Building Sustainable Communities: Global leaders converge for first day of Smart City Expo Miami

September 18, 2023 - Featuring talks from: Dr. Beatriz Gonzalez | Biayna Bogosian | Bonnie Schneider | Caroline Lewis | Martina Frattura | Jonathan Reichental | Jake Moskowitz | Sandra Baer | Ebru Ozer | Sara Pezesk | Thomas Spiegelhalter | Marilys Nepomechie | Inna Braverman | Carl Welty | Naman Sharma

In a time marked by climate change and rapid urbanization, the need for innovative and sustainable solutions in communities has never been more urgent. But how can cities pave the way for a more sustainable and resilient future?

From keynote speakers to panel discussions, this year’s group of speakers at Smart City Expo Miami highlighted the power of collaboration and innovation in making our cities greener, more resilient, and more equitable.

Bernardo Scheinkman, CEO of Smart Cities Americas, shared in his opening remarks, “Our planet is asking for change, and that’s why we’re bringing the top leaders in innovation together to find a path to a sustainable future.”

What makes a smart city?

As Dr. Beatriz Gonzalez, President of the Wolfson Campus at Miami Dade College, asserted in her keynote speech on innovation and education that “smart cities don’t happen by accident.”

But how can cities build toward a more sustainable and resilient future? The key component seems to be collaboration between city governments, local businesses, and citizens.

Jonathan Reichental, CEO of Human Future, emphasized the value of data for smart city success. In his keynote speech, “Data Is The Secret Ingredient For Smart City Success,” Reichental talked about his own experiences building solutions with data and asserted that it’s important for cities to make their data open to the public to foster collaboration between city governments and their communications.

“We change our communities by making evidence-based decisions. That’s how we build smarter communities: when people have the insight to be able to make good choices.” Jonathan Reichental

Caroline Lewis also emphasized the importance of empowering individuals to implement positive change.

Sandra Bauer, CEO of Personal Cities, also emphasized that smart cities must prioritize collaboration and partnerships to become more progressive and resilient. For her, a smart city is characterized by inclusivity, technology-enabled efficiency, economic vibrancy, and a strong community identity. Bonnie Schneider discussed the importance of climate-smart cities, emphasizing the ways in which climate change and more extreme weather phenomena directly affect peoples’ mental and physical well-being.

Similarly, Narman Sharman, Bloomberg Harvard Summer Fellow, asserted that smart cities thrive by “uniting local communities, non-governmental organizations, academia, urban experts and local businesses to test and scale their innovative ideas for public spaces.”

Smart city innovation in action: nature-based designs in Miami

Sara Pezeshk, Bianya Bogosian and Thomas Spiegelhalter participated in a panel moderated by Marilys Nepomechie on designing for urban resilience.

"To build a more sustainable and resilient community, citizens must be informed and educated on how the effects of climate change are harming their city." Biayna Bogosian

Bianya Bogosian, Professor of Architectural Technology at the FIU School of Architecture, explored how immersive, interactive, and participatory urban environmental information representation tools and techniques foster environmental literacy within communities. Her groundbreaking Mixed Reality experience, “In Deep Water,” acts as an interactive storytelling experience that engages visitors with real-time and historical water quality data.

Sara Pezeshk, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the CREST Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Environment and the Institute of Environment at FIU, Ebru Ozer, co-founder of LandscapeDE, LLC, and Carl Welty, Pomona, CA-based architect, all emphasized the value of integrating nature-based designs and solutions into urban spaces and technologies in order to create more resilient communities.

Pezeshk’s project addressed the impact of climate change on coastal areas by using bio-marine tiles – tiles that are made up of both concrete and natural organisms, such as mangroves and seagrass, to create resilient shorelines. The bio-tiles were tested on the North Biscayne Bay shoreline.

Ozer collaborated with Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces to implement nature-based designs in playgrounds across Miami. She aims to reconnect children with nature in order to foster sustainable and smart communities.

During his presentation, Welty shared that urban planners and architects need to “work with nature to create ecological, low-carbon communities that evolve over time.” One of the ways that he suggests doing this is by looking to ancient cities for inspiration. “Insights from ancient cities that were constructed prior to our hydro-carbon economies can guide us toward our own low-carbon, ecological cities.”

Jake Moskowtiz, CIO of The Friends of Underline, also discussed the importance of intentional urban planning in his presentation about Underline, a 10-mile park being developed from Brickell to Dadeland South.

Martina Frattura, Head of the Beauty Movement, touched upon this as well in her presentation about implementing psychological and biological responses to architectural planning.

Low-carbon solutions on a global scale

What does renewable energy innovation look like on a global scale? Inna Braverman shared how Eco Wave Power’s patented technology harnesses wave energy, offering a cleaner and more sustainable energy source that doesn’t pose the same threats as nuclear power. With great determination, innovators can and will find solutions to our current climate crisis by collaborating with communities and implementing creative technological designs.

“Passion is the greatest renewable energy source." Inna Braverman

More to come!

SCEM’s day one lineup of speakers and panelists highlighted the importance of collaboration between city governments, businesses, and citizens in tackling pressing urban challenges. From nature-based designs for more climate-resilient spaces to data-driven decision-making, these innovators are driving positive change in our communities and paving the way for a more sustainable and resilient future for cities around the world.

Stay tuned to read more about the day two speakers and their groundbreaking work!

#SmartCityExpoMiami #SmartCityMiami #SmartCityMia #SmartCities #SmartCity

Daniella Levine Cava Francis X. Suarez Vitali Vitali Klitschko Jonathan Reichental, Ph.D. Paul Doherty, IFMA Fellow, DFC Senior Fellow Raimundo Rodulfo, P.E., MSEM, PMP, CSSBB Sandra Baer David Graham Leticia Latino-van Splunteren Aaron DeMayo Alan Scott, FAIA, LEED Fellow Anatolii Vovniuk Biayna Bogosian Bonnie Schneider Carl Welty Caroline Lewis Ebru Özer, PhD, FASLA Elisa Silva Inna Braverman Jake Moskowitz Janica Wiklander Kurt Kaminer Marcie Roth Ciawanda McDonald Marilys R. Nepomechie, FAIA, DPACSA, NCARB Martina Frattura Matt Haggman Laura Gaviria Halaby Matt Anderson Naman Sharma Pamela Hamblin Philip Wang Sara Pezeshk Dr. Sara Rushinek Sarbeswar Praharaj Thomas Spiegelhalter Antonio Delgado Fornaguera Miguel Murphy Marcus Ortega Nancy Dahlberg Riley Kaminer Melissa Medina Craig Rothleitner Edna Pasher Prof. Dr. Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes ®© Jana Skokan Jose Antonio Ondiviela Ph.D. Uri Ben-Ari Leonardo Scheinkman Eduardo Scheinkman Ric Scheinkman Mel Meléndez Ashley Portero Alex Harris Brian Bandell Jesse Scheckner Alex Mena Rob Wile Mario Ariza Vickie Chachere Andres Viglucci Eileen Cukier Grace DeWitt Joey Flechas cristina m. ojeda Christina Crespi Rodrick Miller Madeline Pumariega