The rapid pace of technology development in the field of smart cities has resulted in a number of powerful new approaches to observing, modeling and affecting change in communities. In particular, these new technologies can offer communities enhanced capacity to tackle complex challenges they face. However, community capacity to use new technologies to develop sustainable solutions can often be limited. The University of Michigan has launched the Urban Collaboratory as a cross-campus institute designed to work directly with communities to collaboratively explore human-centric design of smart city solutions to solve problems identified. The Urban Collaboratory has worked closely with communities in Michigan including in Detroit, Benton Harbor, Ypsilanti, and Flint tackling problems ranging from mobility to the design of public spaces. The presentation will provide a detailed overview of the Urban Collaboratory and will include a description of the institute’s process developed to engage communities. The talk will emphasize both the successes and the challenges the Urban Collaboratory has encountered when working with communities.
Presented by:
Jerome P. Lynch
Donald Malloure Department Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering Director, Urban Collaboratory
University of Michigan
Coffee, tea and cookies outside the hall at 4:00-4:15 p.m.