Learning From Collaborative Networks

Chicago’s home page “cityofchicago.org went down recently, apparently due to a cyber-attack by local protesters. The protesters were directed by hackers, who asked them to “fire on” the city's web site as much as possible, to bring it down. Their efforts to bring down several other sites were not so successful.

In our rapidly evolving high-tech culture, we find that almost everyone is equipped with a communication device that can access real time information and respond to emerging conditions in real time. We are already using real time traffic information to make decisions about which roads to take and which ones to avoid. We use location specific information about cultural events and entertainment venues. We get up to the minute flight data or subway train location or the next arriving bus so we can coordinate our activities. Such democratization of access to real time information is changing the way we live.

The “Occupy” movement and the “Arab Spring” showed us how such real time information and connected networks can usurp the top down centralized models of governance. New information based ventures such as Wikipedia have shown how crowd-sourcing platforms can outperform centralized top down structures of the old-world companies.

The collaborative networks can also provide a platform for people to receive, evaluate and critique a design for the city they live in. The coming years will see a resurgence of bottom up paradigms in how cities are planned, conceived, built, inhabited, managed and restored.

Here is a video on SENSEable City Laboratory at MIT



References: 
Nabian, Nashid and Carlo Ratti, A collaborative approach to architecture, MIT SENSEable City Lab, 2012.
Dardick, Hal, Hackers take down Chicago website, The Chicago Tribune, May 21, 2012

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Urban Spectacles and Global Appeal

City planning used to be about controlling and managing urban growth. It used to focus on organizing public spaces and land use to create livable cities. However, over the past several decades, it has become a tool for economic development and urban entrepreneurship. The focus has shifted from deploying planning principles to economic development.

A 1998 book - The entrepreneurial city: Geographies of politics, regimes and representation – describes urban entrepreneurship as the manipulation of urban landscape to promote capital accumulation and consumption. Urban spectacles are perfect examples of urban entrepreneurship in action. The urban spectacles have become so important for urban growth and vitality, that cities are constantly looking for ways to attract private capital and visitors by staging world class global events such as the Olympic Games. Such urban spectacles give a big boost to the host city as a dynamic and world-class city and act as catalysts for large scale urban transformations. They also allow many city governments to set their growth agendas in motion by bypassing normal public reviews and bottlenecks.

For example, Chicago’s new mayor is working hard to generate a positive buzz about Chicago’s downtown as a center for business services and corporate headquarters. His efforts have yielded 15,000 new jobs in his first year in office. While his agenda appears to be heavy on “hype”, it does enhance the perception of Chicago as a place to visit and locate businesses.

The Millennium Park, and a failed bid for 2016 Olympics by the previous mayor were also geared towards enhancing global appeal. Although not as much of an urban spectacle as the Olympic Games, Chicago is looking forward to hosting the NATO summit on May 21st and 22nd, and hopes that it would boost its reputation as a global destination. In fact, this is the first time a NATO summit is being held in the Unites States that is outside of Washington DC.

Reference: Bergen, Kathy, One year in: Mayor Rahm Emanuel tightens ties with business, Chicago Tribune, May 14, 2012

Photo Credit:  Beyond My Ken under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later.
 

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Reduced Funding for Highways and Major Streets

Illinois DOT announced that funding for Highways and Arterial Streets in Chicago area will go from $4.3 billion in fiscal 2012-2017 to $3.6 billion during fiscal 2013-18 period. Although these figures are subject to revisions, they could drop further based on pension and other obligations of IDOT. While the conditions of roads will likely deteriorate, an emphasis will be placed on maintaining bridges in top condition.

$719 million I-57/I-294 interchange and $3.4 billion Elgin-O’Hare projects are scheduled to start by 2013. However, no construction schedule has been set for the reconstruction of Circle Interchange in downtown Chicago and rebuild of Stevenson Expressway (I-55) due to uncertainty about funding.

Reference: Hilkevitch, John, Illinois to spend less on highways and arterial streets, Chicago Tribune, May 1, 2012

Photo Credit:  Siqbal.  Released into the public domain by its author.

 

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Urban Development Taxonomy

How does a city develop into a global destination?  Is a city more than a collection of great buildings?  Is a city more than a collection of great people?  What makes a city great?  What are the forces that drive urban development?

There are many sites that provide tourism related information about cities.  While we want to understand what makes a city great, we are also interested in the messy gray area, where decisions are made about the future of a city.  What drives such decision-making?  Is that purely a speculative gamble or are there hidden forces at work?  What roles do design professionals play in such decision-making?  What role does leadership play?  Where does such leadership come from?  What role does local government play?  

We will focus on four broad categories of urban interventions:

Tourism development: 

Urban interventions intended to spur or support tourism.

Hotels, convention centers, museums, art galleries, public arts festivals, fashion shows, business shows, public expositions, public events. Ecotourism, sustainable tourism, heritage tourism, leisure, recreation, urban tourism, parks, sports stadiums, arenas, public plazas,

Smart infrastructure: 

Urban interventions intended to spur or support smart urbanization technologies.

Smart grid, smart design, smart transit, smart buildings, renewable energy, sustainable architecture, green building, smart architecture, smart meters, smart traffic signaling, mass transit, smart city, smart infrastructure, augmented reality, urban data networks, collaborative networks, digital city.

Economic development: 

Urban interventions intended to spur or support economic development.

Business incubators, start-ups, universities, research centers, innovation labs, demonstration projects, affordable housing, transit hubs, rezoning, urban renewal, environmental remediation, brown fields, urban design, new construction, renovation, mass transit systems, manufacturing, warehousing, freight delivery, transportation, logistics, urban upgrading, finance, law, regulations, institutions, leadership.

Branding and global identity: 

Urban interventions intended to create a unique brand.

Global influence, city image, uniqueness, branding, identity, signature buildings, global events, public expositions, leadership, historic preservation, tourist attractions, urban design, celebrations.

Miscellaneous Key words:

General information, summary, statistics, comparative study, geography, emergency preparedness, disaster mitigation, low income housing, urbanization, slum upgrading, geography, climate, culture, people, demographics, history.