| MOST POPULAR Emanuel Leaves Newark Longtime public-sector Chief Information Officer Steve Emanuel currently holds the title in Newark, N.J., but not for long. GT broke the news this week that Emanuel, previously CIO for the state of New Jersey, will leave mid-month to join CGI. The new post won’t take him far, though. With CGI, the former Top 25 Doer, Dreamer and Driver will serve as director of consultation in one of the company's New Jersey offices. Smart-City Plans Adapt to COVID-19, Societal Ills In a panel discussion this week, smart-city leaders addressed the events of the past several months and how they are impacting future plans for America’s cities. The pandemic and broad recognition of systemic racism have both served to underscore gaps in digital equity, causing priorities to shift to work toward safe, accessible paths forward for all residents. Stakeholders from across the country discussed how they are pivoting to meet these challenges at a virtual event convened by Smart Cities Connect. GT’s Skip Descant has more information. Largest Smart-Streetlight Deployment? In what has the potential to be the largest installation of smart streetlights in the U.S. to date, a recent agreement between the power utility that serves the state of New York and Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), half a million streetlights could get an upgrade. The connected devices, offered through the Smart Street Lighting NY initiative, are more efficient and offer a number of data collection opportunities for cities. Good Data, Better Decisions An international metric used to measure quality of life called the Human Development Index is being called into service at the local level. Normally used to measure national development, researchers at the University of Chicago have scaled down to use it in neighborhoods to equip local decision-makers with valuable information that can inform more effective local policy. A recent report showed that countries with low HDI values were more vulnerable to the ill effects of COVID-19. | 