity, data management, and security. A robust enterprise solution will give planners access to accurate data in a centralized format for a single source of truth. Planners can use the data collected by enterprise software solutions to inform planning and policy decisions. A cloud-optimized enterprise solution provides further benefits to data security and management through increased stability and frequent backups and updates.

Software Unifies Smart Cities

Overall, for a smart city, the right enterprise software will not only unify all the above ecosystems and factors, but it will also lay the groundwork for further development of both the city or county and its community. This foundation is built upon not only the data gathered and processed by the enterprise software but also its ability to replace outdated processes while integrating with other software across departments. By breaking down departmental silos, the right enterprise community development software will facilitate communication between departments for an efficient approach to crafting a smart city.

ABOUT THE CONTENT AUTHOR AND SPONSOR: Tyler Technologies

Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) provides integrated software and technology services to the public sector. Tyler's end-to-end solutions empower local, state, and federal government entities to operate more efficiently and connect more transparently with their constituents and with each other. By connecting data and processes across disparate systems, Tyler's solutions are transforming how clients gain actionable insights that solve problems in their communities. Tyler Technologies' client base includes more than 15,000 local government offices in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and other international locations.