15 research outputs found

    CyberParks: The interface between people, places and technology

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    This open access book is about public open spaces, about people, and about the relationship between them and the role of technology in this relationship. It is about different approaches, methods, empirical studies, and concerns about a phenomenon that is increasingly being in the centre of sciences and strategies – the penetration of digital technologies in the urban space. As the main outcome of the CyberParks Project, this book aims at fostering the understanding about the current and future interactions of the nexus people, public spaces and technology. It addresses a wide range of challenges and multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging phenomena related to the penetration of technology in people’s lifestyles - affecting therefore the whole society, and with this, the production and use of public spaces. Cyberparks coined the term cyberpark to describe the mediated public space, that emerging type of urban spaces where nature and cybertechnologies blend together to generate hybrid experiences and enhance quality of life

    Citizen empowerment and innovation in the data-rich city

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    This book analyzes the ongoing transformation in the “smart city” paradigm and explores the possibilities that technological innovations offer for the effective involvement of ordinary citizens in collective knowledge production and decision-making processes within the context of urban planning and management. To so, it pursues an interdisciplinary approach, with contributions from a range of experts including city managers, public policy makers, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialists, and researchers. The first two parts of the book focus on the generation and use of data by citizens, with or without institutional support, and the professional management of data in city governance, highlighting the social connectivity and livability aspects essential to vibrant and healthy urban environments. In turn, the third part presents inspiring case studies that illustrate how data-driven solutions can empower people and improve urban environments, including enhanced sustainability. The book will appeal to all those who are interested in the required transformation in the planning, management, and operations of data-rich cities and the ways in which such cities can employ the latest technologies to use data efficiently, promoting data access, data sharing, and interoperability

    Reshaping rural development through knowledge clusters : the case of Danville and Southside, Virginia

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    Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 104-109).This thesis examines challenges and implications associated with implementing knowledge-based economic development strategies in rural regions, focusing on the City of Danville in Southside Virginia. In 2000, Danville became the focal point of a major technology-based regional economic development initiative designed to transition southern Virginia away from its traditional base of agriculture and manufacturing towards information and high-tech (IHT). The initiative garnered significant support of the state and outside institutions, and was designed to encourage local firm formation, attract private capital, and improve infrastructure to foster innovation as a driver of rural economic growth. Patterns in job growth, firm relocation, and plant closure data were analyzed for the City of Danville from 1990-2013 to discern whether investments in knowledge economy infrastructure resulted in diversification into IHT; and if so, to what extent and how. Drawing on elements of the rural knowledge cluster framework, which states that knowledge and innovation provide important sources of rural competitive advantage (Munnich et al. 2002), contributing projects are summarized to lend perspective on overall theory of change guiding the rural economic development strategy in Southside. The thesis concludes with an analysis of social and economic impacts concurrent with knowledge economy investments; challenges and constraints facing the Danville strategy to date; and recommendations to improve economic development practice in Danville based on implications of the data.by Andrew (Drew) Stuart Pierson.M.C.P

    Corporate Social Responsibility

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    This Edited Volume Corporate Social Responsibility is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters, offering a comprehensive overview of recent developments in corporate behavior. The book comprises single chapters authored by various researchers and edited by an expert in the field. All chapters are complete in themselves but united under a common research study topic. This publication aims at providing a thorough overview of the latest research efforts by international authors and opening new possible research paths for further novel developments

    Data and the city – accessibility and openness. a cybersalon paper on open data

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    This paper showcases examples of bottom–up open data and smart city applications and identifies lessons for future such efforts. Examples include Changify, a neighbourhood-based platform for residents, businesses, and companies; Open Sensors, which provides APIs to help businesses, startups, and individuals develop applications for the Internet of Things; and Cybersalon’s Hackney Treasures. a location-based mobile app that uses Wikipedia entries geolocated in Hackney borough to map notable local residents. Other experiments with sensors and open data by Cybersalon members include Ilze Black and Nanda Khaorapapong's The Breather, a "breathing" balloon that uses high-end, sophisticated sensors to make air quality visible; and James Moulding's AirPublic, which measures pollution levels. Based on Cybersalon's experience to date, getting data to the people is difficult, circuitous, and slow, requiring an intricate process of leadership, public relations, and perseverance. Although there are myriad tools and initiatives, there is no one solution for the actual transfer of that data

    Intelligent cities? Disentangling the symbolic and material effects of technopole planning practices in Cyberjaya, Malaysia.

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    Cyberjaya was heralded in the mid-1990s as the Multimedia Super Corridor's (MSG) flagship 'intelligent city' and designed to prepare Malaysia and its citizens for a giant leap forward into an imagined new 'information age'. The urban mega-project constituted a state led response to the much hyped 'Siliconisation of Asia' and was planned to fast-track national development through investment in information and communications technologies (ICTs). The thesis seeks to examine how the discursive architectures of the 'information society' were mobilised, by whom, and with what material consequences as technopole planning practices were inscribed on the Malaysian landscape. Ten years on from the excessive high-tech utopianism and urban boosterism that accompanied the city's launch, the thesis promotes qualitative methodologies to examine the critical human geographies of the MSG. Specifically, empirical analysis addresses the uneven socio-spatial consequences and 'splintering urbanisms' manifesting in Malaysia's emerging spaces of neoliberal modernity. Research methodologies included in-depth interviews with political and business elites in Malaysia, participant observation with residents and workers in Cyberjaya, and a critical discourse analysis of the MSG policy and promotional materials. To this end, the thesis seeks to disentangle the symbolic and material effects of technopole planning practices in Cyberjaya
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