A peek behind the technology revitalizing Toronto’s Waterfront.

Toronto earns intelligent community of the year by ICF.

What does it mean to be a smart city? Well—our friends over at Toronto’s waterfront should know. This year the Canadian city snagged the honor of being named the Most Intelligent Community of the Year by the Intelligent Communities Forum for their urban revitalization project.

After advancing to the elite Top 7, Toronto proved that their initiatives to revitalize the city’s waterfront through sensor technology integration and a Community Portal Hub truly set them a part as a city that is not just connected, but interconnected as well.

We’re not just excited for our work with Waterfront Toronto in the months to come, we are proud of where we have come thus far in creating The New Blue Edge.

Currently,  The New Blue Edge is in the physical infrastructure building stage. A sensor and fiber network is being installed to measure and monitor environmental conditions. Our platform collects that data and feeds it into an Intelligent Operations Center, a powerful dashboard that gives a complete, real-time picture of the weather, events, and ongoing projects that are happening at the waterfront.

In addition, we are aggregating energy-use data so that residents, including students at the University of Toronto, can analyze their personal usage and adjust their behaviors to conserve energy and save money.

The ability to have all of this information readily available in one place makes life easier and more efficient for the thousands of people who live and work on the waterfront.

Today, waterfront residents can engage in online forums focused on various city and community initiatives; from fixing potholes to learning about upcoming volunteer opportunities. This has resulted in a community that is more connected, and consequently more invested in what’s happening in its neighborhood.

Our work on the waterfront is far from complete. Follow @TheNewBlueEdge on Twitter to keep up to speed on the exciting things happening with this very smart city.

Follow @ElementBlue1 to stay up to speed on our other amazing projects.