Sophia Haigney writes for The Boston Globe that students in the URBANFRAME program, based out of MIT’s architecture department, are exploring design solutions for Cambridge’s Central Square, including sidewalk lanes to help smartphone users avoid collisions. Haigney notes that the program is aimed at designing “for under-represented groups in the community — people whom designers might typically ignore.”
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."
CBC News reporter David Common writes that as part of a project called Underworlds, MIT researchers have developed robots that can sample human waste in sewers in an effort to better understand public health. "One of the holy grails of this project during its inception was to identify viral outbreaks," explains Jessica Snyder, an MIT postdoc.
Forbes contributor Pete Saunders highlights a new study by Prof. Mercedes Delgado that examines the relationship between industry clusters and employment growth in cities. Delgado found that “while inner city neighborhoods start with an economic disadvantage compared to central business districts, they do have competitive advantages.”
WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman speaks with Prof. Carlo Ratti and research scientist Bryan Reimer about the potential impact of driverless cars on everything from traffic to the economy. Reimer says using autonomous vehicles will change, “how we move. It changes how packages are moved. It changes how we behave. It changes the future of old age. It changes everything.”
WBUR reporter Jack Lepiarz speaks with Prof. Marta Gonzalez about her traffic study that found that if drivers switched routes during rush hour they could cut back on congestion. “We have enough space, in theory, but we are all filling up a few streets that get congested,” Gonzalez explains.
Prof. Carlo Ratti and graduate student Matthew Claudel write for Harvard Business Review about how technology is changing office environments. “Throughout history, buildings have been rigid and uncompromising, more like a corset than a T-shirt,” they write. “With better data on occupancy, we could design a built environment that adapts to humans, rather than the inverse.”
In an article for the BBC News, Jane Wakefield highlights a gesture-controlled transforming unit designed for small homes by MIT researchers. "We need to think of technology-enabled furniture as a platform for integrating other technology because in a small apartment it is not practical to put in conventional systems," explains Principal Research Scientist Kent Larson.
Boston Globe reporter Kevin Hartnett writes about a new study co-authored by MIT researchers that envisions a future without traffic lights. “When sensor-laden vehicles approach an intersection, they can communicate their presence and remain at a safe distance from each other, rather than grinding to a halt at traffic lights,” explains Prof. Carlo Ratti.
The Economist highlights how researchers in MIT’s SENSEable City Lab are developing sensors to measure noise and pollution levels, and robots to collect health information. “MIT’s SENSEable City Lab in Cambridge across the Charles River gives a taste of how much more cities could do with data,” The Economist notes.
Kevin Hartnett writes for The Boston Globe about an exhibition by the MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism that examines the future of suburban living. “Urban planning doesn’t focus enough attention on suburbia, it focuses on making dense cities denser, which is where a minority of the world’s population wants to live,” explains Prof. Alan Berger.
Popular Science reporter Kelsey Atherton writes that MIT researchers have developed a model that would allow cars to travel through intersections by communicating with one another, eliminating the need for traffic lights. “Rather than traffic lights working as valves dictating which stream can flow, the cars themselves are adjusted, cleanly separated and passed along,” Atherton explains.
During this CBS Radio segment, Sam Litzinger spotlights a new model developed by MIT researchers that would allow sensor-enabled vehicles to travel safely through intersections without traffic lights. Litzinger explains that the researchers have developed “what amounts to a central nervous system that can connect intersections with an incoming vehicle.”
MIT researchers have found that communication between vehicles could ease traffic at intersections, writes Thomas Tamblyn for The Huffington Post. The researchers found that by communicating with one another, vehicles could maintain safe distances, removing the need for traffic lights.
New Scientist reporter Rebecca Boyle writes that MIT researchers have found that taking a longer route in and out of the city decreases road congestion by 30 percent. “If we are able to remove a couple of cars from the morning commute, that’s going to save everyone else a lot of time,” explains graduate student Serdar Çolak.