22 communities selected to participate in the second cohort of T4America’s Smart Cities Collaborative

Transportation for America is pleased to announce the 22 communities selected to participate in the second cohort of the organization’s Smart Cities Collaborative program that will continue exploring how emerging technologies and new mobility options can improve urban transportation. Over the coming year, the Collaborative will once again bring together cities to cooperatively tackle the challenges related to implementing smart mobility policies and projects.

“Whether electric scooters, new dockless bikesharing systems, curbside delivery, or ridesourcing services, the pace of innovation is accelerating and these technologies and new mobility options are already on our streets and having an impact in our communities.” said Russ Brooks, Transportation for America’s Director of Smart Cities. “The cities participating in the Collaborative understand that they can’t sit by and let the private sector determine their fate. These cities are eager to engage proactively to ensure that the benefits of these technologies accrue to all parts of society and don’t create a new generation of transportation haves and have-nots.”

This year’s cohort will focus on how emerging technologies and new mobility options are reshaping the right-of-way and curb space, and changing the way we move through our communities.

“Cities have to move people and goods as efficiently as possible to thrive. Streets and curb space are some of the most important assets cities control, yet they’re often undermanaged. There is increasing demand for the right-of-way, and access to the curb is becoming the most desired piece of real estate in a city. Our goal is to empower cities to more effectively manage these assets at their disposal to solve their transportation challenges and become more efficient, safe, and equitable cities,” said Brooks.

Over 50 cities applied to be a part of the Collaborative this year, with 12 of the 16 cities in the first cohort of the Collaborative returning to continue in this second year. The inaugural cohort tackled challenges related to automated vehicles, shared mobility and how to use data to manage complex transportation networks.

“Seattle is excited to be one of the 12 cities returning to the Collaborative for a second year. The Collaborative is a terrific venue for cities to work cooperatively, share our thinking, and develop solutions to our common challenges. During the first year, the Collaborative helped us learn lessons from other cities as we advance and iterate our own new mobility strategies. We have directly employed what we learned from the Collaborative as we anticipate transportation disruption and continue to build a safe, people-centered, equitable, and carbon-free transportation system in Seattle,” said Evan Corey Costagliola, New Mobility Program Manager at the Seattle Department of Transportation.

The Collaborative will hold its first meeting in Denver on April 16-17. Throughout the year the communities will participate in a variety of interactive workshops, both with each other and with industry-leading transportation experts. From there, the participants will receive direct technical assistance and share the results of their projects with the rest of the Collaborative to drive best practices across the country.

The 22 communities participating in the Collaborative in 2018 are:

What have participants said about the Smart Cities Collaborative?

In 2016, supported by Sidewalk Labs, T4 America created the inaugural Smart Cities Collaborative cohort to help 16 cities proactively harness emerging technologies to improve mobility & quality of life. Here’s what some of the participants from that inaugural class of 16 cities had to say during that first year.