big data

In a long read for Metropolis Magazine, Alex Marshall describes the implications of the “Smart City” movement, including the risk of turning over massive data collection operations to large corporations.

February 24, 2014 - Metropolis Magazine

Shannon Mattern surveys the new wave of urban data science projects and argues that practitioners are trending toward an obsession with data-for-data’s-sake and an idolization of method.

November 14, 2013 - Places Journal

In the future, big data is supposed to help cities improve and optimize their operations. According to a new report that documents the innovative uses of data and evidence by seven major cities, the future is now.

November 13, 2013 - Fast Company Co.Exist

With thousands of abandoned homes located in neighborhoods of varying shape and character, Chicago has a massive challenge in returning its vacant properties to active use. Can algorithms help leaders decide on the right solutions?

July 23, 2013 - Next City

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

June 28, 2013 - Places Journal

An app for locating discarded tires and a program to map the condition of the city's sidewalks are two examples of local initiatives aimed at improving Atlanta's environment. With the Mayor's embrace, the city is trying to catch up to tech trends.

May 27, 2013 - Creative Loafing Atlanta

Data collection and analysis promise to make our cities better, and more efficient, places to live. Though many cities are expanding their digital integration, several obstacles remain to realizing the full potential of the urban data revolution.

May 10, 2013 - Governing

Alan Feuer profiles the work of New York City's Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, a "geek squad of civic-minded number-crunchers" turning the city's trove of digital data into actionable information.

March 25, 2013 - The New York Times

Researchers at the University of Chicago are tackling a problem that is confronting the globe's biggest cities: how to turn the reams of data being collected and opened to the public and turn it into actionable information for decision-makers.

December 27, 2012 - DNAinfo.com Chicago

The "Best of" roll continues with Emily Badger's list of the most useful tools, maps and data visualizations to make use of municipal open data over the past year.

December 19, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

The emerging methods of urban governance, planning, design, and management made possible by technological advances in data collection, analysis, and communication promise to make our cities better, and more efficient, places to live. The Urban Systems Collaborative, a unique gathering of voices from academia and industry, is fostering a discussion about improving our cities through technology.

December 7, 2012 - Peter Carter

A new web-based software, described as a "Google Analytics for local governments," allows smaller cities to get involved in the Gov 2.0 revolution, reports Ariel Schwartz.

November 15, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Ben Hecht offers his insights on what civic leaders should do to capitalize on big data and how efforts in Chicago are turning these ideas into reality.

May 24, 2012 - Huffington Post

Already a major technology trend, 2012 promises to be a watershed for "big data." A shorthand term for the proliferation of large datasets, big data also refers to the expansion of analytic techniques for teasing meaning from the vast archives of information produced by the digital world. The New York Times' Steve Lohr declared we have entered the "age of big data" in a recent article that compared it with another revolutionary research tool -- the microscope.

February 27, 2012 - Robert Goodspeed