NIST Workshop Report: Whole Community Preparedness in Smart Cities and Communities

Published

November 28, 2025

Author(s)

William Dunaway, Cheyney O'Fallon, Wenqi Guo, Thomas Roth

Abstract

In August 2024, the Smart Connected Systems Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted a workshop entitled, "Whole Community Preparedness in Smart Cities and Communities." The purpose of the workshop was to determine requirements, metrics, and potential standards for disaster preparedness, post-disaster recovery, and overall community resilience achievable through the integration of advanced digital technologies. Over 50 attendees participated, including representatives from academia, federal government, industry, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations. The two-day workshop included keynote addresses, a federal agency panel, presentations, and three breakout sessions involving four teams. Topics addressed by speakers included the evolving nature of emergency management, the role of federal agencies in informing and providing resources for disaster management, achieving balance between technology integration and community engagement, the competing needs of information-sharing and cybersecurity, and the use of digital twins to enhance city operations and community preparedness. Four core themes emerged from the workshop: (1) the criticality of trust, transparency, and community engagement; (2) the need for standards in data integration, interoperability, and technology adoption; (3) the importance of broad participation by community leadership, private citizens, and the business sector as the foundation for whole community preparedness; (4) the requirement for effective models or templates to structure post-disaster communications, collaboration, and governance. Based on this initial foundation, the results were presented in two additional workshops at the 2025 Smart Cities Connect Conference in San Antonio, TX, and again at the University of Colorado's Natural Hazards Workshop in Boulder, CO. These sessions provided perspectives from an additional 40 participants representing city officials and managers, smart city practitioners, and private sector and university researchers, and reflected real-world experience in technology development and integration by cities and communities and the impacts of natural and technological disasters on cities, towns, and rural communities. The insights gained from the workshop series are intended to inform future research by NIST laboratories in collaboration with universities, private sector organizations, and local agencies and community leadership. Ultimately, the goal is to define a strategy toward effective whole community preparedness for cities, communities, and regions against the hazards and threats faced by all.

Citation

Special Publication (NIST SP) - NIST SP 1900-208

Report Number

NIST SP 1900-208

NIST Pub Series

Special Publication (NIST SP)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1900-208

Local Download

Keywords

Community resilience, data integration, disaster preparedness, public safety communications, interoperability, public-private partnerships, smart cities, whole community.

Citation

Dunaway, W. , O'Fallon, C. , Guo, W. and Roth, T. (2025), NIST Workshop Report: Whole Community Preparedness in Smart Cities and Communities, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1900-208, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960614 (Accessed November 29, 2025)