In this video, Reuters reporter Matthew Stock explores how researchers at the MIT Senseable City Lab are using big data to help make crowded cities better places to live. Stock explains that researchers hope to use anonymous data to improve public infrastructure and living spaces to “make the metropolis fit for future generations.”
In an article for The Washington Post, Beth Simone Noveck highlights RiskMap, an open-source platform developed by researchers from MIT’s Urban Risk Lab that allows users to gather and access information about disaster areas. Noveck writes that “RiskMap is a paradigmatic example of collective intelligence.”
MIT alumna Kara Elliott-Ortega has been named Boston’s new chief of arts and culture, reports Don Aucoin for The Boston Globe. Elliott-Ortega, who received a master’s degree in city planning from MIT, explains that she feels the “arts aren’t just a stand-alone sector or area of work, but are a part of everything the city is doing.’’
Researchers from MIT’s Urban Risk Lab are collaborating with Portland State University and Portland General Electric on a new emergency preparedness project called PREPhub. The researchers are developing structures that will serve as public gathering places and will allow the public to access information and connect with family, friends and community members after a disaster, reports Mary Loos for KATU.
Using data from MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, CNBC "Make It" has mapped out the earnings needed for a single person to live comfortably in every state, reports Emmie Martin. The calculator, explains Martin, “takes into account factors such as child care and health insurance, in addition to food and other regular costs.”
Wired reporter Aarian Marshall highlights how MIT is launching a new undergraduate major that will combine computer science and urban planning. Prof. Eran Ben-Joseph explains that the motivation for the major is studying how, “you make a better connection between the training and computation, and what the implication of the work will be, for communities, for policies.”
NBC Mach reporter Tom Metcalfe writes that MIT researchers are developing autonomous boats that could be used to ferry goods and people and could help ease traffic congestion. “We believe that with fleets of very agile autonomous boats we can offload some street traffic onto the waterways,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus.
Wired reporter Jack Stewart highlights how MIT researchers have developed a 3-D printed autonomous boat that could be used to ferry goods or people. The boats could eventually, “use their onboard GPS sensors and inertial measurement units to precisely position themselves in packs, forming instant floating bridges, or stages, or platforms for pop-up food markets on the water.”
MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that can accurately determine how many taxis a city needs, providing a way to reduce the number of cars on the road, according to Xinhua. “Using the new algorithm, they found the fleet size of cab-hailing service in New York could be cut down by about 30 percent in an optimal scenario.”
Danny Crichton of TechCrunch highlights Media Lab researchers Kent Larson and John Clippinger, who are sorting socio-economic factors into datasets in order to create a model that can guide a community towards success. “Wouldn’t it be great to create an alternative where instead of optimizing for financial benefits, we could optimize for social benefits, and cultural benefits, and environmental benefits,” said Larson.
Mel King, who founded the Community Fellows Program in 1996, spoke to Crystal Haynes at Boston 25 News for a feature about his lifelong efforts to promote inclusion and equal access to technology. Haynes notes that King, a senior lecturer emeritus at MIT, “is credited with forming Boston into the city it is today; bringing groups separated by race, gender and sexuality together in a time when it was not only unexpected, but dangerous.”
Using recent analyses by Prof. Frank Levy, Eduardo Porter of The New York Times explores the notion that AI will eliminate jobs and negatively impact American politics. Prof. Daron Acemoglu suggests that with more employment options in large cities, the backlash “will be more muted than it was when trade took out the jobs of single-industry company towns.”
In a Wired article, Prof. Carlo Ratti writes about how responsive sensors can help reduce energy usage in buildings. Ratti explains that, “by pursuing a tailor-made, non-standardised approach we can achieve not only better comfort levels for building users, but also a substantial reduction in energy consumptions: between 25 per cent and 40 per cent.”
Bonnie Christian of Wired provides tips from experts for boosting productivity in the new year. A recent renovation by Prof. Carlo Ratti allows workers to adjust their lighting and temperature to “create a kind of thermal bubble, which follows each individual, allowing better comfort and a reduction of energy waste,” he explains.
A team of MIT students and postdocs has taken the top prize in the architecture category of the 2017 Mars City Design competition, reports Janussa Delzo for Newsweek. Delzo notes that the MIT team’s tree-inspired concept features “domes or tree habitats...large enough for 50 people to live inside of them."