Page 576 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

Box 8. Initiatives for increasing resiliency in the telecommunications system in New York City,
USA

The New York City developed a comprehensive plan entitled "A stronger, more resilient New York"
containing recommendations both rebuilding the communities impacted by Sandy and increasing
the resilience of infrastructure and buildings citywide. The plan contains the following initiatives
designed to mitigate the impact of climate change on New York's telecommunications system:
 Establishing an office within The New York City Department of Information Technology and
Telecommunications (DoITT) to focus on telecommunications regulation and resiliency planning;
 Establishing new resiliency requirements for providers using scheduled renewals of the City's
franchise agreements;
 Requesting business continuity plans from current city franchisees as permitted under existing
franchise agreements;
 Developing flood protection standards for placement of telecommunications equipment in
buildings;
 Using the DoITT franchise agreements to ensure hardening of all critical facilities;
 Studying options to increase conduit infrastructure redundancy and resiliency;
 Continuing the implementation of Connect NYC Fiber Access to create broadband redundancy;
 Adding telecommunications provider quality and resiliency to the WiredNYC and NYC Broadband
map ratings.

A progress report of the implementation of the plan emphasizes that a robust telecommunications
network is the backbone to New York City, supporting every aspect of work and life. That
communication is especially critical during disasters or citywide catastrophes, during which the city
is most vulnerable. The report indicates achievements under the telecommunications system,
including a process for establishing the Telecommunications Planning and Resiliency Office (TPRO)
to address telecommunication policy and enforcement issues in the event of future storms and
disruptions like Sandy, a review of all of the city's existing franchise agreements and procurement
contracts to identify opportunities for enhancing telecommunications resiliency.
Sources: The City of New York, 2013. A stronger, more resilient New York.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/sirr/html/report/report.shtml
The City of New York, 2014. Progress report: Sustainability & resiliency 2014.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc/downloads/pdf/140422_PlaNYCP‐Report_FINAL_Web.pdf

Observing and understanding atmospheric processes and impacts in cities is essential to prepare a
sustainable response, and to build urban resilience to climate change. ICT tools and services are a
key resource in facilitating environmental data collection and analysis that can be used by city
planners to improve urban preparedness to natural hazards and changing climatic conditions. Thus,
ICTs (including radio, satellites, radar, earth observation systems) are valuable tools for
environmental and climate change monitoring systems that can save thousands of lives.
Remote monitoring and data collection using ICT‐equipped sensors (telemetry) is essential for
climate change‐related research. ICTs have also proved invaluable to conduct climate modelling
experiments. The development of aerial photography, satellite imagery, grid technology and in
particular the use of global positioning by satellite (GPS) for tracking slow and long‐term movement,
represent significant results of the use of ICTs that can support the development of climate change
adaptation projects on a city level. (Box 9).

566 ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications