Smart Cities
A Dissenting Take on Smart Cities from Rem Koolhaas
A post on the European Commission website provides an edited transcript of a presentation by Rem Koolhaas in which the starchitect and author offers a scathing take on the ill effects of smart cities.
Mining Data from the World for Big Profits
The Wall Street Journal examines a pair of businesses as examples of how new sources of data can be collected and sold. Orbital Insight, Inc, for instance, interprets the shadows cast by buildings.
Why Smart Cities Must be Sharing Cities
Julian Agyeman and Duncan McLaren make the case that the only smart city is a shareable city.
The Power of Public-Private Partnerships: Mobile Phone Apps and Municipalities
Private, crowdsourced mobile phone applications addressing urban mobility collect troves of data on how cities flow. So how can municipalities tap into these databases to accurately understand the movement of their citizens?
The New Era of 'Cities 3.0': Just Add Infrastructure
Any vision for a "City 3.0"—or an untethered, technology-enabled city—is dependent on next generation infrastructure for Internet, energy, water, and more.
Does the 'Playable City' Improve the 'Smart City'?
Conceived as a counterpoint to the "smart city," the "playable city" would think beyond efficiency and utility in applying technology to the urban experience.
Interfacing Urban Intelligence
Shannon Mattern argues that as we enter the era of so-called “smart” cities, we need to consider the point of engagement where citizens interface with the city’s operating system.
For Sale: Data on 90 Million Bike Rides and 20 Million Runs
The same week that the New York Police Department released a boat load of data about traffic collisions comes news that exercise app Strava will sell its data on the how, where, and when bikers and runners use streets.
The Hudson Yards 'Quantified Community' Experiment
Undergirding the massive mix of uses and investments called Hudson Yards is an ambitious plan to gather and analyze data provided by the 65,000 people a day who make use of the facility.
Policy First; Then Technology
Civic leaders chime in on how policy should guide technology and smart cities initiatives.
Big Data’s Victory Over Anonymity
A writer laments the advances made by data collection in cities—once a location where people could maintain or seek anonymity.
3 Reasons We Should Pay Attention to Medellín
Medellín has been called the most innovative city in the world, and recently hosted the World Urban Forum WUF7 to huge acclaim. It has taken back the city's public realm, found simple solutions to complex problems, and emphasized a "City for Life."
The Technology of Walkability
A recent article explores the promise—and potential pitfalls—of new technology to support the growing popularity of urban pedestrianism.
Boston Mayor Plugs Into Big Data
New Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh has installed a large data dashboard in his office to track the performance of everything from city services, hot line call volume, and social media sentiment.
How Smart Cities Encourage Citizen Engagement
The extent to which cities will build data collection systems into the infrastructure—or how much we’ll voluntarily gather and share information from our smartphones—has yet to be determined. Here is a survey of what some cities have launched so far.
The Dark Side of Big Data
In a long read for Metropolis Magazine, Alex Marshall describes the implications of the “Smart City” movement, including the risk of turning over massive data collection operations to large corporations.
For or Against Smart Cities: Where Should Planners Stand?
Are we using technology to plan for utopias? Or are we luddites who are ignoring an inevitable future? Should we be for our against smart cities? Two recent books take on this debate.
It's Street Furniture; It's a Smart Device
Street furniture like benches, garbage cans, and bike racks are found in every city. But not all street furniture is created equal—new technology is redefining street furniture as the smart devices that run efficient cities.
North America's 10 Smartest Cities
A year after he unveiled his list of North America's top "Smart Cities" based on a new metric meant to bring clarity and measurability to the discussion, Boyd Cohen is back with a refined methodology and a new ranking.
Solutionism in Urban Data Science
Shannon Mattern surveys the new wave of urban data science projects and argues that practitioners are trending toward an obsession with data-for-data’s-sake and an idolization of method.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Smith Gee Studio
City of Charlotte
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)
