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CHARLESTON, SC—Sensors in trashcans that alert waste management when collection is needed. Traffic lights that adjust their patterns in real time to better serve the flow of traffic. Mobile phone apps that help drivers find and reserve parking spaces on demand.
Such technology may sound futuristic, but cities across the country and around the world already are using them to improve services and increase efficiencies. Womble Bond Dickinson attorney Morris Ellison has written a new op-ed on these so-called “Smart Cities” for the Charleston Post & Courier.
“All of these possibilities require data and 5G, fifth-generation technology, offers the ability to collect and process that data and data is what makes a city smart,” Ellison writes. 5G technology is 100 times faster than 4G and, combined with Internet of Things (IOT) sensors, allows cities to operate fast-moving, large-scale data collection efforts.
“All of these possibilities require data and 5G, fifth-generation technology, offers the ability to collect and process that data and data is what makes a city smart.”
Morris Ellison
Building a 5G network across a city requires hundreds of short-range antennas, and that is where municipal leadership is so important. “Delivering on the promise of 5G requires the installation of towers, which use private property, existing utility easements and public rights of way to create this new 5G network,” Ellison writes.
Click here to read “Commentary: ‘Smart City’ technologies and 5G offer brighter future for Charleston” by Morris Ellison in the Charleston Post & Courier.
In addition, the Post & Courier’s Editorial Board cited Ellison in a new editorial on the role of local decision-makers in building 5G networks.
For more on Smart Cities, click here to read Ellison’s article on “Smart Cities: Issues & Opportunities to Consider” for Real Estate Issues.
Morris Ellison is a partner with the law firm of Womble Bond Dickinson where he chairs the firm’s Smart Cities practice in North America. His practice includes commercial real estate transactions, commercial litigation, tax appeals and economic development. He represents local, national and international investors, lenders, and real estate developers in the development, financing and disposition of commercial properties and other assets as well as entity disputes.
