Urban Design in the New Soft City

Carl Skelton argues that the public needs new tools of citizenship to participate fully in the digital cities of the near future.

1 minute read

June 28, 2013, 7:00 AM PDT

By Places Journal

"A city is not a BMW," writes Carl Skelton. "You can't drive it without knowing how it works."

In an ambitious think-piece on Places, he argues that the public needs new tools of citizenship to thrive in a "new soft world" increasingly shaped by smart meters, surveillance cameras, urban informatics and big data.

"To be a citizen of a digital city requires understanding what the databases do and don’t contain, and what they could contain, and how the software used to process that data and drive design decisions does, doesn’t, and might yet perform."

FULL STORY: Who's Your Data?

Tuesday, June 25, 2013 in Places Journal

Government / Politics Infrastructure Social / Demographics Technology World Smart Cities big data Open Source Parametric Design View More

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.