Its leaders call Carlsbad an “intention city” with a focus on being “future ready.” Beyond these buzzwords, though, a simple concept drives efforts to ensure Carlsbad sustains its quality of life in the years to come, says David Graham, the city’s chief innovation officer.
“We just want to create a more convenient city for all,” he says. Doing so, he adds, requires rethinking how governments approach technology modernization and creating an integrated strategy to ensure connectivity for government workers, businesses and citizens.
“Traditionally cities have invested in technology based upon a challenge, a departmental need or political whim,” Graham says. “What we should be doing is investing in a comprehensive approach to develop a multi-use platform that solves near-term challenges and looks over the horizon at what the future may be.”
New Structures and Strategies
Graham is the city’s first chief innovation officer, but that is not the only unique thing about his role. In most local governments, the innovation leader and team fall under the umbrella of IT or, in some cases, performance measurement departments. In Carlsbad, Graham’s team is paired with economic development, an office he leads along with the innovation team.“We have a lot of advanced industries, and what is good for them in supporting and tracking talent is in many ways good for the city as well,” he says.
To help ensure economic vitality for the city and its constituents, Carlsbad is putting technology modernization on equal footing with investments in vital physical infrastructure like roads and utilities.
“You need to have roads to drive on, parks to play in. But we don’t think about it the same way when it comes to software, applications and hardware. And yet our digital lives are just as integral and important as the freeways and highways we drive on,” he says.
City leaders started with the network, negotiating rights to use part of a fiber optic network installed throughout the city by a private sector provider. Carlsbad has already connected its management center, utilities and traffic signals to the network. It also plans to enhance public Wi-Fi access.
The high-speed fiber network provides a foundation for a technology platform the city plans to update and modernize over time.
“When it comes to digital transformation, you have to build and invest in a platform that can allow for the solutions you need in the digital space,” Graham says.
Smart Solutions
Carlsbad has already put the power of its emerging platform to the test with smart city technologies. Several years ago, the city used wireless technology to connect more than 175 traffic signals and video cameras to its network. It has since leveraged artificial intelligence and machine learning to create four “rapid corridors” throughout the city, which automatically optimize the flow of traffic based on real-time conditions.“We’ve all sat at a red light with no one coming wondering why it can’t turn green,” Graham says. “Now thanks to machine learning and connected traffic systems, that’s a thing of the past.”
Carlsbad leaders have also targeted smart city solutions on energy and water usage, beginning with connecting 100 percent of the city’s water meters wirelessly. As part of a clean energy alliance with neighboring cities, Carlsbad residents and businesses will have the option to purchase power from a wider range of renewable sources beginning later this year. These efforts “reduce the cost of operations, improve efficiency and deliver better services to the public,” Graham says.
Networking investments also helped scale pre-COVID telework policies for city employees, adding flexibility that will persist beyond the pandemic. “What the crisis has done is effectively normalized the use of these tools,” Graham says.
Community Connections
Carlsbad’s vision of a connected community is not a one-way proposition, and city leaders are leveraging its technology investments to forge stronger connections with citizens and businesses to boost civic engagement.“Connecting our residents with digital tools can really make folks feel heard — if it’s acted upon,” Graham says.
Anticipating one of the region’s largest concentrations of residents 55 and older by 2030, Carlsbad has joined AARP’s network of age-friendly cities, a national group of nearly 500 communities that focuses on engaging older adults to take an active role in their communities and include their needs in planning efforts.
Carlsbad has also worked to address ongoing disparities in broadband connectivity, a challenge which took on greater prominence during the pandemic. The city has expanded high-speed access and provided physical spaces for residents at its libraries and is working with new and existing providers to increase connectivity options for residents and businesses. But not all internet access is sufficient, Graham says. Fully addressing residents’ needs with limited broadband access will require new approaches, including partnerships with other governments in the region.
“The lack of connectivity can impact someone’s ability to get a job or training,” Graham says. “We’ve seen with the shift to remote learning that the speed and quality of the communications network is absolutely vital to success.”
Carlsbad has also sought to engage the business community in new ways, launching a CIO roundtable to share technology best practices, communicate city goals and identify local businesses to source solutions.
“There has been this didactic approach where government is the regulator — the problem and not the solution,” Graham says. New approaches, including a time-saving virtual inspection program that was necessitated by COVID but will become permanent, demonstrates how that relationship is evolving in Carlsbad, he says.
The city plans to build on these new relationships with a CEO roundtable and has already seen wider benefits, including a $5 million economic revitalization initiative developed with the help of the city’s business community. Business loans and more flexible land use and permitting options will put Carlsbad on stronger footing for years to come.
Looking Ahead
As local government leaders navigate the end of the pandemic, they are facing existential challenges as constituents rethink their own lives. “People are moving out of frustrating and challenging urban areas they once felt they had to live in to more convenient places,” Graham says.Too often governments take a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to addressing their challenges, focusing on the immediate issues raised by constituents, Graham says. To break this cycle and address deeper challenges, he looks to the experiences of the city’s business partners to develop an approach rooted in the principles of continuous improvement. And Graham encourages other government leaders to take a more comprehensive view of their own infrastructure needs — starting with digital infrastructure.
“Our goal is to create a more convenient city for all, a city that makes sense. You have to invest and commit to ongoing investment to your digital life and operations,” Graham says. “It’s so integral to how we live that failing to do so puts you at a competitive disadvantage.”
