Los Angeles Times reporter Karen Kaplan writes that a new study by MIT researchers provides evidence that high-occupancy vehicle lanes can reduce traffic. The researchers found that when a carpool policy in Jakarta, Indonesia was canceled, there was a “46% increase in commuting time in the morning and an 87% increase in the evening.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Jason Bordoff writes that MIT researchers have produced a map of the Nairobi bus system using GPS data collected from riders’ mobile phones. “With these networks now mapped, users can access the system more easily and efficiently, and local officials can plan bus and train routes around it,” writes Bordoff.
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.”
In an article for The New York Times about the growing number of autonomous public transportation programs in Europe, Mark Scott highlights Prof. Carlo Ratti’s work testing driverless boats in Amsterdam. In addition to ferrying people and goods, the driverless boats will also be able to “automatically dock with each other, creating on-demand bridges and walkways whenever necessary."
In an article for The Boston Globe, Prof. Charles Fine and Research Affiliate David Gonsalvez examine how to improve the City of Boston’s transportation infrastructure, which could help increase the region’s livability and foster economic growth. Fine and Gonsalvez note that “a city’s mobility architecture can have a huge impact on its economy.”
Researchers in the MIT Senseable City Lab have partnered with the City of Cambridge to gather information about air pollution, infrastructure decay, and traffic, writes Haniya Rae for CityLab. The researchers have outfitted five garbage trucks with “accelerometers, air-quality sensors, infrared cameras, and wireless signal monitors,” in an effort to “collect data on the state of the city.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Hannah Furfaro highlights Treepedia, an online tool developed by researchers from MIT’s Senseable City Lab, that analyses tree cover in cities around the world. “Street greenery is a really important part of the urban environment,” explains postdoctoral fellow Xiaojiang Li.
In this interview with Domus, Prof. Carlo Ratti discusses architecture and the digital revolution. Speaking about innovations that will influence the future, Ratti explains that “thanks to digital technology, we can finally build an interior that is not only able to feel, but also to respond, adapting itself in real time to our needs.”
The March 2017 issue of Italian design magazine Domus includes a special section that explores the fringes of architectural innovation in four aspects: design, materials, production, and interaction. Curated by Prof. Carlo Ratti, director of the MIT Senseable City Lab, the section’s articles feature an array of MIT architects, designers, and innovators.
In an article for The Guardian about the importance of trees, Dyani Lewis highlights Treepedia, a project by researchers in MIT’s Senseable City Lab, which maps the number of trees in cities around the world. Prof. Carlo Ratti explains that the project will hopefully “put pressure on government to plant more trees.”
Laura Winkless writes for Forbes about the ways robots are changing life in urban areas. ROBOATs, the fleet of autonomous boats and floating structures developed by Prof. Carlo Ratti, “could offer an additional, low-cost way to once again integrate local canals and rivers into the urban landscape,” said Winkless.
A study co-authored by Prof. Carlo Ratti finds ride-sharing is feasible in different cities around the world, reports Eleanor Cummins for Popular Science. “The key thing is how this can transform our cities. Every car you remove from the road, you are removing pollution and traffic,” explains Ratti.
Media Lab researchers have developed an autonomous tricycle that could decrease commuting times by 10 percent, writes Meghan Ottolini for The Boston Herald. Principal research scientist Kent Larson explains that the tricycles could be used to “meet the demand at rush hour, and at off-peak, you have excess vehicles that can move packages autonomously.”
Prof. Carlo Ratti has created a metal canopy that can control light and shade, and can be used to create microclimates in outdoor areas, reports Sophie Morlin-Yron for CNN. Morlin-Yron writes that Ratti explained that “the aim is to curb the heat that makes public areas in places like Dubai ‘unlivable’ during the hottest times.”
Guardian reporter Max Galka writes about Treepedia, a visual database of the urban canopy in 16 cities, developed by researchers from MIT’s Senseable City Lab. The database, “accounts for the density of trees, and by analyzing panoramas from Google Street View, it considers how buildings and other obstructions affect how the trees are perceived at ground level.”