When the notion of the smart city arises, I often think of a former colleague who developed an early smart city event in 2002, highlighting the efforts of the Grant County, Washington, Public Utility District's early open-access fiber network.

Later, large companies like Cisco and IBM grabbed headlines by making large investments to develop technologies to support smart sensors, integrated public transport, digital healthcare systems, and energy-efficient solutions.

Along with cities like Amsterdam, which created a virtual “digital city” - De Digital Stad (DDS) - to promote Internet usage, the U.S. started to get more into the game when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provided funding for US smart grid projects in 2009.  

But as I found from Comcast Smart Solutions, the main challenge that cities have always faced in crafting a smart city strategy was the ability to integrate all the necessary elements to make it happen.

As Mike Slovin, VP and general manager of smart solutions for Comcast, said that “it takes a village when you think about how to develop a smart technology solution for a city,” which includes software, design, connectivity, implementation, and support work.

Nevertheless, cities are making progress. In this issue, we’re chronicling the progress of four cities: Chesapeake, Virginia; Superior, Wisconsin; Tucker, Georgia; and Wyandotte, Michigan. Each of these cities is coming at the smart city opportunity from different angles.

Cheasapeake, which has built its own fiber network infrastructure and a city-wide wireless network for its own internal needs, in partnership with neutral host Boldyn, has the goal of enhancing the efficiency of its city departments.

Meanwhile, Superior and Wyandotte are building fiber networks to improve broadband, and Tucker is gaining analytics by installing network elements on existing lighting systems on a public trail.

While all cities have diverse approaches and needs, the end game is similar: improve the quality of life for businesses and residents alike.

In the Winter print edition of Lightwave, we explore the possibilities of smart cities as well as the impact of new fiber optic innovations and the growing demand for gigabit broadband speeds.