Open Space Acquisitions and Management Opportunities in the City of Atlanta and Adjacent Jurisdictions

The great cities of the world are distinguished by their public parks. The urban fabric of New York, Barcelona, Berlin, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Sydney, and Shanghai are all woven around great parks. Yet, with all of Atlanta's outstanding achievements, the City and the region have a notably undistinguished park system. In a study conducted by the Trust for Public Land and the Urban Land Institute, Atlanta ranks near the bottom of the nation's largest 25 cities in acreage of parkland per capita with 7.3 acres for every 1,000 residents. Compare that to Austin, Texas' 39 acres per 1,000 residents or Oklahoma City's 43 acres per 1,000 residents and it becomes clear that something is amiss in metro Atlanta.This study identifies the obstacles to acquiring and maintaining open and green spaces in the metro Atlanta region. Addressing open space shortages in metro Atlanta is a sizable task. This study could be considered the first step in a larger process. Time spent researching the various obstacles and opportunities regarding open space acquisition raised many questions that are beyond the scope of this project. A second phase might test the recommendations made in this phase by working with local officials on a few select projects, and begin to identify critical pieces of property in metro Atlanta that must be protected from development. A detailed inventory of significant open space and natural resources in the metro area that includes the existing inventory of land inside of Interstate 285 should be considered either as a separate study or included in this recommended second phase

Architectural and urban heritage in the digital age: dilemmas of authenticity, originality and reproduction

The archaeology of our built heritage is centred on the understanding of human experiences, rituals and social history that add meaningful narratives to physical fabric, structures and artefacts. The meaning of the building in the collective memory is intrinsically attached to the process by which it was produced and the manner with which it endured a series of critical socio-cultural change. Whilst we cannot live in the past, engaging with historic buildings or walking through traditional urban fabric and alleyways becomes an essential asset of the contemporary urban experience. This paper interrogates the dilemmas of authenticity, originality and legitimacy of the preservation of architectural and urban heritage through digital and virtual technologies. It addresses examples of historic buildings that have changed character, functions or got destroyed during times of wars and conflict. With advanced techniques of recording historic buildings through digital and virtual environments taking a leading role in modern preservation, integrating architectural heritage into the creative economy and income generating activities is critical to their survival in the digital age

Putting the Person in PHOSITA: The Human’s Obvious Role in the Artificial Intelligence Era

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled the technology to contribute significantly to the development of patentable inventions. These advances, which allow AI to augment inventors’ problem solving capabilities, or perhaps even create inventions autonomously, have raised concerns regarding whether existing patent laws can adequately address the increasing role that AI plays in developing inventions. This tension comes to a head with patent law’s obviousness doctrine, which addresses the critical question: What constitutes a patentable invention? Is human ingenuity the sole province of patent worthy invention? Should patentability be negated to the extent that AI contributes to a claimed invention? Current obviousness analysis allows patents on inventions created with AI assistance, requiring only that an invention appear nonobvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA). Although agreeing with this result in theory, some commentators argue that existing doctrine fails to account for the increasing role that AI plays in the process. Under the current doctrinal paradigm, if courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office fail to account for AI’s role in the inventive process, this could result in too low of an obviousness standard, as they would not endow the PHOSITA with AI capabilities even when this technology is commonly used within a field. If the PHOSITA does not possess the capabilities indicative of the average skilled person in the art, then arguably patents will issue for undeserving inventions. This Note addresses these issues and argues that, despite some commentators’ concerns, the current obviousness test is appropriately structured to accommodate AI’s increasing role in developing inventions. Further, it challenges recent proposals intended to address perceived deficiencies in the obviousness doctrine

Enhancing Smart Cities: 3D Printing for Higher Education Research and Innovation

Smart cities and 3D printing technologies are attracting unprecedented attention with signs that they will be key drivers of societal and economic change. Yet, the connection in how 3D printing can enhance smart cities remains understudied. To this end, this paper argues that 3D printing has widespread applications across higher education and smart city settings through the opening and democratizing of innovation. Accordingly, several examples of recent 3D printing developments and smart city advancements are presented. However, higher education institutions (HEIs) must also be mindful of the social, ethical, and legal challenges involved with 3D printing research, integration, and democratization. Reflecting on the Triple Helix Model of university-industry-government relationships, this paper concludes that HEIs should take the lead for 3D printing and smart city collaborations. It is only through this leadership that 3D printing's positive uses will prevail over the potential pitfalls that this disruptive technology is capable of

Atypical combinations of technologies in regional co-inventor networks

Novel combinations of technologies are usually the result of collaborative work that builds on existing knowledge. Albeit inventors and their respective communities tend to be specialized, inventor collaborations across differently specialized peers have the potential to generate co-inventor networks that provide access to a diverse set of knowledge and facilitate the production of radical novelty. Previous research has demonstrated that short access in large co-inventor networks enables innovative outcomes in regional economies. However, how connections in the network across different technological knowledge domains matter and what impact they might generate is still unknown. The present investigation focuses on ‘atypical’ combinations of technologies as indicated in patent documents. In particular, the role of technological specializations linked in co-inventor networks that result in radical innovation in European regions is analyzed. Our results confirm that the share of atypical patents is growing in regions where bridging ties establish short access to and across cohesive co-inventor sub-networks. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that the strong specialization of co-inventor communities in regions fosters atypical combinations because these communities manage to increase the scale and scope of novel combinations. Thus, bridges between communities that are specialized in different technologies favor atypical innovation outcomes. The work shows that not diversity per se, but links across variously specialized inventor communities can foster radical innovation

Investigating Smart City Development Based on Green Buildings, Electrical Vehicles and Feasible Indicators

With a goal of achieving net-zero emissions by developing Smart Cities (SCs) and industrial decarbonization, there is a growing desire to decarbonize the renewable energy sector by accelerating green buildings (GBs) construction, electric vehicles (EVs), and ensuring long-term stability, with the expectation that emissions will need to be reduced by at least two thirds by 2035 and by at least 90% by 2050. Implementing GBs in urban areas and encouraging the use of EVs are cornerstones of transition towards SCs, and practical actions that governments can consider to help with improving the environment and develop SCs. This paper investigates different aspects of smart cities development and introduces new feasible indicators related to GBs and EVs in designing SCs, presenting existing barriers to smart cities development, and solutions to overcome them. The results demonstrate that feasible and achievable policies such as the development of the zero-energy, attention to design parameters, implementation of effective indicators for GBs and EVs, implementing strategies to reduce the cost of production of EVs whilst maintaining good quality standards, load management, and integrating EVs successfully into the electricity system, are important in smart cities development. Therefore, strategies to governments should consider the full dynamics and potential of socio-economic and climate change by implementing new energy policies on increasing investment in EVs, and GBs development by considering energy, energy, techno-economic, and environmental benefits