1. The City Knowledge Platform
Intelligent Urban Agents for Smart Cities
University College London Fabio Carrera
Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis October 19, 2012

2. Fabio Carrera
• Associate Professor at WPI
• BSEE, MSCS (WPI)
• PhD in Urban Information Systems and Planning (MIT)
• Venice, Boston and Santa Fe Project Centers (WPI)
• Chair of Spencer Planning Board
• 100’s of City Projects for past 25 years
Key CK Papers:
• Scholar.google.com (Fabio Carrera)
• Carrera 2004 (MIT Dissertation)
• Carrera & Ferreira (2007)
• Carrera & Hewitt (2006)

3. TODAY
Part I: Cities and City Knowledge
Part II: Cities as Complex Adaptive Systems
Part III: Demonstrations of CK Platform

4. TODAY
Part I: Cities and City Knowledge
Part II: Cities as Complex Adaptive Systems
Part III: Demonstrations of CK Platform

5. PART I: CITIES AND CITY KNOWLEDGE
Urban Data Management
City Knowledge Concepts

6. URBAN DATA MANAGEMENT 1.0
Documentation (vs. Information)
Silos and Stovepipes
Redundancy and Discrepancies
Staff, Vendors and Consultants
Complicated Cross-Coordination

7. CITY KNOWLEDGE CONCEPTS
Foundations
Premises
Tenets
Implementation

8. DISSERTATION (MIT) - 2004
City Knowledge: An Emergent Information
Infrastructure for Sustainable Urban Maintenance,
Management and Planning
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28790
(google: ”City Knowledge MIT”)

9. DISSERTATION (MIT) - 2004
An Emergent Information Infrastructure for
Sustainable Urban Maintenance, Management and
Planning
Information
As the variety of geospatial information and data resources increases each
year, the demand for understanding and building sustainable information and
knowledge structures remains a critical research challenge for the geo-spatial
information community.
Shuler, 2003. Research Priority of the University Consortium of Geographic
Information Science.

10. DISSERTATION (MIT) - 2004
An Emergent Information Infrastructure for
Sustainable Urban Maintenance, Management and
Planning
Information
Infrastructure
Like the water distribution system, the road network, the sewage system…
(connected, efficient, maintained, funded, pervasive)

11. DISSERTATION (MIT) - 2004
An Emergent Information Infrastructure for
Sustainable Urban Maintenance, Management and
Planning
Information
Infrastructure
Emergent
Not centrally designed or imposed from the top, but gradually constructed from
self-serving departmental modules

12. DISSERTATION (MIT) - 2004
An Emergent Information Infrastructure for
Sustainable Urban Maintenance, Management and
Planning
Information
Infrastructure
Emergent
Sustainable
Not a single-purpose do-it-all system doomed for obsolescence, but continually
fed with perpetual update mechanisms

13. DISSERTATION (MIT) - 2004
An Emergent Information Infrastructure for
Sustainable Urban Maintenance, Management and
Planning
Information
Infrastructure
Emergent
Sustainable
Maintenance, Management & Planning
Useful in multiple contexts, serving the operational (maintenance) needs of the
town first, while also feeding higher-order management and planning functions of
the municipality.

14. EVOLUTION OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Plan Demanded Data
Plan Ready Information
Plan Demanding Knowledge

15. EVOLUTION OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Plan Demanded Data
• Plan Ready Information
Data is collected for a “specific” reason when a plan or a process demands it.
• It is typically acquired as documentation to support a decision/plan.
• It is not used for anything else. Plan Demanding Knowledge
• It is often discarded (archived) after it is used once.
Status Quo in Most Cities

16. EVOLUTION OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Plan Demanded Data
Plan Ready Information
• Plan Demanding Knowledge
Plan-demanded data is acquired as information
• Where possible, richer data is collected to serve multiple purposes
• Data is preserved beyond its immediate use
• Up-to-date information is always available for plans/processes
CK = Information at your fingertips
(efficiency)

17. EVOLUTION OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Plan Demanded Data
Plan Ready Information
Plan Demanding Knowledge
• Over time, patterns/issues emerge from an analysis of plan-ready information
• This knowledge triggers the demand for a plan to address issues
CK+ = Unforeseen Benefits Emerge
(Value-added bonus)

18. GOAL OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
To promote the transformation of Municipalities from
Hunter-gatherers of urban data to Farmers of
municipal information

19. PHILOSOPHY OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Urban Information should be:
treated as any other City Infrastructure
farmed not hunted
atomized by urban element
re-combined and re-used

20. PREMISES OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Cities are “finite”
City = Structures & Activities
Municipal gov. controls urban change
Past can be reconstructed (once)
Future can be intercepted (daily)

21. PREMISES OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Cities are “finite”
• Spatially (boundaries) City = Structures & Activities
• Temporally (past and future)
Municipal gov. controls urban change
Past is capturable (once)
Future is also capturable (daily)

22. PREMISES OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Cities are “finite”
City = Structures & Activities
The Fundamental problem is to decide what the form of a human settlement
consists of […] Municipal gov. controls urban change
[…] the chosen ground is the spatiotemporalis capturable (once)
Past distribution of human actions
and the physical things which are the context of those actions […] .
Future is also capturable (daily)
Kevin Lynch, Good City Form

23. PREMISES OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Cities are “finite”
City = Structures & Activities
Municipal gov. controls urban change
• Like politics, all change isis capturable (once)
Past local
• Change is brought about (primarily) by private sector
Future is also capturable (daily)
• Change is filtered by municipalities

24. PREMISES OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Cities are “finite”
City = Structures & Activities
Municipal gov. controls urban change
Past can be reconstructed (once)
• Future can be intercepted (daily)
There is a lot of “stuff” already out there
• But the amount is finite
• And it only needs to be captured once

25. PREMISES OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
• Structures change slowly yet daily Cities are “finite”
• But Change is filtered by government
City = Structures & Activities
• Activities change rapidly
• Municipal gov. controls urban change
But can be frozen periodically
• And Past can be reconstructed (once)
not that frequently
Future can be intercepted (daily)

26. TENETS OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Space is “the glue”
Activities are localizable
Data stays where it is created
Self-interest guides adoption
Middle-out = bottom-up + top-down

27. PRINCIPLES OF CITY KNOWLEDGE
Espouse a Middle-out Approach
Demarcate Informational Jurisdictions
Relentlessly Accrue Fine-grained Data
Implement Sustainable Update Mechanisms
Share Information Selectively
Coordinate Across Departments and Agencies
Treat Information as an Infrastructure!

28. ADOPTING CITY KNOWLEDGE
Adopt an information-aware m.o.
Extract informational returns systematically
Connect datasets through “space”
Develop department-level solutions
Start with “low-hanging” fruits

29. The Lessons
n Atomize
n Codify and Index through Space
n Represent literally
n Capture permanently
n Acquire at the finest practical grain
n Parameterize teleologically
n Spatialize dynamic activities
n Maximize informational returns
Treat Information as an Infrastructure

30. The Essence of CK
n Fine-grain is now achievable inexpensively
n Backlog is finite
n Change is interceptable
n Technologies can automate data collection
n Application of the 6 tools can do the rest
n Internet-based information facilitates sharing
n Departments are in charge
n Regional patterns will emerge
Treat Information as an Infrastructure

31. IMPLEMENTING CITY KNOWLEDGE
Connecting Legacy Systems
Collecting Backlog Data
Capturing Future Change
Facilitating Interagency Coordination
Identifying Self-funding Mechanisms

32. TODAY
Part I: Cities and City Knowledge
Part II: Cities as Complex Adaptive Systems
Part III: Demonstrations of CK Platform

33. PART II: COMPLEXITY AND CITIES
Complexity Principles
Urban Agents
The City Knowledge Platform

34. PART II: COMPLEXITY AND CITIES
Complexity Principles
CK + ABM = Urban Agents
The City Knowledge Platform

35. COMPLEXITY PRINCIPLES
Santa Fe
Complex Adaptive Systems
Agents
Models
Complexity and Cities

36. COMPLEXITY AND SANTA FE
Santa Fe Institute
Redfish
Santa Fe Complex
WPI Santa Fe Project Center

37. Santa Fe Institute

38. COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS
Self-Organizing Structures
Lightning, Tornadoes and Whirlpools
Complex Animal Behaviors
Swarming & Foraging
Attraction/Repulsion & Stigmergy

39. Swarm Behavior
Boids josh@stigmergic.net

40. A Simple Agent

41. Repel

42. Attract
Repel

43. Stigmergic Behavior
dual gradients in ant foraging algorithm Antz

44. AGENTS
Simple Autonomous Behavior
Not guided by overarching control
Find & Remove Gradients
Monitor & Change Space

45. AGENT BASED MODELING
Modeling of Activities
Thin Agents
Complex Distributed Behavior
No Central “Brain”

46. 2D Crowd Evacuations (90’s)

47. 2.5D Evacuation w/ Interaction

48. Text
Multi-model Applications
play “CerroGordo_15seconds.mov” here
please insert all movies at full frame
48

49. Pedestrians and Changing Space (‘06)

50. COMPLEXITY AND CITIES
Cities are Self-Organizing Structures
City Government softens Gradients
USA: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
Rome: Humanitas, Libertas et Felicitas
The CK Platform as applied Complexity
(1) Agents and Stigmergy
(2) City Gradients and City Processes

51. PART II: COMPLEXITY AND CITIES
Complexity Principles
CK + ABM = Urban Agents
The City Knowledge Platform

52. URBAN AGENTS
Urban Agents (for Structures and Activities)
Birth Certificates
Intelligent Urban Assets

56. Example: Venice Public Art
Coats of Arms Confraternity Crosses Fragments Decorations
Symbols
Sculptures Inscriptions Patere Street Altars Reliefs
Keystones Bells Church Floors Lunette Portals
• Flagstaff Pedestals Fountains Wellheads Monuments

57. UNESCO Public Art App

58. PART II: COMPLEXITY AND CITIES
Complexity Principles
Urban Agents
The City Knowledge Platform

59. THE CITY KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM
Urban Data Farming
Interagency Coordination

60. URBAN DATA FARMING
Legacy Data
Automatic sensors
Mobile Apps

61. LEGACY DATA
Integrated, not supplanted
Instant updates
Bi-directional synchronization
The CK Console
The CK Chrome Extension

62. CK Console

63. CK Chrome Extension

65. AUTOMATIC SENSORS
Data Loggers
Surveillance Cameras
Existing underutilized sensor networks

66. Energence

67. Boston Street Lights

73. Subscribing to Camera Pixels

74. MOBILE APPS
InputApp.com
VeniceNoise.org
StreetBump.org
PreserVenice.org

75. InputApp

76. Venicenoise.org

77. StreetBump.org

78. PreserVenice.org

79. INTERAGENCY COORDINATION
Privacy and Security
Private and/or Public Data
Sharing with Groups
Interactive collaborative Environments

81. play firefighters.m4v here

82. THANKS!
carrera@wpi.edu
fabiocarrera.com
carrera.fabio@gmail.com