How City Agencies Innovate
The “Smart(er) NYCitywide Research Group” was created by André Corrêa d’Almeida with scholars from 10 universities and 21 research institutes, with the goal of developing case studies aiming at examining how innovation from within the New York City government is making urban systems smarter and shaping people’s lives. The focus is on how city agencies have been adapting to and adopting new data and technology innovations to make their management systems more inclusive and responsive to decision making and citizens, their success, failures and replicability. These case studies will be published by Columbia University Press in the spring of 2018. In addition to this single-city project with New York City (U.S.) the initiative also includes a cities-cluster project with Lisbon and Cascais (Portugal). This “Smart(er) City” initiative is also being expanded to the UK, China and Latin America.
General Objective and Research Questions
- Describe the process of how specific smart city innovations were initiated, developed and implemented within NYC agencies;
- Reveal key roles, interactions, decisions, challenges and best practices that contributed to successful innovation and solutions;
- Uncover behavioral aspects capable of hindering creativity and innovation across city agencies;
- Identify institutional elements, incentives and contextual variables that fostered innovation;
- Highlight organizational attributes that supported innovation;
- Discuss how NYC’s programs compare to a sample of similar programs around the world;
- Describe outcomes and discuss the assessment and impact of the initiatives;
- Recommend next-generation enhancements to these programs; discuss how NYC’s innovation policies can facilitate growth of these programs; discuss the “way forward” for optimizing benefits for NYC;
- Showcase NYC as an incubator and test-bed for innovative smart city initiatives and help reimagine bottom-up possibilities that emerge from within public administration.
NYC Case Studies
Partnering Universities and Research Institutions
- Columbia University: André Corrêa d’Almeida, Kendal Stewart, Christopher Lewis (’16), Joseph Ross (’16), and Tami Lin (’16) (School of International and Public Affairs)
- Columbia University: Nilda Mesa (The Earth Institute)
- Cornell University: Arnaud Sahuguet (Cornell Tech)
- New York University: Stefaan G. Verhulst and Andrew Young (GovLab)
- New York University: Constantine E. Kontokosta (Center for Urban Science + Progress)
- New York University: Gerard Soffian (Tandon School of Engineering)
- Pratt Institute: Mary McBride and Maren Maier (Design Management/Arts and Cultural Management Programs)
- City University of New York: Bernice Rosenzweig and Balazs Fekete (Advanced Science Research Center)
- United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network: Jessica Espey, Sandra Ruckstuhl, Mihir Prakash (NYC Office)
- The New School: Ana Baptista and Lauren Fletcher (Tishman Environment & Design Center and Environmental Policy & Sustainability Management Program)
- The Cooper Union: Lawrence Lennon (Department of Civil Engineering)
- Harvard University: Stephen Goldsmith and Craig Campbell (Kennedy School)
- Mount Sinai: Megan Horton (Icahn School of Medicine)
Special Contributors and Advisory Committee
- Glenn Denning: Founding Director of the School of International and Public Affairs’ Master of Public Administration in Development Practice, Columbia University
- Jerry Hultin: Founding Partner at Global Futures Group and former President of the Polytechnic Institute of New York University
- Jonathan Woetzel: Director of McKinsey Global Institute, Senior Partner of McKinsey & Company and Co-Chair of the Urban China Initiative
