A smart city framework has been unanimously approved by the San Jose city council, aimed at making technology in the city serve its residents and provide innovative solutions to problems.
The framework, named the Smart City Vision, wants to make San Jose the most innovative city in the country by 2020. To do this, the city council will employ a variety of state and private technologies to enhance citizen’s lives.
See Also: Cisco’s Berlin “Smart City” Effort Aims To Help Digitize Citizens Lives
While the framework doesn’t give detailed explanations, it does say that it will make the city safer by using technology to lower traffic accidents, use sensors to reduce greenhouse gases, and use technology to improve the management of water and energy supplies.
Ensuring that all residents have access to digital services is another important point of the framework, and that all digital services protect a residents privacy and are easy to use.
The framework is sandwiched in the middle of the mayor’s budget plans for 2016, which include setting aside $5.7 million in case of a deficit.
San Jose plan details to come
The finer details will be hashed out next month and the city council intends to begin implementation in September, according to Shireen Santosham, the mayor’s chief innovation officer.
“Few cities in the world have actually accomplished this sort of unified digital strategy for the city,” Santosham said.
The city council will employ private services, universities, and other organizations to make sure these projects are funded and maintained. A Smart City and Continuous Improvement Council has also been approved to give feedback to the city council on its plans.
San Jose is one of the major cities that make up “Silicon Valley”, accommodating some of the largest technology companies like Adobe Systems, Cisco, eBay, and PayPal. We suspect companies based in the region will approve of this framework, though residents might be more concerned with the growing homeless crisis.
