A few months ago I read an essay by Ryu Murakami that resonated with me and my particular view of the world. It was called The Withering of Desire (there does not seem to be a digital version available but the edition of The Passenger dedicated to Japan) and talks about how, as a society,Continue reading "Seoul: Tale of A Smart City Playlist"

After living most of my adult life in high density cities like New York, Barcelona and Madrid, I moved to DC about 18 months ago. Before landing in the US capital, I brazenly and arrogantly advocated for a carless society, where we all shop and dine locally and use buses and metros to get to places outsideContinue reading "Car-free in DC (almost)"

A few years ago I was at the eMerge Americas event in Miami and I had an epiphany moment. I had been interested in the HealthTech sector for a while but I was listening to a panel on HealthTech and I realized that technology was going to solve our healthcare woes before the government wouldContinue reading "HealthTech for A Smart World"

I'm angry. It's not the passionate, fly-off-the-handle type of anger but a frustrating, slow-burn type of anger. We are all talking about diversity and inclusion these days and nowhere is it more important than the world of urban development. The smart city sector is about making cities more inclusive and livable for all residents andContinue reading "The Importance of Diversity"

I'm currently taking a certificate course with MIT Media Lab on Smart City development and I am enjoying it thoroughly. In one of the first lessons we talked about the process for developing smart cities, from collecting and studying the data to creating new technology and solutions to modeling and simulating the impact of newContinue reading "Consensus and Smart City Building"

We spend hours talking about digital services and digital transformation. It is the core of our smart city policies. Everything is connected and for maximum ease-of-use, we need connectivity and standardization across platforms. The smart city community talks at length about digital inclusion, especially with the aging population. We go to great lengths to build toolsContinue reading "Smart Cities and the Unbanked"

This week we heard that the UN is calling a code red for humanity, that drastic measures need to be taken now to mitigate climate catastrophe. As much as I might try to think that always taking public transportation might make a difference, the truth is that at this point we need the type of drasticContinue reading "Code Red: We Need Smarter Cities"

I have been an urbanite my whole life, even when I lived in the country. I think I have mentioned before how much I appreciate wide sidewalks and robust public transport systems. So when I go back to the country like I did last week, it really makes me think about sustainable transport and smart cityContinue reading "If you build it, will they come?"