Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Tamlyn Shimizu: Welcome to Smart in the City, the BABLE podcast where we bring together top actors in the smart city arena, sparking dialogues and interactions around the stakeholders and themes most prevalent for today's citizens and tomorrow's generations. I am your host, Tamlin Shimizu and I hope you'll enjoy this episode and gain knowledge and connections to accelerate the change for a better urban life.
Today we are continuing our Imagine series if you've been following us. If not, you can also go back and listen to other episodes, but you can watch them in or listen to them in any order. I should say. We're exploring the themes of the Imagine 2025 event held in Tampere, Finland. It's happening on the 27th and 28th of May, so if you haven't put it yet into your calendars, now's your cue. You got to do it now because as part of this event, we are highlighting the cities that will participate in the Imagine the Citiverse challenge which where they will present real urban challenges in search of innovative solutions from forward thinking companies. So to give you a glimpse into these exciting challenges that will be featured, I am joined by two very distinguished guests today that I'm excited to introduce you to. First, I would like to introduce you to Michael Hammett. He's the director of the Office of Innovation at the City of Phoenix. Welcome, Michael.
[00:01:23] Michael Hammett: Thank you so much. It's great to be here.
[00:01:26] Tamlyn Shimizu: Great to have you on. Also joining him today on the other side of the Atlantic is Arturo Castello. He's the Deputy Technical Director at Valencia Innovation Capital. Welcome, Arturo.
[00:01:38] Michael Hammett: Hi.
[00:01:39] Arturo Castello: Thank you. It's great to be here too.
[00:01:41] Tamlyn Shimizu: Great to have you as well. I have a really dynamic duo with you today. It's really my honor. I like to start off with a little bit of a teaser question to get us warmed up into the flow of things before we jump into the more serious questions.
The question I have for you today, for both of you, is if your city's Citiverse had a tagline or motto, what would it be?
Michael, do you want to start us off strong?
[00:02:10] Michael Hammett: Sure. Ours would be. You don't have to see it to experience it. And by that we mean it's technology. It's the latest of what is available to make life better for our residents. But it blends seamlessly in with the natural environment. So it's in the background. And all of the things we love, the trees, natural environment, we're in the Sonoran Desert. All of that is in the front space.
[00:02:37] Tamlyn Shimizu: I love it. You get a thumbs up from me as a communications professional. Good tagline. Like it. All right, thank you, Arturo.
You're welcome. Arturo, what's your tagline or motto?
[00:02:49] Arturo Castello: The one we use is a human centered sandbox. And we want to use a gaming metaphor because we think that the Citiverse is good for a city where technology, creativity and community come together.
And that's how we create spaces that care for people. And we like to use that method for sandbox as a way to. To.
[00:03:11] Tamlyn Shimizu: To.
[00:03:11] Arturo Castello: To talk about that.
[00:03:13] Tamlyn Shimizu: I like it as well. And also I love that you're both focusing on a really human centric approach. So we'll talk about that more as well.
I first want to get to know you both a little bit more. Actually, this is my first time also meeting you, so I'm learning about you as people. It's one of my favorite things about my job, I have to say. I would love to start with you, Arturo.
What's your background? How did you come into your role today?
What drives your.
[00:03:42] Arturo Castello: So I just joined the Balencia Innovation Capital a few weeks ago, and in the last decade I've been working on gaming and esports. And a year ago I started a program called Valencia Game City.
And what we try to do is to connect gaming and technology with the citizens, not only for fun, but also to create spaces and ideas and projects that connect people in a different way to make the city more human based. And now I'm doing the same, not only for gaming or from gaming perspective, but also from a global 360 angle to create innovation that focuses on the human aspect of the city, which we all believe and we all agree that is more important. And that's how I came into this area, from gaming and from video games and technology.
[00:04:38] Tamlyn Shimizu: Okay, really interesting. And are you from Valencia?
[00:04:41] Arturo Castello: Originally, I'm from Valencia. I've been living here my whole life. I studied abroad in the UK for a few years. But yes, I've been living in Valencia for most of my life. And I really love working from the city for the city.
[00:04:58] Tamlyn Shimizu: I love it. A true Valencian at heart.
Michael, I would love to know more about your background and what led you to your role today. Phoenix.
[00:05:09] Michael Hammett: Well, thank you. No, it has been a great journey here and a lot of it's been organic and some has been strategic. But I started my career in media and I was a reporter, producer, writer for local TV stations, magazines. I did that for many years. I graduated Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. And then I went to work for the City of Phoenix and I went in with the communications role. And over the years, for the past about 10 years, I've been working in the innovation and data space in the city Manager's office, working with mayor and council on strategic projects. So this current evolution, I went back to school and received a master's in Global Technology and Development from the College of Global Futures also at Arizona State University. And that really pivoted my career. I was already doing innovation in data, but I went back and got the credential. And then that led to the launching of our office. It's the first. I'm the first chief Innovation Officer and director of the Office of Innovation housed in the City Manager's office and work very closely with Mayor Kate Gallego and our council. And we're the strategic home of all things innovation and strategic use of data. So we married those two worlds. And Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the nation with we're the hottest major city in the nation. We know how to live in that space. But as that continues to accelerate, it's even more important that we have new technologies, new systems in place to really mitigate that and continue to grow in the sustainable way that we have.
[00:06:51] Tamlyn Shimizu: I love your communications background. That's why your motto is so good, right? Because your communications background there. And when you say hottest in the space, you mean temperature or the things you're doing in innovation.
[00:07:05] Michael Hammett: It's funny that you say that because our community and economic department's slogo for a long time had been. Phoenix is hot because we really embrace it. It is hot. We get into 120 plus degrees Fahrenheit and there's sometimes 124. But we also, again, we're creating a space that people can live and be resilient in. And yes, we are hot. We're economically hot in terms of attraction from investment, TSMC here in our great city. So, yeah, we're really excited about the future and this plays a big part in that.
[00:07:47] Tamlyn Shimizu: Okay, good. Really interesting backgrounds that you both have that led you into your roles today. One from a gaming background, one from a communications background. And here we are now. So. So we're about to dive in a little bit more about Citiverse. So Michael, maybe you can start with telling you told us a little bit more about your city. But how does this relate to the topic of Citiverse? Like, why does this resonate with you?
[00:08:13] Michael Hammett: The idea of Citiverse is really important to us because again, we want to embrace the latest technologies. We want to look at all of the things that can make our lives better, better. But we don't want to give up what we have here, which is a beautiful natural environment and our weather nine months out of the year, it is the best weather in the world. And then we have the hot months, which, you know, those of us that are locals, we know how to, to traverse that. But this, this idea of the City verse to us is really looking at the digital world so that it can make the physical world better, better. And I'll tell you that a lot of folks hear about it and they think it's a Tom Cruise movie. And we always say we love Tom Cruise movies, but we don't want our world to look like something that is futuristic, even for the time that the movie was made. We want it to blend seamlessly so that it's really, you don't even have to know that it's there. We want to be transparent. It's not that we're hiding what those are, that's really important as well. But you're not necessarily going to see the big LED screens and all of that flashing because we have a beautiful natural environment. So it's going to be that balance. And we're very excited about this. We're excited about our proposal for this, this great competition and it's coming a really good time for us.
[00:09:38] Tamlyn Shimizu: Good. I'm excited to dig a bit more into that. But first I also wanted to hear from Arturo, is it the same reasoning for Valencia that you're getting involved in City Verse? Where do you see this going for the city?
[00:09:51] Arturo Castello: Well, as you know, and we like to say that we are not only embracing the Citiverse, but we've been helping building it because we've been selected by the European Commission to host the first European digital consortium, the adic, which is dedicated to local digital twins and the Citiverse. So we've been helping designing the architecture that is going to allow cities to simulate and co create better futures, as Michael was saying. So this is not only about visual twins and digital twins, but systems interactive systems that help citizens understand their environment and also to shape it.
And for us, again, the Citiverse is not only about data and layers of cool technology and cool visuals, but it's about people and connecting people with environment in the city. And that's why our challenge is a playground, because we think that we must start by getting people involved in a fun way.
[00:10:53] Michael Hammett: I'm going to jump in really quickly on what Arturo said and I love what you said about not just embracing, but building that is so important. And your human centered Approach. I mean, we say human centered design, but it's really, it's about people. And you said earlier sandbox. I love that. I absolutely love that. Our mayor, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, she talks about Phoenix as a living lab. So that creates that place where we can play and we can create and we can partner with others outside of the city as well as community to move these things forward. So, Arturo, I'm really interested in all that you're doing over there.
[00:11:31] Arturo Castello: Thank you, Michael.
[00:11:33] Tamlyn Shimizu: Arturo, I want to expand on that a little bit. You mentioned your challenge being focused on playgrounds. What does that mean? Why did you pick this challenge? Can you explain, explain it a little bit more?
[00:11:43] Arturo Castello: Yes, because we think that playground is a very powerful metaphor and it's something that is small and maybe not very important for many people, but it's very symbolic. And if we can turn a playground into something that is modular and inclusive and also sustainable and also a connected space to the rest of the city, we think it's a very good first step into connecting that logic to all the neighborhoods in the city. So we want to make playgrounds better for first kids and families, but also to take this as a first stone into the building of the Citiverse.
[00:12:27] Tamlyn Shimizu: Sounds interesting. What do you hope from the companies that are applying, like what kind of solutions are you expecting?
[00:12:36] Arturo Castello: Well, first of all, we want them to work with the children. We think that children are great potential co designers and we want the companies to create and co create with the children in ways that we can't even expect yet. But of course we want the playground to be more sustainable. Maybe we can get playgrounds that adapt to the weather, maybe adapt to the different nature of the neighborhood. Also of course, connect from a remote way with the parents and the families. So I think there's so many things that we can do and as I said, we want the children and the families to take part in the co creation design.
[00:13:20] Tamlyn Shimizu: I love your focus on family and really using this as a metaphor. So really interesting challenge. Michael, I also want to ask you about your challenge.
What challenge are you bringing to Tampere and what do you hope to see from the innovators?
[00:13:37] Michael Hammett: So ours is, it's called pathways to Health, Community connections and Economic Opportunities. And that is a mouthful. But what we're looking when we say pathways in the city of Phoenix, in downtown, I mentioned 124 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer, I work downtown. If I follow the shade throughout downtown, I can get across downtown with my bottle of water with very little challenge If I get outside of that shade, even for a small period of time, all of a sudden it changes and I'm sweating and all of that. So what we want to do is we want to ask the folks, the brilliant people that will be coming forth from these technology companies to look at what shade is already available and how do we map the pathways. And it could be digital twin and also what is the optimal places to place shade. And not just trees, but manufactured shade, directional shade, shade that moves with the time of day, all of that. So that. And then place that in the palm of the hand of the residents and visitors. And this is everyone. Our data shows that most people have a smartphone.
It's upwards of low 90% and then the data plan is a high 80%. So we know it can be equitable. It's not the only solution, but we want to place it in the palm of people's hands. It's going to direct the city on how we're going to advance this. And this is a big one for Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego is to have these types of technologies around resilience to our extreme heat. And we think it's a winner. And if there was something that could integrate with our Valley Metro, bus and light rail system, all of that and, and really create that, that system of change that is right in the palm of the residents hands.
[00:15:32] Tamlyn Shimizu: Really cool challenge also and very relevant for so many cities also. I feel like Valencia and cities in Spain could also take some, some learnings from this challenge as well. Right in this extreme heat. So going to be more and more important as we move forward with the changing climate. So I would love to see what the innovators bring for you in Tampere. Tampere, I don't think has such the problem with the extreme heat, but maybe some other challenges too. So.
[00:15:59] Michael Hammett: But as well. So it can be, you know, you have the same scenario on the flip side in a lot of places. But your point about heat, in the last five years we've been dealing with cities all over the world that are, that are dealing with extreme heat. It's just hot can be hot and then it's, you know, once you hit that threshold of hot, doesn't matter if it's 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 110. I mean, you're dealing with it.
[00:16:25] Tamlyn Shimizu: Absolutely. Both of you have put the citizens at the center, which I love. That's what we really want to focus on when we're talking about city verse. City verse with an I for citizen, not with a Y because it's really about the people that are using this technology and how we blend their physical spaces with digital innovation. What do you think will be kind of the secret ingredient, the secret sauce to making these solutions actually usable and loved by the people who live in your cities?
Michael, you want to start us off?
[00:16:58] Michael Hammett: Sure.
At the city of Phoenix, it's not just something we say, it's something we do. And having individuals, people across the board participating in the development of it will be important. Some of that is building trust around it. But also we can think about what we need as downtown city workers, but we're not the folks that are necessarily catching the light rail across town to get to another city for a job or bringing three kids with you along the way.
So we want to have people telling us what they want to see and what would make them utilize whatever the resources we create and what would have them not use it. And so we did this recently with our chilled water in public places. Something as easy as chilled water. We have a high tech system that really the residents directed us on, told us what they wanted, what would make them not use it. We have remote monitoring for it, so we're able to tell the flow of the water and when people are using it. Leak detection, but also the things that will keep it, the heat mitigation, so that when you touch a button, it doesn't fry your hand, that it's a certain type of product. So that was all directed by our residents and we would see the same with this, having them there at the table and making sure you had new folks too at the table. And some of that for us is having our mayor and council members reach out to their constituents since they have a really intimate relationship with them. So we're excited about this. It's really people first and technology and harnessing that really to deliver.
[00:18:39] Tamlyn Shimizu: Yeah, I love that. Arturo, what do you think is your secret sauce to really making this so applicable for the people?
[00:18:47] Arturo Castello: I totally agree with Michael. This is not about tech for the people. It's not about the tech. They're not going to fall in love with the tech. They are looking for solutions.
They're looking for using the tech as a tool for something they really need. So yes, I agree that we need to involve the people and the citizens from the beginning and the Citiverse. And also this challenge has to be co created with the people and not only at the beginning, but also during the development and also during the different next steps in the evolution of the solution. So again, we really have to believe in putting the people at the center. And. And we also are lucky that our mayor and all the city officials believe in this angle and this way of doing things. So it's very simple and difficult at the same time, working together with the people who are going to use a solution from the get go. And that's how you get successful at these kind of things.
[00:19:50] Tamlyn Shimizu: Yeah, very important to note. I also want to play devil's advocate a little bit, because as you know, as public servants, there will be lots of criticism. Always, right?
Obviously, always when we're implementing new technologies or looking really forward, thinking on how to implement this, people will be asking, are they overly futuristic and expensive? When we really just need to tackle this housing crisis, for example.
How do you respond to this criticism? How do you really meet the needs where the people are? Now, Arturo, you want to start?
[00:20:27] Arturo Castello: Yes. I think we all agree that reactive cities pay more at the end, and we as public servants know this. But the only good thing about the present climate, and Michael was talking about that from the weather perspective, for instance, is that people and citizens are aware of that. The world is changing very fast. So I think it's easier now to convince people that we have to expect the unexpected and we have to get prepared for everything. So it's getting easier to get people involved into these kind of creative solutions for things that are going to happen very soon.
And everything is important. As you know, we in Valencia last year, we had a very bad disaster, flooding. And the only good thing about these kind of things is that you learn to be prepared for the unexpected. And that's why we all believe that these kind of projects might be not very urgent compared to other things, but they might be more important.
And we think, yes, as I said, it's getting easier to get people involved in this.
[00:21:43] Tamlyn Shimizu: Yeah, I like the focus on this reactivity, the proactivity, I mean, instead of the reactivity. Right.
So, Michael, same question to you.
What do you think about the criticisms to kind of this new tech that you might be implementing?
[00:22:04] Michael Hammett: I love the question. This is a great question because it's something we deal with every day. And we look at it here at the city of Phoenix as we have different work streams going on at. At all times from my office. Everything we do is to address the priorities of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and our council. So the priorities for us are how affordable housing, resilience to heat, climate, roadway safety. So we always look at those, those guide us, and those are also.
Those are the priorities of our community. And we have a Robust budget process that takes place. It's happening right now in the city, and that is when community comes forth. And all of that comes up through mayor, council and really sets our priority. So we need to make sure of that. We look at the technology and Arturo said this, and I love it. It is not tech for the sake of tech, because it's not a toy. It's really a strategic use of that technology to affect the change you're looking to do. And if we don't do it now, look, the future is here. The future is here. AI is here, it's been here. What we need to do is harness it. We need to use it in a way that makes sense. Every project we do too, in our office is we try to diversify our funding. So just a quick example for our chilled water project we talked about, there's a very small amount of general fund, but we also have two funders, Arizona Community foundation and Gila River Indian Community, who saw our data and said, we want to partner and help you expand. And. And that brings community together too, from these different organizations to continue to drive it forward. So that is our approach because we take the costs to heart. It's. It's taxpayer dollars. How do we really move the needle while we still are responsible to the taxpayers and affect the change?
[00:24:05] Tamlyn Shimizu: We need a little follow up on that because I'm really interested on your perspective, Michael, as well on this coming from your communications background.
Do you think how we just communicated about this, do you think that that's enough for the citizens to understand it, or do we need a different perspective or different way of communicating this to the people?
[00:24:30] Michael Hammett: I love that question. That's why you're a communicator.
So I would say, like a lot of the things that I say, even our strategic use of data, it's always a journey. So the answer is yes and no. You know, this is a start for the conversation. But we always have to meet people where they're at. And I'm not afraid to have people tell me, I don't trust this. This is not something we need. I listen to them because they're right from their perspective. And so how do we continue to have the conversation so that we say, but here's what it can do and potentially do to protect people and continue to help the city be resilient utilizing these new technologies? The communication aspect, it's always a journey. And we always have to look for new ways to deliver the message to new people and to really listen and respond to what the folks Are saying we're surveying constantly on different platforms right now and continuing to triangulate that user experience.
[00:25:36] Tamlyn Shimizu: Yeah, I love that. Arturo, I actually also wanted to ask you, from your background, from the gaming perspective now, how do you bring that gaming perspective into the work that you're doing Now?
[00:25:52] Arturo Castello: This goes back to the idea of putting the player, or in this case, the citizen, at the heart of everything. Because the good games, the games that succeed, are the ones that are designed and developed with the player's perspective from the beginning. So gaming, and you are also familiar with gamification, is how you get people involved by creating a set of rules and missions and incentives. So using that gaming perspective to make things more appealable and easier to use for people in any environment is super useful. Also, games can be used for good and bad things. You can also design games to create reactive loops that get people hooked on a bad habit. So it's very important that you create these mechanics and this game design in a good way to go for a good mission. Of course. So that's how we are. I'm personally using this perspective to look into all this, not only for the playground, which is an obvious connection, but also for everything that we do from a city innovation perspective, which is putting the citizens in the center and using a smart set of mechanics to get people involved in any activities that we do.
[00:27:22] Tamlyn Shimizu: Yeah, it sometimes does feel like we're in a big game, right? In a big simulation sometimes, and we're just trying to play this game of life as well. So I like relating it to the gaming because it also shows how we can also change behavior of people with these incentives, with these different elements. So I really like the different perspectives that you both bring. I want to maybe fast forward a little bit. So say that we're in the future one year from now. We're all about to go to imagine again in 2026, though.
So what does success look like to you? What impact do you really hope that this project and you taking part has for you, not just for your cities, but in other cities around the world that watching.
Michael, you want to start?
[00:28:17] Michael Hammett: Sure. Well, I would say speed to implementation. For us, it generally looks like a pilot. Like, let's really put this together, pilot it, work with residents, evaluate it, pivot what we're doing, and really get it to a place where we've validated that this is something that not only works, but that will be useful and will be impactful. And some of a lot of that would be having the data throughout the process to show what it is actually doing for the residents. And we would test it at different times of the year as well to see because again, it can be springtime and still hot out. And then we have our summer, which is extreme. But yeah. And I would also look at success as partnerships, like how many partnerships came on board and could we look at elevating this to other platforms that could, you know, could make those connections to even more people. So I see a lot of of promise and that's part of the excitement is the unknown. You know, this is going in saying let's try this, let's try this working with folks outside the city and outside the country and see what we can do together.
[00:29:34] Tamlyn Shimizu: Yeah, I love it. You can already count on one partnership at least. Michael. I think BABLE and Phoenix, we have lots to talk about at least in the future as well. So already count with us.
[00:29:45] Arturo Castello: You can count with two because we are also a very hot city in Valencia. So everything that you pilot there, we are going to be looking into that.
[00:29:51] Michael Hammett: And I'll be watching you, Arturo. I mean this is really interesting.
[00:29:56] Tamlyn Shimizu: Yeah, I love it. Arturo, tell us what success looks like to you and what impact you hope that this project has.
[00:30:04] Arturo Castello: I think we have a very similar perspective. We have a very simple and defined goal which is a live in pilot in a Valencian neighborhood, ideally which has been co designed with kids and parents and families. Also tested with sensors and feedback connected to the digital twin systems and also visible in the Citiverse Eddic, hopefully as a best practice and then not only in Valencia, but also in other cities that are using the same solution for them. I cannot foresee what kind of creative solution we are going to come up with. That's part of the magic. It has to be unexpected. But that's the goal. That's the goal. A working pilot that inspires other city to use it as well.
[00:30:48] Tamlyn Shimizu: Okay, we have to touch base in one year. We're recording on April 15, 2025. I want us to reunite next next year and see where we're at. It's always really interesting and I'm very, very intrigued to see where this takes us as well. So thank you both for taking part, of course, as well. Now I like to give you a little bit of open floor.
I like to give you the space because maybe we talked about some things, but you're also working on so many other interesting projects. Any other interesting messages that you really want our audience to hear now is the space for you to kind of tell your story or ask any questions. Don't leave anything unsaid. Arturo, do you have something to bring to the open floor?
[00:31:35] Arturo Castello: Yeah, just two ideas. One is that we believe one thing that we say here in Valencia is that a smart city is not the one with the most tech and sensors. It's the one with the most sense. And the ones that use tech for creating sense for everyone. As we said before, and again, that we don't believe in smart cities as futuristic utopias or dystopias like the one we see at Black Mirror, for instance, we believe in tech being used to create wise neighborhoods, places where technology, nature, community, and, of course, joy come together.
And starting with the youngest people and the youngest citizens, because we believe that they are going to be the ones that use all this technology in a more natural way. So we have to get them involved from the beginning.
[00:32:31] Tamlyn Shimizu: I love it. Both of you guys have such good taglines. It's not about how many sensors, but it's about the sense and all of these great taglines. I also have to say I have a. Watch the new season of Black Mirror, but I. I need to. I need to. Soon.
Michael, for you, do you have anything that. Any message that you want to send out to the world today?
[00:32:53] Michael Hammett: It's funny, I was just thinking what you were saying when, when Arturo was saying that, and I was also thinking he's a gaming background, but maybe communications as well.
[00:33:01] Tamlyn Shimizu: Yeah, exactly.
[00:33:03] Michael Hammett: Yeah, those are. It's. It. It is because it's important to convey to. To convey this, so it's palatable. So I, you know, here we say, because, you know, you'll hear people say, what is a smart city? Why do we need to say that? We're beyond that. We're, you know, emerging technologies. We look at it and say, a smart city talks to its residents. A smart city listens to its residents. A smart city uses data in a way that makes sense. We always say, what are we collecting?
How are we protecting? And why are we collecting it? And so when it looks at data, those are really important things. But smart is really integrating everything together. We talked about it before. It's not just futuristic. It's really harnessing that technology that is smart to do. It's smart to look at every way you can use AI in a safe way for our residents and to support our. Our city workers, to support our residents in their lives and also to communicate what that is that it will be doing. We host an Innovate Phoenix Challenge two times a year. We have one coming up where we're going to be focusing on Smart cities. This will be our fifth Innovate Phoenix Challenge. Our first one led to our Chilled Water and Public Spaces project. We bring together up to 200 people at a space called Venture Cafe Phoenix. They have them around the world. They're each their own entity. But it has been a space that brings together a really diverse group of people. By that I mean every background you have youth that have not finished their high school equivalency, but they started a company. So all of these folks come together. People that are scared, that don't feel like they have a place, and people with PhDs and startups and businesses, they all come together and help us create solutions to city challenges. And again, those are identified challenges of Mayor Gallego and our council. And it's been great. We're so excited because it's a regular engagement where we listen and we let either people advance it on their own or we test it and implement it ourselves at the city. So it's a lot of fun.
[00:35:19] Tamlyn Shimizu: Great tip for those in the region as well to go to that and engage with you in that forum.
Also, you jumped the gun a little bit into the smart topic, but I like it. It was very efficient that way. What a smart city is.
So I want to move on to our fun segment. The segment that I brought for you today is a great one with two guests because now I get to sit back and not do anything and you two get to ask each other a question.
So. So it's called Flip the script. You are the one asking the questions, and you are the one asking the question. And the other one answers. So, Arturo, do you have a question for Michael you want to ask?
[00:36:05] Arturo Castello: Yes, I have a question. I know that Michael. I know that Phoenix is one of the three cities in America that has AI powered autonomous vehicles as part of the taxi service with Waymo. And I had a chance to test it a few weeks ago and I thought it was amazing. And I wanted to ask you, what are the plans of connecting that technology to the Citiverse?
[00:36:33] Michael Hammett: That's a great question. Yes. So Waymo has been in the city testing many years and fully implemented now. It's a great success when people use it, they love it. There's resistance by some people, but we are continuing to grow this partnership. It came in because our state has gives the ability to do that in our space. And Mayor Kallego said, yes, we want to. We want to be your partner. And our Phoenix sky harbor jumped on board and became the first airport to actually have fully driverless autonomous vehicles. It just Keeps expanding. I mean, people are using, hasn't replaced other services. And I want to make that clear. I mean there's so much room out there in the space. We're looking at it in the Citiverse in terms of a lot of safety too. I mean, what does the data show us around our other priorities like our Vision zero plan for roadway safety? We want to look at it and integrate it in a way that makes sense and also providing access to others that may not be participating already in, you know, what is available. And, and that could be connecting to others with, you know, ability challenges where they need service support. And, and that's, that's underway right now. So we see it as, as a comprehensive piece moving forward and, and other cities will follow. I test them wherever I go. Santa Monica, I tried them. Austin has it. That's just Roundup. So I think you're going to see more and more of it and we're looking at others as well here in.
[00:38:14] Arturo Castello: Phoenix and it's way more sharing the data with the city. So you can work on that and connect it to the rest of the databases.
[00:38:24] Michael Hammett: We have regular meetings. Yes. And so our, in our mayor's office and also in our Phoenix sky harbor to understand what is happening, to really work together and look at what the data is showing us in terms of any kinds of challenges, any opportunities.
It's been a great partnership.
[00:38:44] Arturo Castello: Congratulations. I think it's a super great project, not only for the mobility aspect of it, but also for the whole Citiverse project in the city.
[00:38:53] Michael Hammett: I just spoke with someone at Smart Cities Connect from another city who I won't mention, but I said, you know, if they come to you or if you're interested in doing it, it's really, you know, it's great to just jump in and start making it work.
[00:39:10] Tamlyn Shimizu: This is when we get a sponsorship, right from Waymo. Now for the episode, if you're listening, Waymo.
Sorry, Arturo, did you have any follow ups there?
[00:39:26] Arturo Castello: No, no, no, no, I'm okay. Thank you.
[00:39:28] Tamlyn Shimizu: Great question. Really good question. Some. This is one. I think I should just. This should be a new podcast idea where I just send you into a room together and you ask each other questions. Because I think you always have better questions than I have.
[00:39:40] Michael Hammett: So you're asking all the questions. You're keeping this. This has been great.
[00:39:46] Tamlyn Shimizu: Thank you, Michael. Now it's your turn. You have a great question for Arturo that you would like to ask.
[00:39:52] Michael Hammett: You know, I put my. I had to really move away from being a reporter. That was a hard one. Which you.
We ask a lot of questions, but, Arturo, what it. Where do you sit within your region? Like, what role do you play in the greater region? We look at smart cities, not just in the city of Phoenix, but we're part of a group called the Connective that actually looks at our whole region so that we can move in the same direction. I'm just curious, what does that look like for you? And what is your role in the whole region?
[00:40:23] Arturo Castello: Oh, I think, you know, I think it's a super good question because that. That's a way to look at efficiency and cooperation with other entities, and it's very complex. That's the sore question. Because we have. In Spain is a country that has different layers from a historic perspective. So we have a national layer, which is Spain, and then we have different regions which are autonomous. Then we have provinces, and then we have cities. So we are connected to all those layers. And also we have a network of cities within Spain where we cooperate and share a lot of projects and learnings. And then on top of that, we are part of Europe, European Union, and then there is a very dynamic network of cooperation between not only European nations, but mostly, I would say, European cities. So I think in Europe and also in Spain, the city entities becoming more and more prominent. I think it's the same in most of the world. And we tend to prioritize those city networks, of course, connecting them with the rest of the layers, but putting the cities at the center of everything that makes sense.
[00:41:42] Michael Hammett: And every part of the world is different. So you really described that well and kind of gave a perspective. And it really is having more of that kind of regional with the cities, as you say, taking on more of that leadership role in this, so that we're all talking the same language in the terms of data and innovation, and we're all moving in the same direction and not in opposing directions. I love that.
[00:42:06] Arturo Castello: Yes.
[00:42:06] Tamlyn Shimizu: Yeah. The city is really becoming more and more of a unit of being able to really push forward with transformational change that we're seeing across the world. With that, I have to go to our final question. That's the question we ask every single guest, and it's to you, what is a smart city? Michael, I already think that you have answered this. I'm going to give it first to Arturo, and then you can add on also any thoughts that you have.
[00:42:36] Arturo Castello: I think it says something before, and I think a smart city is a city that listens, talks, and learns with the people, that communicates with the people in very different ways. Of course, using tech, but it's about, yes, a city that speaks with the people, through the people, and there's a communication going on constantly. I think that's a smart city, a wise city.
[00:43:07] Tamlyn Shimizu: Very good, very good. Do you have something to add to that, Michael?
[00:43:11] Michael Hammett: Yeah, we. I mean, it's something I think about every day. So, yes, we can babble, as you say on this podcast. So, yeah, it's really, you know, looking at what that technology is, but really keeping the integrity of what makes you unique. Arturo and I have been talking about our regions where we live in the world, and they're very unique. These are just two areas of the world. I'm in San Antonio today. Everybody has their unique thing. You know, San Antonio has a riverwalk. Phoenix has wide open spaces. We have hiking. We have all of these things that we want to celebrate. And a smart city can keep people safer. And we're looking at this while they're on the trails during extreme temperatures, there are trails you can go to, trails that are closed. And what is the temperature going to be as you go up? And what will it be by the time you come down? And how much water do you need? What do you need to bring along? So that's where we see a smart city as being your companion in whatever it is you're doing. And we don't want to give up what makes Phoenix such a great place to live. And that will include all of the things related to heat and climate and all of that that is moving us into a bright future. So smart city is absolutely a part of it, and we have embraced it. And as Arturo said, we're also partnering in the building of this.
[00:44:46] Tamlyn Shimizu: All right, those are great descriptions. I love asking that question because you get obviously such a variety of answers, but from everybody, it's really becoming more and more centered around people, around the goals of safety, around the goals of co creating something together with the citizens, not focused just on this first version of smart city.
Really, really a pleasure to talk to both of you. Unfortunately, our time is over. I could talk to you for a long time, but thank you so much for your time. It has really, really been a pleasure.
[00:45:22] Arturo Castello: Thank you. Thank you for having us.
[00:45:24] Michael Hammett: Thank you so much. This has been great and you set us at ease and really set the course for this. So thank you very much.
[00:45:31] Tamlyn Shimizu: I am very glad to hear that. I also have to thank, of course, our listeners. This also wouldn't happen without you, so thank you for listening. Don't forget, you can always create a free account on BABLE SmartCities EU. You can find out more about smart city projects, solutions and implementations. Thank you very much.
