Writing for The Hill, Prof. Jinhua Zhao, Prof. Franz-Josef Ulm, Research Scientist Anson Stewart and Principal Research Scientist Randolph Kirchain explore how to maximize the impact and effectiveness of the infrastructure spending bill. “Here’s what we should do," they write. "Modernize planning tools to consider systems holistically, get out of technology ruts, and, most fundamentally, measure performance.”
Writing for Bloomberg, Prof. Carlo Ratti and Saskia Sassen of Columbia University explore how to help rebuild cities in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We have the duty to recapitalize our cities — not in financial terms, but in terms of their ‘living’ capital, shoring up their human reserves,” they write.
Karilyn Crockett, a lecturer in DUSP, spoke with The Boston Globe’s Kelly Horan about her role as Boston’s chief of equity. “As I prioritize racial, gender, and health equity for a city of 700,000 that is majority people of color, it means that we have to recognize that the history that brought us here has to be looked at in a clear way.”
Scott Kirsner of The Boston Globe outlines the three factors that have created a strong foundation for local startups that are focused on buildings. He highlights MIT’s designX accelerator program as one factor that has helped “would-be student entrepreneurs explore ideas tied to the built environment, and to potentially launch for-profit companies or nonprofit organizations.”
Prof. Alan Berger writes for The Daily Beast about the findings of a new book he co-edited, Infinite Suburbia, which shows that “the vast majority of American economic and demographic growth continues to take place [in the suburbs].”
Prof. Alan Berger shares his ideas for creating suburbs that attract tech savvy and environmentally conscious millennials in The New York Times. “Millennial suburbanites want a new kind of landscape. They want breathing room but disdain the energy wastefulness, visual monotony and social conformity of postwar manufactured neighborhoods.”
Jesse Lichtenstein writes for The New York Times about Jonny Sun, a PhD candidate in DUSP, whose humorous Twitter feed, “jomny sun,” has become increasingly popular for offering “comfort, whimsy and an alternative to the rage/panic/schadenfreude/political flame-warring of much online discourse.” “Twitter is often thought of as a shallow, superficial thing,” said Sun, but “there’s a lot of honest pathos and humanity in it.”
Prof. Dennis Frenchman spoke to Lisa Prevost of The New York Times about the possibilities for development in South Boston’s Seaport. Students in Frenchman’s real estate development studio program envisioned “inspiring visions of robotics production spaces beneath apartment houses, waterfront ‘maker’ spaces, like breweries and chocolatiers, and co-working spaces for entrepreneurs."
In an article for The Washington Post, Prof. Carlo Ratti writes that car-sharing services and self-driving vehicles could enable cities to repurpose parking spaces. “Vacant lots could be populated with green areas, a variety of shared public amenities or 'maker space' facilities, providing working tools — 3D printers, CNC machines — for design and fabrication,” writes Ratti.
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Matthias Winkenbach and Daniel E. Merchán of the MIT Megacity Logistics Lab explain that retailers are developing new distribution strategies in crowded urban areas. “The changing demands put a premium on innovative distribution models that are efficient, flexible, and resilient,” the authors explain.
Ryan Duffy reports for The Huffington Post on research scientist Caleb Harper’s food computer, designed to improve food-production efficiency. "The math is simple and staggering: we need to produce at least 50 percent more food to feed nine billion people by 2050," explains Duffy.
Graduate student Jeffrey Rosenblum participates in a discussion on WBUR’s Radio Boston about biking in Boston. Rosenblum argues that people need more transportation options so they can “drive for the trips that make sense to drive, and they can bike for the trips that make sense to bike, and take transit.”
MIT researchers are using Kumbh Mela — India’s largest religious festival — to help policymakers and planners develop smarter cities, writes Krishna Pokharel for The Wall Street Journal. “It’s about helping the smart citizens make their cities smart,” says John Werner of the MIT Camera Culture group.
Prof. John Ochsendorf speaks with Kara Miller of WGBH's Innovation Hub about what architects can learn from the design of ancient buildings. “In many climates around the world, architecture developed specifically to its climate,” says Ochsendorf. “Today...we can air condition our way out of any heat, so we build glass boxes in the desert.”
In an article for The Guardian, Purvi Thacker writes about how researchers from MIT are examining the Kumbh Mela festival, one of the largest public gatherings in the world, to find solutions to problems often found in cities. Prof. Ramesh Raskar explains his goal “to create a prototype ecosystem with the broader vision of game-changing innovation at its core.”