Cities

From engineer to urban planner

Grad student Billy Ndengeyingoma helps improve affordable-housing design in Africa.

September 25, 2016

ROBOAT, a new collaboration between researchers from MIT and partner institutions in the Netherlands, seeks to design and deploy a fleet of autonomous boats on the canals of Amsterdam.

An autonomous fleet for Amsterdam

MIT, AMS Institute will collaborate to solve complex urban problems for Amsterdam with the development of autonomous "roboats."

September 19, 2016

“Design is one of many forces that can contribute to improving society. As a physical piece of most people’s lives, it is very important,” says Brent Ryan, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Blueprints for renewal

Professor of urban design and public policy Brent Ryan believes good architecture can help revive cities.

September 19, 2016

“The way we measure street lighting is still very primitive,” says Sumeet Kumar PhD ’14. Kumar and his team came up with the idea of replacing manual inspections with a set of cameras and sensors mounted on top of a vehicle, in much the same way that Google uses vehicle-mounted camera systems to generate its street views.

Drive-by monitoring for urban streetlights

System developed at MIT could automate inspection for efficiency and maintenance issues.

September 16, 2016

A study led by MIT researchers suggests that using mobile-phone data to track people’s movement provides a deeper picture of exposure to pollution in urban settings, compared to only studying air-quality levels in fixed places.

Measuring exposure to pollution

Mobile-phone data helps researchers study an urban problem in greater detail.

September 1, 2016

Lily Bui (center) poses at a GPS painting event in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Integrating user-collected data in city planning

Lily Bui draws upon science, art, and public advocacy to enrich urban design.

August 26, 2016

Assessing health impacts of policies and plans

New class offers urban planners tools to explore the intersection of city planning and public health.

July 26, 2016

J. Meejin Yoon, Alex Anmahian among winners of Northern Avenue Bridge Competition

Winning proposals would create civic spaces while restoring infrastructure.

July 6, 2016

“The City of Tomorrow: Sensors, Networks, Hackers, and the Future of Urban Life” (Yale University Press), co-written by Carlo Ratti (pictured), director of the Senseable City Lab and a professor of the practice in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Cities of tomorrow

New book by Senseable City Lab researchers presents vision of data-driven urban design.

July 5, 2016

Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Five governments selected for J-PAL State and Local Innovation Initiative

Selected state and local governments will receive support from J-PAL North America at MIT to improve the effectiveness of social programs.

June 20, 2016

By patterning a solar absorber with tiny holes with diameters less than 400 nanometers, an MIT-Masdar Institute team has enhanced the range of solar energy that the device can absorb. Here, Masdar Institute postdoc Jin You Lu characterizes the nanoporous solar absorber using UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy.

New solar absorber could improve efficiency of solar thermal technology

Masdar Institute-MIT team develops device that harnesses more sunlight, enhancing efficiency of heat production.

June 13, 2016

Making cities smarter

MIT researchers are creating tools that synthesize and collect data so that urban planners can vastly improve the quality of urban life.

June 1, 2016

New model from Masdar Institute-MIT collaboration to support a cooler, more sustainable Abu Dhabi

Tool will help urban planners reduce Abu Dhabi’s heat island and carbon footprint.

May 17, 2016

QualiT, an app launched as part of a collaboration between MIT and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), allows riders of the Silver Line to rate their bus trips.

Crowdsourcing the Silver Line commute

New app from MIT researchers gathers rider feedback to improve Boston bus service.

May 3, 2016

Conceptual view of future suburban fabric

A new lens on suburbia

Center for Advanced Urbanism conference explores the suburbs’ sustainable future.

April 27, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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