Brooks Rainwater

One mayor is certainly notable, and two mayors a pattern. But with more than three mayors on board the bitcoin bandwagon, it’s clearly a trend.

Autonomous vehicles will soon be ubiquitous on city streets. Before this happens, we should ask ourselves: Will they whisk us quickly through cities or make traffic worse? A car is…

Now that the hysteria is over and cities have stopped asking “how can we get Amazon,” we’d like to ask this: How can cities build stronger startup ecosystems for the…

The way we work is changing. People possess the innate ability to innovate and evolve in the jobs that they do, and new technologies — from the wheel to steam…

At the municipal level, blockchain has the potential to create countless smart networks and grids, altering how we do everything from vote and build credit to receive energy. In many…

From home- and ride-sharing apps to TV and movie streaming subscriptions to social media platforms – Internet companies have transformed our lives. Today the internet sector contributes approximately $1 trillion, or 6…

Cities make the sharing economy work, and the urban environment is the critical differentiator for experimentation, change and scale. In just a few years, the sharing economy has grown from…

Cities are shaping the story of America. The great success we have seen in our nation’s cities is clear — data shapes the narrative. It tells us that the collective,…

Technology has always been a critical force deeply intertwined with the evolution of cities. The development of smart cities builds upon this strong historical foundation with a digital foundation that…

With advances in information technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence developing at a rapid rate, workforce dislocations are happening now and are here to stay. As existing trends accelerate and irreversibly change…

As drones increasingly fly through our cities in the coming years — delivering our latest order from Amazon or other on-demand retailers — the regulation of our airspace and the…

In my recent travels through Singapore, I witnessed all that this city-state is doing to become a “Smart Nation.” My trip was instructive on many levels, but the primary point…

Bringing back local industry to cities helps build strong local economies and strengthens our workforce. The maker movement is encouraging entrepreneurs to share ideas, and the city is the central…

Transportation and geography have always been intertwined. Specifically, the auto industry, with Detroit being the prime example, was once more tightly tied to place. The same can be said for…

Our collective thoughts of the future have moved from Deloreans to driverless cars in what seems like the blink of an eye. As technology advances, our mobility options have multiplied…

Since the days of the horse and buggy, there has been a fundamental relationship between vehicle and driver. The advent of driverless cars will invert this dynamic as we all…

The sharing economy is growing and impacting cities. Collaborative consumption feeds into, and off of, desires for immediate gratification. With “on-demand everything” the way of the present and future, the…

What kinds of apps do cities need? This is a key question that cities have been asking themselves and answering in a range of ways in recent years. Before we…

Cities make the sharing economy work. The overall sentiment toward sharing is shifting as traditional industries are upended and local regulatory environments are disrupted, while the sharing economy serves as…