Smarter Cities (jayparkinsonmd: Simply put, there has been a...)

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Mining the Collaboration with Advanced Analytics

Using some of IBM's expertise in deep data mining and analysis, we will crunch all the content to help develop a SmarterCities Open Model, which cities and groups around the world can build on to start SmarterCities grassroots projects. The data will remain free and open, under Creative Commons license, so that it can grow and be improved over time. This creative output will also flow into and inform work at IBM's new network of Analytics Centers launching around the globe: in Berlin, Tokyo, Beijing, New York, London and Washington, D.C.

SmarterCities is an outgrowth of IBM's Smarter Planet initiative, which is focused on how all the systems in the world -- including food production, healthcare delivery, energy use, traffic and water management -- can become more instrumented, interconnected and, as a result, intelligent.

Cities are the crossroads of these networks. They are also where human populations are increasingly concentrated, with more than 66% of humanity projected to live in major metropolitan areas by 2050.

That's where you come in: building on the Smarter Cities Summit in New York City October 1-2, this Smarter Cities Scan is your opportunity to share ideas, propose projects and learn about the innovations that can help us become a planet of smarter cities. If anything cries out for "crowd sourcing" and collective intelligence, the city as a "system of systems" does.

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"A vision of smarter cities," by IBMer Susanne Dirks, Manager, Global Centre for Economic Development.

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jayparkinsonmd:

Simply put, there has been a profound structural shift — a reversal of what took place in the 1950s, when drivable suburbs boomed and flourished as center cities emptied and withered.

The shift is durable and lasting because of a major demographic event: the convergence of the two largest generations in American history, the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and the millennials (born between 1979 and 1996), which today represent half of the total population.

Many boomers are now empty nesters and approaching retirement. Generally this means that they will downsize their housing in the near future. Boomers want to live in a walkable urban downtown, a suburban town center or a small town, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.

The millennials are just now beginning to emerge from the nest — at least those who can afford to live on their own. This coming-of-age cohort also favors urban downtowns and suburban town centers — for lifestyle reasons and the convenience of not having to own cars.

Over all, only 12 percent of future homebuyers want the drivable suburban-fringe houses that are in such oversupply, according to the Realtors survey. This lack of demand all but guarantees continued price declines. Boomers selling their fringe housing will only add to the glut. Nothing the federal government can do will reverse this.

via The Death of the Fringe Suburb

This is great news. Changing the environment around you to make health easy will do much, much more than expecting the medical world to save your life with handfuls of pills.

Photo by me from my Baltimore days.