Local Community Advertising
A New York based web magazine has named its Top 7 Intelligent Communities of 2015 and a BC location has landed on the list.
The Intelligent Community Forum announced the list in an online event hosted by Finland’s former Minister of Communications, Suvi Linden. The list includes cities and towns from five different nations. Three communities in the United States landed on the list, one from Australia, one from Brazil, one from Taiwan and one from Canada.
The City of Surrey (Photo Credit: City of Surrey)
In alphabetical order, the 2015 Top 7 Intelligent Communities are:
Arlington County, Virginia, USA
Columbus, Ohio, USA
Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Mitchell, South Dakota, USA
New Taipei City, Taiwan
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
According to the organization, it has been compiling the list since 1999 with Canada continuing to land on it regularly. The list also includes two American communities (Columbus and Arlington County), which were on the list in 2014 as well.
Photo Credit: Screen Grab
“ICF and our Foundation members worldwide congratulate the new Top 7. This group represents a range of different approaches and planning strategies,” said ICF co-founder Louis Zacharilla. “Each is ‘revolutionary’ in its own way, and each has planned its future in a way that is consistent with its cultural identity, while using universally available digital tools and broadband technology. As we have seen each year, cities, towns and regions that continue to work with these tools and concepts transform themselves from ‘smart’ to ‘intelligent,’ which is how real sustainable growth and investment will arrive."
Candidates are evaluated based on the five Intelligent Community Indicators, which provide the conceptual framework for understanding all of the factors that determine a community's competitiveness and point to its success in what the Intelligent Community Forum calls, “The Broadband Economy.”
In addition, the Intelligent Community Awards Program is guided by an annual theme, which in 2015 is The Revolutionary Community. This is an attempt to study and to have a global dialogue about urban and regional planning and how it is impacting the way people live, work and create in their cities and towns.
The full report and information about each community can be found here.
Local Community Advertising