Fierce Electronics: North Texas and the way Forward to a Smart Region

September 13, 2023 - Matt Hamblen

The idea of creating a smart city was never going to be easy.

As many tech startups and even some large corporations in the private sector have realized, getting a city to adopt technology to boost digital inclusion or reduce traffic deaths or lower street crime or improve urban air quality is just as much about getting elected officials and the body politic to align on what matters.

There’s a yawning space between the data-quantified results of vendor X’s hardware and software “solution” (a regrettable term, usually, because these so-called solutions are often just concepts or tech trials when the city first hears of them) and what one neighborhood wants in a city of many neighborhoods. There are departments within cities that don’t agree (public works versus police versus economic development), much less the battles between mayoral staff and elected councils. Battles between cities and counties and states! Battles between Chambers of Commerce and preservationists. The list never ends.

How to sort through this morass?  One party to the process recently told me that many cities may want to become a smart city or to deploy groundbreaking tech, but simply don’t know how to do it. Maybe not even how to start.

Even before contract bidding for a smart city project is started, cities may need to have a sit-down. Many sit-downs.  And it helps to have guidance with all the big players while remaining mostly in listening mode.  This kind of work has been going on for decades, even centuries, by learned planners in some cities (ancient Athens comes to mind), but the mandate to use the latest tech is intensifying as processors, sensors, systems and networks have grown much more sophisticated and complex, even in the last 15 years, in parallel with the creation of the rank of Chief Innovation Officer in various cities and their various think tanks.

NTXIA in the mix

One non-profit in North Texas seems to have a handle on where to start.  The North Texas Innovation Alliance (NTXIA) is a consortium of 40 municipalities, agencies, corporations and academic institutions across North Texas. The group bills itself as using leadership and insight to bridge previously siloed groups across government and private industry.  “NTXIA brings together groups that may not have thought or known how to work together to drive innovation across the region,” a spokesperson said. “NTXIA acts as the connector.”

Its mission: “to create the most connected, smart and resilient region in the country.”  Appropriately, on its website, NTXIA features an old-fashioned postcard with a rodeo cowboy riding the back of a four-rotor drone.

Members of the Alliance include big players: the City of Dallas, the Fort Worth Chamber, the North Central Texas Council of Governments and Texas Research Alliance, amid a number of smaller players. Cisco, Accenture and Verizon are also partners.

NTXIA focuses on six key areas that seem very encompassing: digital infrastructure (including broadband), mobility and transportation, economic development & entrepreneurship, built environment, education & workforce and sustainability and resilience. In just one example, Dallas has implemented smart streetlight projects in 10 priority neighborhoods for Wi-Fi access. In another example, Dallas Fort Worth Airport is focused on a private 5G network.

In transportation, NTXIA features the city of Arlington’s work with partners on an autonomous on-demand shuttle deployment, which relies on a grant from the Federal Transit Administration.  There are many other examples.  But what is NTXIA’s primary role?

Broadband a core challenge

“Broadband and digital infrastructure is a core challenge that cross cuts everything from city operations to human impact if we’re not doing that right,” Jennifer Sanders, executive director and co-founder of NTXIA told me.

“The fact is that cities are in dramatically different states of readiness so it’s a matter of how to make sure we’re not jumping too far ahead.  Upgrading an ERP system to get a centralized data platform—that concept is one of the biggest barriers.”

NTXIA was involved in a drone and robotics demonstration day in June open to various agencies in Dallas County.  Part of the discovery was “we don’t know enough yet,” Sanders said. Ideally, one investment would be used to address multiple needs across public safety, emergency response, warehouse management, building inspections and illegal dumping.

NXTIA also has supported Freight North Texas and the North Central Texas Council of Governments in finding ways to improve vital freight traffic movements in Dallas-Fort Worth. The primary result has been a signal optimization program to improve efficiency, as well as safety and air quality. A five-year program started in 2022 will identify traffic signals across as many as 10 North Texas cities that would benefit from freight flow optimization. An engineering and design firm based in Virginia, Kimley-Horn, is a key player in the project, using connected vehicle technology linked to cloud software, according to the Freightpriority website.

North Texas broadly and Dallas particularly is also facing a massive question of how to handle pedestrian traffic and related concerns when the 2026 World Cup comes to 16 cities, including Dallas.  “Cities are overwhelmed getting ready,” she said. “They wonder whatever investments for the global stage will have an impact beyond the event and what does that look like.”  Concerns include crowd handling and drop off, but also the environmental heat island that will be created, the need for shade structures. Even the potential for violence.

Sanders is well aware of how mushrooming  technology innovations and growth demands on North Texas cities operate within a continuum of long-term planning, even zoning. “We have a 2050 plan, but the challenge is to pace out the execution of it,” she said. “Urban planners know what they want, but there’s pushback and is there political will? We know we need better care for pedestrians but a lot comes down to political will and whether it’s OK to take a car lane for a bike lane. Cities need help with public engagement because the public doesn’t always show up for hearings and then gets cranky later.”

And, of course, beyond public engagement, cities are constantly facing the need for funds, especially for futuristic projects. “Government funds for broadband are incredible now, and that’s not even close to what’s needed for everybody to be connected,” she said.