SCP Pozible: Recent Episodes
Zoe Eather
Zoe tells us about her visit to Dublin, and how the efforts she had to go through to pay for a taxi with a credit card led her to thinking more about data privacy issues. She tells us about the Smart Dublin initiative, and the three ingredients needed for Smart Mobility solutions to be implemented in communities. Zoe also shares a bit about the Smart Business Innovation Research Agency, from Enterprise Ireland, and some of the projects they’re doing. Finally, Zoe discusses road user charging or transport network charging. She tells us what it is, why we need it and asking some important questions for the future in this space.
“We don’t need to compare or compete on who is the Smartest. That’s not overly useful. What is important is to have a vision, [to ask] what will the future look like?”
Zoe tells us about her visit to London, including a bit about the Smart Transportation and Mobility Conference, and Smart to Future Cities Conference that she attended. Zoe explains a bit about the different Catapults the UK government has set up, what they are and how they work, as well as her thoughts on the theme of growth. She covers growth in our Smart Community thinking; growth and expansion in the market of Smart Mobility; and the growing pains that come from population growth, legacy systems and outgrowing the capacity of the network.
“[We’re facing] unprecedented change, both physical and digital. Before we could learn from the past but how do we do that when nothing like this has ever happened before?” ~ Zoe Eather
Zoe tells us about her trip to Denver and why sharing is so important in our Smart Communities: sharing of services, sharing of stories and sharing of success and failure. She also shares a story about an experience she had that got her thinking about data, and what kinds of data we share, and how this impacts people in vulnerable positions.
“We need to start talking about the return on investment in Smart Cities and Communities projects. That is what people really want to hear. What are the real numbers? How are we measuring both the quantitative and qualitative data? That comes from both sharing the numbers and sharing the stories, and they come together.” ~ Zoe Eather
Zoe tells us about her trip to Orlando and how she realised that we need to focus on imagining a better future in order to create it. She covers the importance of safety in a Smart Community, and how Orlando has faced this in regards to transport and tourism. Zoe also asks how we can make transport more enjoyable and our places more connected.
“Imagine if we could take some of this thinking of the theme parks, which are part of Orlando, and inject it into the other part of Orlando which is Mobility and our Smart Communities. What thinks could we use from theme park thinking into everyday transport planning and planning for our Smart Communities?” ~ Zoe Eather
As we know Smart Communities are not a thing, they are a way of thinking, and at the heart lies community trust and social license. Zoe shares the 3 things needed to build social license, as well as a bit about some of the pros and cons from the Waterfront Toronto project. Zoe finishes this episode covering the importance of data literacy and how we need more education in this space, plus the need to redefine some concepts like transparency and privacy.
“The community needs to be able to trust that the company or the project has their best intentions at heart.” ~ Zoe Eather
Integration is a theme that Zoe has been exploring a lot on the Smart Community Podcast, and this Churchill Fellowship trip is giving her lots of opportunities to think more deeply about it. Zoe shares her thoughts on the integration of thoughts, of people and places, and of technology and the urban environment. Zoe also discusses her experiences and insights from visiting Mexico City.
“Mobility is like life. You don’t solve it, you do life. You live life and continually do things to try and make life better. It changes every day and your needs change over time… Mobility is the same.” ~ Zoe Eather
Complexity is a theme that keeps presenting itself in the Smart Mobility and Smart Community realm. Technology is complex, transport is complex and most importantly human beings are complex. Zoe shares her thoughts and questions about complexity and change, and what it will take to some some of the wicked mobility problems in the world today, like congestion and accessibility. Zoe also discusses her experiences visiting San Mateo, San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
"Even with all this technology, the people still want to visit the PLACE where it happens...The place itself isn't super important [though], it's those ingredients that matter. Can we recreate this (Silicon Valley) in other places? Potentially. Do we want to? No, I don't think so." ~ Zoe Eather
Welcome to this exclusive podcast series following Zoe Eather's Churchill Fellowship journey around the world investigating the integration of Smart Mobility.