UPDATE, Nov. 11, 2020: Mastercard announced Tuesday its City Possible program has expanded into more cities and added new capabilities.

Now with 220 member and candidate cities worldwide, City Possible has added London, Los Angeles, New York and Hamilton, Ontario to its network. It has also partnered with Digital Main Street, which partners with more than 500 cities across Canada to help small businesses embrace new technology and digital transformation.

Mastercard said the City Possible network will have a “reimagined” City Insights marketplace for members and partners to share ideas and insights in a “new store-like experience.” Tools will include sentiment analysis data from analytics firm Zencity, which Mastercard said will help as cities recover from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The company added that its City Key tool, which combines identification, access to city services and payment functionalities, is now live in more than 25 communities, while its Transit Partner Program is in more than 330 cities worldwide to help digitize public transportation operations.

Dive Brief:

• Mastercard added 14 members to its growing City Possible network, the company announced Tuesday during Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona, Spain.
• The new members include the cities of Casey, Georges River and Logan in Australia; the cities of Juazeiro do Norte, Madre de Deus, Novo Hamburgo, Porto Alegre and Santo André in Brazil; Wellington, New Zealand; Augusta, GA; Columbia, SC; New Orleans; Seat Pleasant, MD; and Spokane, WA.
• City Possible has seen significant growth in the last year due to its focus on partnerships, leading edge technologies and data insights, the group said in a tweet.

Dive Insight:

Mastercard has touted City Possible as a network for "urban co-development," intended to help member cities, industry leaders, NGOs and academics share expertise and solutions to common challenges. It has circulated the hashtag #MakeTechWorkForPeople to highlight the network's focus on inclusivity and civic engagement. 

At the core of City Possible is City Insights, a tool that helps policymakers assess the impact of planned and unplanned events on the local economy, however City Possible is also branching into new ventures and partnerships.

T​​hrough its City Possible partnership, the City of Honolulu recently worked with Mastercard to develop City Key, a platform designed to enhance residents' access to city services, identification cards and payment sources. City Possible is also enabling various public-private partnerships around tourism management, transportation and cyber resilience.

The network will likely continue to expand in 2020, as evidenced by the popularity of its massive City Possible Plaza anchored at the base of the SCEWC exhibit hall. Through a series of demonstrations and panels, Mastercard is leveraging its global audience of smart city leaders at the event to shine a light on the ways City Possible can be at the core of smart city innovation.