Key Takeaways
- NIST hosted a workshop on smart city preparedness for disasters, attended by experts in emergency management.
- The workshop’s focus was on developing standards for community resilience and effective disaster management.
- Insights from city officials and residents were gathered to enhance future community preparedness strategies.
Workshop Overview
On April 16, 2025, NIST researcher Michael Dunaway led a workshop titled “Whole Community Preparedness for Smart, Connected Cities” at the TechConnect Smart Cities Conference in San Antonio, TX. This workshop was the second in a series that started with an event in August 2024 at Texas A&M University’s George H.W. Bush School of Government in Washington, D.C. Both workshops aimed to establish requirements, metrics, and standards to improve public safety, post-disaster recovery, and community resilience through the integration of digital technologies and cyber-physical systems.
The inaugural workshop gathered senior first responders, emergency managers, researchers, smart city practitioners, and officials from various levels of government to discuss the evolving needs for managing complex threats to public safety and community welfare.
During the second workshop, participants explored local preparedness priorities by engaging with city officials and residents experienced in implementing technology-based solutions. The structure included research questions and round-table discussions designed to deepen understanding of community and city initiatives aimed at enhancing disaster communications and overall resilience.
Discussions were framed around four key questions:
1. What capabilities should be developed to support communities during disasters or civil emergencies?
2. What Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) need to be integrated into community planning and decision-making systems for disaster preparedness and recovery?
3. Should community information systems be designed for exclusive use in emergencies or as dual-use systems applicable during regular and crisis conditions? There was a strong preference for the latter approach.
4. How can operational efficiency be balanced with civic values such as transparency, access, equity, and maintaining public trust in emergency response?
The insights and outcomes from the TechConnect Smart Cities workshop are being compiled and will form an important section of the upcoming NIST Workshop Report on Whole Community Preparedness in Smart Cities and Communities, expected to be released in late Spring 2025.
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