How Do You Tie Broadband into Economic Development?
Connected Communities LLC is excited to be a part of a panel at the upcoming Broadband Communities Summit in Houston, TX where we will be discussing broadband + economic development in the context of smaller cities and suburban communities.
The timing of this invitation is uncanny — as I just completed an interview with Gaukhar Lapezo, Smart City Advisory Board Member at the City of Doral, FL. The City of Doral provides a very compelling illustration of how a forward-looking suburban city can leverage effectively broadband and broadband-enabled technologies to advance their community’s economic development goals.
The City of Doral, a rapidly growing suburban city of 83,00 residents located in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, boasts 14,746 businesses per 100,000 residents. By this measure of economic development, Doral scores higher than Los Angeles and several European capitals. How is it that a relatively small community can attract so many businesses? Surely, the City’s proximity to the Port of Miami and Florida’s business-friendly policies helps explain the large number of businesses located in Doral but, according to leaders from the City of Doral, the city’s efforts to use technology to enhance the city’s livability is an important factor. In this post, I will outline the City of Doral’s “smart city” efforts and consider how other communities can leverage broadband to enhance economic development.
City of Doral’s Smart City Efforts
Since 2015, the City of Doral has made a remarkable number of investments in Smart City projects. The City’s robust Doral Digital Smart City page, includes the following answer to why Doral is committed to Smart City projects:
The Smart City leadership has come from the City of Doral elected officials, city executives and senior staff with a Smart City overall plan to make sound technology investments that enables a next generation City — both economically and environmentally since we need to deliver both citizen centric services and economic and social opportunities to our residents, visitors, and business.
Given the scale and diversity of Doral’s Smart City efforts, it was great to speak with Gaukhar, one of a five-person Advisory Board advising the city council on existing and proposed Smart City programs and projects and assisting the city council and city staff on the evaluation and selection of an expansive array of new and rapidly changing technology solutions.
According to Gaukhar, Doral’s efforts to make government services responsive has been well-received by residents and business-owners alike. She pointed to the 311 button on the Doral Digital Smart City website and the quick links that residents can use to report potholes and traffic signal irregularities and track progress related to previously submitted service requests.
Gaukhar also pointed to the self-service pages on the City of Doral website where residents and business owners can apply for permits, schedule an inspection, search public records. She also noted the City of Doral’s regular release of budget and capital project information and its monthly release of crime and traffic data as an important element of City’s commitment to transparency. Here again, she noted the City’s commitment to transparency — notably, transparency has its own webpage — is recognized by business-owners in Doral.
It is important to recognize that the Doral cannot make traffic and crime data readily available without establishing and supporting the sensors, equipment, and connectivity infrastructure required to collect the information. These investments are not insignificant. Doral makes the investments to digitally transform citizen services using connectivity, the Internet of Things (IoT), data and human resources.
Apps and Connected Assets in Doral
Doral efforts do not end with the transformation of citizen services. The city has deployed an impressive array of mobile applications, including, a ”trolley tracker” app offering real-time transit information, and connected assets. According to Gaukhar, broadband connected assets are visible symbols of “smart” throughout the community.
· Smart Kiosks, deployed in key location across the community promote local business and make available safety services.
· Smart Benches, featuring wi-fi and device charging.
· EV Charging Stations.
· Solar Trees, 24-foot-tall solar powered structures designed bring attention to the value and usefulness of solar energy.
Doral Digital Smart City Illustrating the Art of the Possible
Doral’s wide-ranging Smart City projects and initiatives all rely on the availability of robust broadband networks. The residents use broadband to engage with the citizen service portals, the city and its partners use broadband to connect the kiosks, smart benches and other connected assets. The city also uses broadband to collect data that it uses for planning and public safety initiatives.
It is, of course, difficult to prove a direct tie between Doral’s investment in Smart City projects and the impressive economic development and population growth Doral has experienced over the last decade. Nonetheless, Doral city leaders believe broadband-enabled technologies that enable and support goals including transformed government services and increased transparency contribute to the city’s ability to attract and retain businesses. As a relatively wealthy suburb, Doral is not a simple cut-n-paste road map for all communities seeking to leverage broadband networks to advance economic development. Instead, the City of Doral provides an instructive menu of smart city projects and initiatives and illustrates the art of the possible for smaller cities and suburbs.
About this Medium Site
On this Medium site, I explore an array of topics related to the transformative power of smart and connected communities. A central question for this observer of the so-called smart community movement: how will municipalities, real estate developers, universities and other leading organizations develop, deploy and support smart and connected community projects at scale?
I welcome feedback and comments from readers.
