Our focus

We Deliver Smart Solutions for Building and Refining Accessible & Inclusive Smart Cities
Technical Assistance

Darren Bates LLC offers customized technical assistance and training that is culturally and linguistically competent through teams of inclusion specialists and accessibility experts in the field. We provide instruction and support to multiple stakeholders—city leadership, city planners and support staff, infrastructure operators, higher education, private business enterprise, coalitions, and the broader community—to foster universal design and people-centered urban planning.

Smart Cities Library™

We offer 24/7 access to our online Smart Cities Library™ (SCL), our premier subscription product for building and refining an inclusive and accessible Smart City Platform. The SCL is meticulously tagged and categorized to make it easy for you to search and find precisely what you need. We are continuously expanding the SCL to include resources, maturity models, best practices, roadmaps, articles, e-books, and other useful Smart City solutions curated from thousands of academic, public, and national libraries and periodicals around the world. FMI: https://www.smartcitieslibrary.com/

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

We work closely with cities and communities to unearth the challenges they are facing; to inspire research questions based on these challenges, and to leverage innovation to develop actionable insights and solutions. Our process encourages community engagement, innovation, and facilitates cross-sector collaboration to bridge social inequities and ensure no citizen is left behind.

Innovation Labs

Intensive and highly structured, creative, collaboration session with your cross-functional team, s facilitated by our experienced We offer intensive, structured, and cross-functional, collaboration sessions facilitated by our teams of inclusion specialists and accessibility experts. We guide your teams—step-by-step—as they define challenges, enable solutions, identify best practices, and develop local strategies for nurturing multi-faceted communities and building and refining an inclusive Smart City and digital society that includes everyone.

Everyone has the right to benefit from what their Smart City offers.

We empower Smart Cities, government, and private industry—at all stages of growth—to build accessible and inclusive digital societies that ensure no citizen is left behind.

ABOUT US

Resources and Innovation for the Inclusive Smart City.™
We make accessibility & inclusion relevant, user-friendly, and easy to incorporate into your Smart City platform.

Darren Bates LLC (DLBLLC) is a boutique consulting firm and global resource for inclusive and accessible Smart Cities. DLBLLC was founded in 2013 by Darren Bates, a lifelong champion of equality, inclusion, and social justice for people with disabilities and the LGBTQ communities.

Bates is widely known for both his technical expertise and logistical talent for helping public and private organizations create and sustain intentionally inclusive workplaces where all people feel included, respected, valued, and inspired.

To be successful, Smart Cities must provide tangible benefits to all residents, including people with disabilities, seniors, and other historically underserved populations. DLBLLC supports people-centric urban design and the global mandate calling for municipalities to design and build Smart Cities for human diversity and social inclusion.

DLBLLC empowers Smart Cities, government, and private industry—at all stages of growth—to build accessible and inclusive digital societies that ensure no citizen is left behind.

  • We Envision

    We align technology innovation with citizen inclusion. We immerse ourselves in your city's culture to discover local needs, to unearth critical challenges, to leverage the diversity of perspectives, and uncover actionable insights.

  • WE DELIVER

    We accelerate local solutions using community-centric innovations. We help our Clients develop standards, metrics, maturity models, and real-time dashboards for performance evaluation and continuous improvement.

  • WE EMPOWER

    We work closely with our Clients to create a shared and inclusive strategy across District agencies, government entities, academia/research communities, industry partners, and stakeholders to drive participation and progress, and achieve measurable results that improve the quality of life for all citizens.

  • Smart Cities Library™

    The Smart Cities Library™ is a premier online resource that helps private, and public organizations build and refine accessible and inclusive smart cities that ensure no citizen is left behind or excluded. The Smart Cities Library™ includes breaking news, maturity models, best practices, roadmaps, e-books, and other Smart City solutions curated from thousands of academic, public, and national libraries and periodicals around the world. FMI: https://www.smartcitieslibrary.com/

We support people-centric urban design and the new global mandate calling for municipalities to design and build Smart Cities for human diversity and social inclusion.

We make accessibility & inclusion relevant, user-friendly, and easy to incorporate into your Smart City platform.

LET'S CHAT

Fill out the form below to start a conversation. Tell us what you've got in mind and we'll be in touch to schedule a time to dig in a little deeper.