Urban Systems Collaborative / The London Meeting & The Economist's "Clever Cities"

[Colin Harrison]

Less than four days to go to this event.  The agenda has stabilised and only a couple of names need to get settled.  

We have also settled on video services for the plenary sessions of the event.  These will be streamed live and the link to the streaming will be posted on the agenda page RSN.  We will also record these sessions and edit them into segments to be posted on YouTube.  (We also have hopes of doing this for the previous USC meetings in 2011 and 2012.)

Do please if you can, take a look at this week's edition of The Economist newspaper.  With perfect timing the newspaper presents a critical review of "Clever Cities".  Here is a link to the article, though it may not work unless you are a subscriber (sorry).  There is much in the article with which I agree, but it presents IMHO a narrow and somewhat confused perspective on smart cities.  We started the USC specifically to overcome the limitations we saw in a purely technological approach to the impact of information technology on life in the city.

I hear or read similar criticism quite frequently from urbanists and others sceptical of the role of information technology in cities.  See for example this teaser from a forthcoming book entitled "Against the smart city".  So clearly we - and others - have not managed to articulate the broader perspective.  Or perhaps it doesn't make for such critical points of view.  So this Economist article may stoke the fires for a good debate next week on the impact of increasing information flows on quality of life, a concept entirely overlooked in the article.

Regards, colin

[Stan Curtis]

Colin - thanks for the preparation & summary.   

re: Economist article... i was able to view it HERE, but not from your link.

Clever-Cities: "Enthusiasts think that data services can change cities in this century as much as electricity did in the last one. They are a long way from proving their case"

the subtitle is interesting:  Google Maps (not Apple-maps!) ..proves the case for many users.  but our marketing of "big data" has fueled the fear-uncertainty-and-doubt of side-effects to come?

s

cameras on every phone are fun Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat data-services

surveilance on every intersection is a different story (1984)?

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[Jurij R Paraszczak]

Antti
It was really really good to have you there since you bring a perspective which is often missing from our discussions.  Its great that you focused on the topic of quality of life in your blog since this continues to be a challenge for us also.  Perhaps you could engage your community to think about this topic ?

On a separate topic, I know you expressed interest in using open data for cycling.  Our colleague Tom Erickson, has been involved in a project called cyclopath  http://cyclopath.org/
which you may find of interest.

Regards, Jurij






Jurij Paraszczak
Director Industry Solutions and Smarter Cities
VC group Relationship Manager
IBM Research
Dawn Sloan, Assistant: 914-945-1093
Email: ju...@us.ibm.com
https://w3.tap.ibm.com/w3ki/display/ResIndSol/Home
Tel: 1-914-945-1098
Mobile: 1-914-954-0800


Antti Jogi Poikola ---09/15/2013 10:30:26 AM---Dear all, thanks for the meeting it inspired me in many ways. I wrote a blog post

From: Antti Jogi Poikola <antti....@gmail.com>
To: blanca fernandez <bfm...@gmail.com>,
Cc: Stan Curtis <stan....@opencommons.org>, Colin Harrison <colingeor...@gmail.com>, j.sik...@imperial.ac.uk, ulrich....@tudor.lu, she...@gmail.com, "Baldock, Mike (UK - London)" <mbal...@deloitte.co.uk>, ulises...@gmail.com, neb...@hotmail.com, nada.s...@yahoo.co.uk, evan.gr...@aaschool.ac.uk, baz...@bo.infn.it, s.sh...@bbk.ac.uk, Ian Abbott Donnelly <abbo...@uk.ibm.com>, charilaos.la...@imperial.ac.uk, jkav...@rics.org, richard.b...@strath.ac.uk, Luisav...@aol.com, S Pau <sts...@gmail.com>, david...@imperial.ac.uk, seema...@ch2m.com, s.lo...@imperial.ac.uk, "Batty, Michael" <m.b...@ucl.ac.uk>, y.do...@imperial.ac.uk, Greg Erhardt <greg.e...@gmail.com>, Nigel Shindler <nshi...@iee.org>, k.s...@ucl.ac.uk, jacek.p...@imperial.ac.uk, chiar...@cardiff.ac.uk, richard...@arup.com, b.b.a...@gmail.com, Panagiotis Angeloudis <p...@ngl.gr>, ucf...@ucl.ac.uk, a.siv...@imperial.ac.uk, Audrey de Nazelle <anaz...@imperial.ac.uk>, jay....@bis.gsi.gov.uk, Shi...@cardiff.ac.uk, Pf...@gre.ac.uk, Craig Howard <CHo...@macfound.org>, h.sha...@ucl.ac.uk, naamah....@arup.com, Reem Zako <r.z...@ucl.ac.uk>, Suchit...@nottingham.ac.uk, f.m...@ucl.ac.uk, Sophia Psarra <s.ps...@ucl.ac.uk>, p.boonchai...@ucl.ac.uk, ahar...@macfound.org, cheto...@gmail.com, ZSqu...@theiet.org, and...@rethinkingcities.net, D.Sm...@lse.ac.uk, "Dennett, Adam" <a.de...@ucl.ac.uk>, steph...@ucl.ac.uk, e.ar...@ucl.ac.uk, nat...@hotmail.com, Kate Kusiak Galvin <katek...@uchicago.edu>, Jerry Kurtyka <jerryk...@gmail.com>, su...@hertie-school.gov, bmo...@fosterandpartners.com, Steffen Lohrey <loh...@mcc-berlin.net>, stephan....@ucl.ac.uk, Ismael Quevedo Medina <queved...@gmail.com>, amin.al-...@ntu.ac.uk, nicolas....@network.rca.ac.uk, helena.pol...@network.rca.ac.uk, c.th...@imperial.ac.uk, david...@imperial.ac.uk, stuar...@ncl.ac.uk, carlos....@ncl.ac.uk, Richard Dawson <richard...@newcastle.ac.uk>, Jurij R Paraszczak/Watson/IBM@IBMUS, Marjan....@btinternet.com, "Van Dam, Koen H" <k.va...@imperial.ac.uk>, Thaddeus Miller <tr...@pdx.edu>, jerryk...@hotmail.com, urban-systems...@googlegroups.com
Date: 09/15/2013 10:30 AM
Subject: Re: Urban Systems Collaborative / The London Meeting & The Economist's "Clever Cities"

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Dear all,

thanks for the meeting it inspired me in many ways. I wrote a blog post where I reflected the second day discussions related to the “vital signs” of the cities and the quality of life. I borrowed also an image of one Bogota clown in the blog post :)

http://poikola.fi/neighborhood_vital_signs/

It would be great to read some after reflections from other participants, so if you blog something please let me know.

BR, Antti Poikola (Open Knowledge Foundation guy from Finland)


On 11 September 2013 12:33, blanca fernandez <bfm...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear all, 

In line with what we are currently discussing (engagement of citizens), please have a look at the great example of Bogota. I forward you a link (Vimeo) where you can watch a Documentary called "Bogota Change" (2009). "

"Andreas Dalsgaard's documentary charts how the violent and corrupt Colombian capital was transformed into a peaceful model city using philosophies and strategies now exported to cities worldwide" 

http://vimeo.com/25521307




2013/9/6 Stan Curtis <stan....@opencommons.org>

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