At the beginning of May 2020, the Sarantaporo.gr community network team was approached by the Mayor of Elassona, a municipality in the Thessaly region in central Greece. He was asking for help with a very common problem that villages in our municipality face: lack of access to Internet connectivity. “Sykea” or “Sykia” is an isolated … Read more
The European cities Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona have been named among the top 10 Smart Cities worldwide. They are transforming their urban environments through technology by using data to connect, digitalise and make their cities future proof. The European Union can help you transform your city too! The European Commission, through the CEF Digital programme, … Read more
Over a hundred European cities have agreed on ‘Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms’ defining the communication between software programmes and building blocks to allow co-creation and sharing of services. The MIMs, advocated by the Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC) initiative, are “simple steps towards using new technology”, OACS chairman Martin Brynskov said on Thursday. “The MIM … Read more
Platforms enabled by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), like Uber and Airbnb, are increasingly being seen as looters by cities. They are like Death Stars, extracting great swaths of value from local communities only to transfer that wealth elsewhere. Indeed, it would seem that the original ideas of sharing and peer-to-peer collaboration have been co-opted … Read more
