From left: Katie O'Conner, PIN; Mayor LaRhonda Patrick, Warner Robins; Kara Lively, Atlanta Beltline; Mayor Michael Caldwell, Woodstock; and Brandon Branham, Peachtree Corners Assistant City Manager.
With cutting-edge technology and community-driven solutions, Georgia's cities are redefining what it means to be smart.
Four cities discussed how their they use technology to reduce crime, improve traffic flow, enhance service delivery and drive economic growth during an Aug. 7 breakfast hosted by GMA, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation (PIN), which partners with local communities to bring innovative projects to fruition.
Innovation through Infrastructure
“The city saw an opportunity to drive economic development and job growth through the use of public infrastructure,” explained Brandon Branham, Peachtree Corners Assistant City Manager and the executive director for the city’s Curiosity Lab. The city fosters innovation through its Curiosity Lab, built along a 3-mile stretch of road with supporting infrastructure to allow approved companies to access traffic signals, fiber, and 5G technology through a partnership with T-Mobile. This helped companies—143 and counting—bring their emerging projects to the real world at no charge to the companies including a robot delivery service that can deliver food or packages via an underground pipe, amplifying the potential of removing vehicles from roadways.
“We say, ‘Yes, we will support companies, even if the idea is crazy,’” Branham said. Peachtree Corners has seen a return of their public investment to the tune of $1.2 billion in job growth.
Enabling Future Growth
The city of Woodstock was honored earlier this year at the 2024 Taipei Smart City Summit and Expo with the Intelligent Community Forum’s Smart21 Community Award for its smart city master plan.
“The goal with this project for us as a city is not to center in on individual projects but to enable our future,” Woodstock Mayor Michael Caldwell said, adding "that the questions of ‘what is this for, why are we doing this, what is the end game, and why?’ drive the city’s technology implementation and help “take the handcuffs off those who are making the decision at the ground level. “
Woodstock, which the mayor described as a “spectacularly cool smart city” has dozens of smart projects, including a parking deck underway with equipment that can alert police to the sounds of gunshots or windows breaking “before anyone makes a phone call.”
Proactive Smart Policing
Warner Robins, another Smart21 Community Award winner, has built a digital twin city, a virtual representation of the city fueled by real-time data and AI, that allows the Warner Robins police officials to analyze data captured on 20 stationary and mobile cameras around the city.
“The important part is the proactive smart policing,” Warner Robins Mayor LaRhonda Patrick said, “which allows us to see the crime trends in the community, including who is committing crime and at what time.” The data allows Warner Robins to make informed decisions when it comes to policy and future planning.
Bridging the Digital Divide
Atlanta is using its Beltline, a 22-mile loop of trails, parks, and future transit built on an abandoned railway, to help bridge the digital divide and address economic mobility.
“We are not putting technology on the Beltline for technology’s sake,” said Atlanta Beltline, Inc. Economic Development Director Kara Lively. “Every single technology we place on the Beltline has to have revenue potential and real impact potential for our communities.”
The Beltline plans to roll out a portfolio of technologies in time for when the World Cup soccer matches arrive in Atlanta in 2026. However, Beltline users can interact with pilot technologies in the coming weeks, including a Nourish+Bloom autonomous grocery store.
Emphasizing Transparency and Community Involvement
While technology and ubiquitous cameras can be intimidating for constituents, all the city officials emphasized transparency with residents on what data is collected and how it is used.
“The fear comes from the unknown,” Branham said. “When you start to show the value and policy around it, the fears die down.”
The great thing about smart technology, Caldwell said, is that cities can tailor their projects to community preferences. “We ensure access to data is limited and that the data is not retained long-term,” he said.
Patrick said she reminds her constituents that their smart project is a criminal monitoring system, and the community drives the technology. “If there is no crime, there is no problem,” she said. “We only look at the camera data when the community tells us to look.”
For cities looking to become smart, Lively encouraged cities to ask community members what problems they want solved. “It will only happen if the community is excited about it and they see the tangible benefits and results,” she said.
Being a smart city is easier than one might think, Caldwell added. “The odds are good that cities who want to be cool, tech-driven cities already are more so than they think they are,” he said. However, he added, cities should ask themselves, “Are you using the data you are collecting, and is everything built around a plan?”
Added Patrick, “Find out what an issue is in your community that you are having a hard time getting results, research the technologies out there to help you remove that gap and go for it, that is what we did.”
Branham said being a smart city is not always about projects but using technology to enhance resources and improve processes. “If you can increase your permitting processing time by 20 percent, that is smart,” he said.