Exploiting Big Data to improve the urban living experience | The Irish Times Research conducted in Ireland is playing a major part in the insights being gleaned as part of IBM’s global Smarter Cities initiative, which involves several cities, including Dublin, as collaborative research centres between the company, and local authorities and services. Cities are a special focus because the world is becoming increasingly urban. By 2050, the world’s population will be nine billion, of which 70 per cent will live in cities.

Exploiting Big Data to improve the urban living experience | The Irish Times

Research conducted in Ireland is playing a major part in the insights being gleaned as part of IBM’s global Smarter Cities initiative, which involves several cities, including Dublin, as collaborative research centres between the company, and local authorities and services.

Cities are a special focus because the world is becoming increasingly urban. By 2050, the world’s population will be nine billion, of which 70 per cent will live in cities.

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10 Powerful Policies to Successful Smart Mobility | Dr Hussein Dia The reform of urban mobility remains one of the biggest challenges confronting policy makers around the world. According to the United Nations, it is estimated that 1.3 million people are killed on the world’s roads each year. If left unchecked, this number could reach 1.9 million fatalities worldwide by 2020. The human cost  is profound – unimaginable suffering and grief.  The economic cost is a staggering $100 billion a year in developing countries alone.

10 Powerful Policies to Successful Smart Mobility | Dr Hussein Dia

The reform of urban mobility remains one of the biggest challenges confronting policy makers around the world. According to the United Nations, it is estimated that 1.3 million people are killed on the world’s roads each year. If left unchecked, this number could reach 1.9 million fatalities worldwide by 2020. The human cost  is profound – unimaginable suffering and grief.  The economic cost is a staggering $100 billion a year in developing countries alone.

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Report: Making urban farming possible (and profitable)

smarterplanet:

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This guide, a master’s paper from the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University, addresses the changing face of the agricultural industry, and supports farmers producing food in urban centers and on the urban fringe. It is a collection of topical factsheets including resources and…

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suchisthecity:

NEW YORK FARM CITY:

We all know urban farming is really taking root (*ahem*) in many places like Chicago, San Francisco, and New York.  Check out this video about urban farmers in NYC showing a bit of what they do, the movements and organizations they’re a part of, and where the food goes once it leaves the rooftop.

(via suchisthecity-deactivated201303)

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As an IBMer working on Smarter Cities — and a New Yorker for much of my adult life — I’d like to observe that Adam Greenfield doesn’t know me, my motivations, or those of the thousands of colleagues who are dedicated their lives and careers towards the goal of enabling cities, and urban citizens, to become smarter.

remagine:

Adam Greenfield makes an important and interesting point at Picnic 2011: the institutions (IBM, Cisco, Siemens, etc) developing “smart cities”, as we know the term, “do not have a sense of urbanism”, ” probably do not love the places they are developing for “,  “probably have not thought of the idea of love and the idea of a city, and how these things might relate to one another”: these are the things that “make cities valuable”.

via humanscalecities:

So where do we find ourselves, after a solid decade of smart city rhetoric? What was promised to us, what has been delivered, what were the results, and what remains possible?

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“Despite its vast popularity local authorities tend to either ignore or prohibit urban farming on a premise that it is unsightly, unhygienic and incompatible with progress and modernity. For many cities this vision of development along with zoning regulations and planning practices, remain unchanged since colonial times and are increasingly divorced from today’s rapid change and local specificities.”

Anna Plyushteva on the potential of urban agriculture in Africa.

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Urban-Urbane: Evidence that Humans may be Hard-Wired for Density

Urban density as the author of this article states, is a hot topic nowadays. There is strong evidence to suggest that high density land use is resource efficient. This is important information in a world where resources are dwindling. This article studied the habits of hunter-gatherer society…

via rafay-alam:

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