I get territorial when it comes to pride of place. It may be the psychic balm for the chronic case of homesickness I get whenever and wherever I travel.

With the exception of my university years, I have lived an entire life in the state of New York. In three places. I have lived in New York City for 40+ years. I grew up in the Finger Lakes region of the state, and for the past 20 years, spend time at a residence in Long Island in the eastern part of the state.

These places have been – for the most part – wonderful places for someone with my temperament. I have lived the life I dreamed of and wanted. I have built communities and friendships that are solid and long-lasting within the circumference of a few city blocks and internationally!

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Krista Nightengale, Executive Director at the Better Block Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to showing communities how to build a more walkable, bikeable, liveable neighborhood to improve quality of life and attract talent.

Dr. Katelyn Jetelina is one of America’s most trusted epidemiologists. She publishes Your Local Epidemiologist, a widely read website and newsletter covering a range of public health issues that translates evolving science into readable language for the general public. In this episode of The Intelligent Community, she discusses information integrity and the politics of COVID in places as diverse as New York and Florida. This episode is the second part of ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla’s interview with Dr. Jetelina. Listen to Part 1.

Whenever I get back from a trip – as happened recently upon my return from the Urban Future Conference #uf23 in Stuttgart – someone invariably says: “Oh, you went there? That’s on my bucket list.”

When I gave a TED Talk in Rio de Janeiro a few years ago, same thing. When I spoke at the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 in Oslo, ditto. “On my bucket list.”

Once in a while, someone will ask me: “What’s left on your bucket list?”

Nothing. I never had one.

Now that COVID is no longer a global pandemic, what is it? And what is the lesson communities learned over the past 3 years? In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, Director of Population Health Analytics, to learn these answers and more.

(27 June 2023 – Stuttgart, Germany) – Three organizations announced a partnership agreement aimed at fostering smart city innovation and collaboration in key territories around the world during a conference last week in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), the Eindhoven International Project Office (EIPO) and BABLE, the facilitators of Smart Cities in Europe, signed the partnership agreement during the 20 June Between Smart & Green event, hosted by BABLE Smart Cities, The Municipality of Breda and their EU-funded project, GreenQuays.

Communities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, the United States and Vietnam become finalists for Intelligent Community of the Year to be named at the ICF Summit in October

(New York, NY, USA & Durham Region, ON, Canada – June 20, 2023) – In an announcement today at the conclusion of a two-day hybrid live and online conference, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) named the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2023. The 21st annual Top7 list includes cities and counties from Australia, Brazil, Canada, the United States and Vietnam. One of these seven finalists in the think tank’s annual awards program will be named the Intelligent Community of the Year at the ICF Summit in October. (www.icfsummit.com)

In alphabetical order, the Top7 Intelligent Communities of 2023 are:

• Binh Duong Smart City, Vietnam
• Coral Gables, Florida, USA
• Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
• Durham Region, Ontario, Canada
• Greater Geelong, Victoria, Australia
• Hilliard, Ohio, USA
• Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

(June 13, 2023 - New York City) – The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) today published its latest report, Building Success for Your Municipal Network, which outlines a set of principles that lead to successful construction, service adoption and financial viability for municipal broadband networks. Illustrated with case studies that show the principles in action, the report is based on the experience of ICF and the people of Lit Communities, a company that develops networks for municipalities and counties through creative public-private partnerships that share risk and ensure that the needs of the community’s people come first.

(June 1, 2023 – New York City, NY, USA) – The Intelligent Community Forum announced today the certification of two cities half a world apart as Intelligent Communities: Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia and Winnipeg, the capital of the province of Manitoba in Canada.

Meeting ICF’s Certification standard provides objective validation that a community has high-quality connectivity, effective workforce development, a business innovation ecosystem and meaningful community engagement, digital inclusion and sustainability programs in place. These qualities combine to support the growth of innovative businesses, meet their talent needs and provide inclusive prosperity and a high quality of life.

A new report examines the role of audio enhancement in education, healthcare, and other applications.

As multimedia experiences become more common in our digitally-connected society, the importance of immersive, clear, noise-free audio will become increasingly important for everyone. Digitunity, a non-profit organization committed to ending the digital divide, with the support of award-winning audio solution provider AVID Products, has released a commissioned report titled “The Crucial Role of Audio Enhancement in Learning & Health” on the role of audio enhancement in education, healthcare, and other applications.