Smart City Technologies for Health and Equity: Examples from New York City

On October 29, Penn IUR hosted a conversation between John Paul Farmer, Penn IUR Scholar and Chief Technology Officer, City of New York, and Allison Lassiter, Penn IUR Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, Weitzman School of Design. The two discussed how New York is using smart city technologies and strategies to promote equity during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Farmer outlined the priorities of his work at the Mayor’s Office of the CTO, including efforts to increase productivity across agencies through better use of data and working with Cyber NYC and the Mayor’s Office of Information Privacy to safeguard important digital rights in the process. Farmer’s office also works to close the digital divide and help neighborhoods meet their goals through better access to and use of technology. He outlined the city’s Internet Master Plan, released in January 2020 and accelerated after the onset of the pandemic, which Farmer noted was “the moment when it became clear to everybody that broadband is not a luxury. It’s not something that even just affects an individual. It’s a public health issue.”

The conversation then turned to how the Office of the CTO worked to collect COVID-19 data and disseminate information to New Yorkers in early 2020. As cities around the world were working to address the undercounting of infections and determining the virus’s degree of contagion, the Office of the CTO was tasked with pivoting all City of New York agencies to remote work while continuing essential services. In addition, Farmer’s office was responsible for consolidating data from multiple sources to provide New Yorkers a single repository for information, setting up a COVID-19 task force, and increasing broadband connectivity as more information and services moved online. Farmer noted that much of this work required breaking down silos and forming strong partnerships between public, private, and academic institutions.

Farmer and Lassiter also discussed the importance of broadband access in education as students pivot to virtual learning. In addition, they noted the expanding role of technology in mental healthcare, as well as the future of telehealth services and the challenge of ensuring equal access at home and on the go.

During the Q&A session with the audience, Farmer spoke to the importance of balancing data-driven decision making with transparency in government and of measures to increase technical literacy. He noted the value of digital literacy campaigns “to ensure we are driving tech skills more deeply throughout society and giving people 21st-century skills that can open up economic opportunity and employment.”