The Intelligent Community

There is no shortage of challenges facing the world's cities, whether large, midsize or small. And every city leader, elected or appointed, has the same concern: which ones are business-as-usual challenges that local government is prepared to handle, and which are the high-risk kind with serious potential to harm the city's future? We ask members of the Infrastructure & Strategic Innovation Think Tank at the Dentons global law firm for the five burning questions they believe city leaders should focus on and why. The Think Tank convenes visionary leaders from industry, finance, entrepreneurship, civil society and government to address complex challenges facing society at the intersection of infrastructure, technology, innovation and sustainability. Guests are Kat Sliwa and Todd Daubert of Dentons. 

After being named the 2026 Intelligent Community of the Year last week in Columbus, Ohio (USA), the region of Brightlands-Limburg celebrated their amazing achievement for several days. The Intelligent Community Forum was able to record an exclusive INTELLIGENT Community: Soul of the City Podcast with them and discuss what the award means, how they celebrated and what is next for this relatively unknown innovation capital. For more of ICF's Podcasts with leading cities, people and interesting community stories globally, hit Like and Subscribe.

In the last roundtable with this year's Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year, leaders from every corner of the globe discuss how they achieved this honor, are preparing for the big announcement on October 15th in Columbus, Ohio and how they will react if chosen as #1. From Brazil to Spain to Taiwan they open up to Lou about their success, what literally keeps them up night and how they define the "soul" of their community. It's a fascinating 70 minutes with four places (one of which is home to the 2026 World Cup team) that define a positive vision for our collective future. Guest include: Michel Bomtempo, Mayor, Assaí, Paraná, Brazil Maurice Olivers, Manager, PR & Communications, Brightlands-Limburg Igor Oliveira, Secretary of Science, Assaí, Paraná, Brazil Jaime Santamarta, Councillor, Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain Jimmy Wang, Planner, III, Yunlin County, Taiwan

A new report from the Economic Developers Association of Canada describes the work of its members as "a sprawling, multi-mandate profession." How much more sprawling must it be when economic development serves not just a city but a vast urban and rural region? Yet that very diversity offers great growth potential – if you can get folks from different places, experiences, assets and needs to collaborate for their mutual benefit. In this episode of Intelligence Test, we ask leaders from the reigning Intelligent Community of the Year – the Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario – how they foster collaboration across 2,500 square kilometers that is home to 8 separate municipalities.  In this edition of the Intelligence Test podcast, ICF co-founder Robert Bell has a conversation with Alison Burgess, Director Communications and Engagement, Regional Municipality of Durham and Sarah Klein, Deputy CAO & Director, Strategic Initiatives, Town of Whitby.

In New York locals love to tell a joke that reflects the challenge and excellence required to reach the top in this world capital. It goes like this: A shy young tourist approaches a lifetime New Yorker, "Excuse me, how do I get to Carnegie Hall?" The New Yorker grins and replies, "Practice, kid! Practice!"   The ICF's Top7 are on their way to "Carnegie Hall." In this case it is Columbus, Ohio, host of the Intelligent Community of the Year announcement and conference. The Top7 have achieved at incredibly high levels of performance in tech, economic development and each wear their pride and their souls on their sleeve.    In the first of two interviews, ICF co-founder Lou Zacharilla interviews Hilliard, Ohio (USA) and Kingston, Ontario (Canada). They share insights on how they use their digital infrastructure to grow their innovation sectors and why AI in municipal government is an asset….and more! Guest include: Donna Gillespie, CEO, Kingston Economic Development Corporation David Meadows, Economic Development Director, Hilliard, Ohio

What happens when nobody works except the robots? Why did Bill Gates say AI, which is at the heart of robotics, is "our biggest threat?" Even Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei admits we "only understand 3% of how they work." Yet, the promise of AI and robots to address delivery, industrial processing, transportation and even loneliness, our greatest community disease, has pushed them into cities, especially Intelligent Communities. Large cities like Los Angeles and Seoul have hundreds of PMRs (public area mobile robots) on the street. Once confined to college campuses, robotics firms are trying to scale the market commercially.  What's the challenge? Unlike bridges or power plants, designed to precise human specifications, AI systems, upon which robots depend, are "grown" from vast databases through processes their own creators cannot interpret. How do urban planners, who view sidewalks as the "new frontier," work with cities dominated by automotive vehicles and roadways? The promise and challenges are enormous. In one of Lou's typically wide-ranging discussions guests move from the technical, to the practical to a discussion about "the soul" of the city and why trust is essential to scaling and living with robots.  In this edition of The INTELLIGENT Community Podcast, Soul of the City ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Bern Gursh, Executive Director, Urban Robotics Foundation & John G. Jung, Co-Founder, ICF.

In this Summer reflection podcast of THE INTELLIGENT COMMUNITY: The Soul of the City, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla discusses the purpose of Intelligent Community development, the upcoming Awards event and looks ahead to a future of AI-driven cities and where the boundaries are for humanity.

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ICF organized a panel to discuss leadership in times of great challenge and the role a city's IT department can play adapting to a conflict. A lead story in TIME Magazine by reporter Vera Bergengruen stunned us with frontline reporting about how the local government in Kyiv had mobilized and innovated to protect, inform and defend its citizens. It is an Intelligent Community story and amazingly brave journalism in unusual circumstances. The discussion became the most viewed in our series, The INTELLIGENT Community: Soul of the City.   We reached out to Ms Bergengruen and she joined this panel. Vera is today a national security reporter at The Wall Street Journal. During the time of this podcast she was with Time magazine, where she covered the intersection of national security, tech and politics and reported cover stories from Ukraine, Argentina and El Salvador. She worked as a national security and investigative reporter for BuzzFeed News and her work has won the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi and Dateline Awards and a New York Press Club Award. She was part of the team that worked on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Panama Papers investigation in 2017. Vera is originally from Uruguay and grew up in Chile, Germany, Mexico and Miami.

Becoming an Intelligent Community offers four distinct advantages for regions, cities and towns on their way upward. In this unique edition of The INTELLIGENT Community Podcast, Soul of the City, ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla describes the beauty of the "AMEN" stages of the ICF program.  The "soul of the city" is found along the way and so is business growth, social trust and a global network of over 220 peers. Not to mention an Award that can change your destiny.

Tempe, Arizona is the city everyone likes. With a population of 190,000 it has been growing and prospering for several years. A tourist attraction with its amazing Tempe Town Lake and a university town, with a school nicknamed "The Sun Devils," it is producing significant volumes of global and national research - and retaining its talent. Tempe doesn't seem to need the ICF method or network. But we were wrong. In this interview with former journalist-turned-Communications Director Kris Baxter, we learn why Tempe went on the ICF journey and how they feel about being in the hunt for Top7 status! (Hint: they feel really good!). In this edition of The INTELLIGENT Community Podcast, Soul of the City ICF Co-Founder Lou Zacharilla speaks with Kris Baxter, Communication and Marketing Director, Tempe, AZ.