Giving Compass' Take:

• In an article for Smart Cities Dive, Lauren Gore encourages cooperation between public and private entities for smart city solutions to local government infrastructure.

• What is the importance of collaboration between the public and private sector in forming efficient infrastructure solutions? How might the recent move to remote work and school impact the priorities in certain communities?

• Learn more about the impact of data collection on smart cities.

As we look toward 2050, our local governments' infrastructure needs are growing in complexity and cost.

Just as it took the automobile 50 years to dislodge the horse as an everyday mode of American transportation, smart city infrastructure over the last 30 years has moved from a collection of theoretical ideas about frontier technologies, to community-focused smart city solutions that better meet the needs of local stakeholders.

A focus on smart city technologies makes it easier to identify relevant and available community solutions. State and local governments have an immediate need for more aggressive regional smart city infrastructure efforts, and independently established smart city programs guided by specialized management teams can meet this need.

These innovative program management teams prioritize community smart city infrastructure interests, creating a public-private stakeholder ecosystem necessary to design infrastructure solutions and structure fiscal resources that allow for rapid expansion of discrete smart city infrastructure projects.

Smart city programs require an understanding of community needs and adaptable solutions to meet these needs. They also require a shared financial sponsorship with appropriate private capital partners to meet requirements. These parameters take time and resources to identify, foster and maintain. That is a challenge for state and local governments, which often struggle to move fast and adapt to rapidly changing environments.

The smart city ecosystem is complex, expensive and risky. Smart city infrastructure projects can overcome these innovation barriers by rethinking the program management approach.

Local government leaders have the ability and authority to establish special purpose, smart city-focused organizations today. With the innumerable benefits of smart city infrastructure and the growing state and local government funding gaps, these powers should be exercised promptly, as the resiliency of our local communities hangs in the balance.

Read the full article about smart city solutions by Lauren Gore at Smart Cities Dive.