Urban studies and planning

An MIT team won first place for urban design with the Redwood Forest, a series of woodsy habitats enclosed in open, public domes that would reside on the Martian surface.

Mars city living: Designing for the Red Planet

A multidisciplinary team of MIT students and postdocs wins an international competition focused on building sustainably on Mars.

October 31, 2017

Researchers looked at 11 metro areas — including Atlanta, Georgia, pictured — to examine how much local emissions-reductions programs can help combat climate change. They found that there is likely to be greater impact in the area of residential energy rather than transportation, especially given local hurdles against more compact development.

How cities can fight climate change most effectively

Energy-efficient construction is key to lowering urban emissions, study finds.

October 26, 2017

“I found diaries from 7th grade where I asked a whole stream of questions about the universe and the ‘edge of the universe’ and its expansion,” says senior Talia Weiss.

Bridging the science-policy divide

For MIT senior Talia Weiss, physics and theater have provided a springboard for new interests in political science.

October 17, 2017

A "mapathon" hosted at MIT helped to develop a crowdsourced map of Puerto Rico's infrastructure damaged by two recent hurricanes. The map seeks to help aid agencies assess where to concentrate relief efforts on the ground.

Mapathon seeks to direct humanitarian aid for Puerto Rico

Boston-area volunteers gather at MIT to help identify post-hurricane conditions in the territory

October 16, 2017

CityScope Andorra is a 3-D augmented-reality platform that visualizes complex urban data on a small-scale model of the country. Users can interactively test scenarios on the model, such as how many parks to include in a city, adjust heights of buildings, calculate the optimal mix of residential and commercial real estate, and whether to allow private vehicles or only car-share services. The impact...

Small European nation becomes a “living lab” for urban innovation researchers

Andorra funds MIT Media Lab technologies that, in turn, help improve the nation’s cities.

October 13, 2017

The Media Lab’s Human Dynamics group team beat some 3,000 other submissions from around the world to win three of six categories in the 2017 Fragile Families Challenge.

Media Lab team tops Fragile Families Challenge

Human Dynamics research group earns high marks in new scientific collaboration to improve the lives of disadvantaged American children.

October 4, 2017

Winners of the 2017 Better World Media Contest: At left, Max Freitas and his D-Lab project partner Hope Chen (pictured, with patient) developed and field tested prosthetics with Rise Legs through MIT-India. Right: Dou Dou '17 brought over 80 Israeli and Palestinian high school students together by teaching them computer science and entrepreneurship through MIT-MEET.

Tackling the world’s challenges in the field

MISTI media contest showcases MIT students working to build a better world.

October 2, 2017

Volunteers and rescuers work at a collapsed building at Colonia Roma, Mexico City.

Targeted, crowdsourced aid for Mexican earthquake victims

MIT team’s online platform links those who need aid with those who can help. (Este artículo está disponible en español.)

September 24, 2017

Erica James, associate professor of medical anthropology and urban studies in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, co-presents with Dennis McLaughlin, H.M. King Bhumibol Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (not pictured) on the results of their research project, Leverage Points: Opportunities for Increasing Food Production in Developing Countries, funded by ...

Projects make inroads on global food and water challenges

MIT researchers supported by J-WAFS present results of their work on food and water security.

September 21, 2017

Pictured from left: Siqi Zheng, Samuel Tak Lee Associate Professor and faculty director of China Future City Lab; Bin Yang, vice president and provost of Tsinghua University; Martin Schmidt, MIT provost; Richard Lester, MIT associate provost for international activities; Zhengzhen Tan, executive director of China Future City Lab

MIT and Tsinghua University sign urban innovation agreement

Future City Innovation Connector to support projects addressing rapid growth of Chinese cities.

September 19, 2017

Mark Brennan (left) and Prithvi Sundar are graduate students working with MIT’s Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation to better understand and evaluate the food aid supply chain.

Researchers identify opportunities to improve quality, reduce cost of global food assistance delivery

Research from MIT's CITE program leverages a procurement process to identify opportunities for improving food aid supply chains.

September 13, 2017

A view of hurricane Irma from the International Space Station

MIT map offers real-time, crowd-sourced flood reporting during Hurricane Irma

Via social media, residents can contribute to public map that increases safety and helps response planning.

September 8, 2017

“The concept of my startup is, ‘Let’s use hacker tools to defeat hackers,’” PhD student Gregory Falco says. “If you don’t know how to break it, you don’t know how to fix it.”

Gregory Falco: Protecting urban infrastructure against cyberterrorism

PhD student works at the intersection of urban planning and computer science.

September 5, 2017

Texas Army National Guardsmen help Houston residents affected by flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey board a military vehicle. "With an event like this," says MIT associate professor of urban planning Brent Ryan, "it becomes viscerally evident which residential areas are absolutely not safe from even moderate flooding."

3 Questions: Brent Ryan on Hurricane Harvey’s implications for U.S. cities

Stranded in Houston by hurricane floodwaters, an MIT associate professor sees firsthand how design and policy decisions affected the storm’s impact.

September 1, 2017

A new study finds that industrial parks in China have led to the growth of nearby “edge cities” that are hubs of diverse economic activity and residential life. The researchers looked at 110 industrial parks near eight cities in China, including the city of Wuhan, pictured here.

Industrial “edge cities” have helped China grow

Study: Commercial parks have boosted growth, created new urban centers.

August 17, 2017

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