At the putting peole first- "Smart Cities” conference last November, I had the opportunity to attend the Smart Cities Expo and World Congress in Barcelona. . This year’s theme was “Cities Inspired by People,” that is, people first and technology solutions second. This seems to be a new global trend that is slowly emerging, especially throughout Europe and Asia. In years past, the commercial agenda seemed to frame much of the conversation related to smart cities, however, increasingly, community-focused agendas are framing data and technology solutions around the world. We’re hearing more about topics like “open data governance” and “data literacy” today. Conference speaker Miguel Sangalang (Executive Director, City of Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting) got it right when he said, “It’s about changing the conversation from the technology itself to the people, and how to make the public space a safer and more inviting place to be.”  Smart cities approaches can no longer be pure commercial solutions, based on the needs of large urban markets. Local governments are considering more than just economic development in evaluating the impacts of technology adoption when advancing their innovation agendas. Longer-term perspectives and implications are better understood today, and this growing knowledge is giving agency to new non-commercial actors. In Canada, the people-first approach is evident in municipal-level projects and has been for years. One city leading the way is Guelph. Together with neighbouring Wellington County, they created a first-of-its-kind program in Canada to solve the problem of food insecurity via the creation of a circular food economy. Their winning project in Infrastructure Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge – Our Food Future – sought to uncover what and where community needs were the most immediate, and then utilized the data to validate decision-making. Montreal, Bridgewater, and Nunavut’s winning projects are other excellent examples showcasing resident-driven approaches to community solutions, redefining how we think about smart cities.   Unfortunately, in this country at the provincial and national level, we display very limited focus on smart cities work in both the public and private sectors. Canada's federal government deserves credit for launching the Smart Cities Challenge in 2017, however, the community innovation agenda must be broader than funding opportunities for innovative projects. https://futurecitiescanada.ca/portal/resources/putting-people-first-is-smart-cities/?utm_id=newsletter&utm_campaign=fccnews_jan2023&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=243990099&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9di8-XFemq9w79sejuJP2uY3xBFBo2j5ySN8QhrTGpUSk3YTbTdZuQj6KiKQnVz7d0kVAnTAnW3kky0mut3y11YaG1yw&utm_source=newsletter