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X-Cities 3: Heavy Weather

85 views · Published 10 December 2012 · 1:37:33 · Indexed 22 October 2026

Channel: Columbia GSAPP · 2012 · Education

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2012.04.10
http://events.gsapp.org/event/x-cities-3-heavy-weather

On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, we welcomed back Fast Company's Greg Lindsay and the Institute for the Future's Anthony Townsend for the third in a series of events casting a much-needed critical eye on "smart city" hype.

With apologies to Winston Churchill, first we define the application stack of smart cities, and thereafter they stack us. How will the demands of citizens shape the deployment of urban systems, and how will the capabilities and limitations of these systems, in turn, reshape cities? With short presentations followed by a lively discussion, special guests Guru Banavar of IBM and Leif Percifeld, creator of DontFlush.Me, helped us compare and contrast radically different approaches to questions surrounding the governance of intelligent infrastructure.

As VP and CTO of IBM's Global Public Sector, Dr. Guru Banavar has been at the forefront of IBM's efforts to create smarter, more sustainable cities. On the heels of the severe weather events in Rio in 2010, Dr. Banavar led a collaboration that resulted in the creation of the city's operations center — a command center that integrates and interconnects information from over 30 government departments and public agencies in the municipality to improve emergency response management, deliver better city services, and enhance the quality of life for the citizens of Rio.
Following Dr. Banavar's insights into IBM's collaboration with the City of Rio, technologist and designer Leif Percifeld of the Public Laboratory discussed his involvement in projects that encourage citizen participation and information collection around urban infrastructure and environmental issues, including DontFlush.Me, a lightweight sensor network aimed at preventing Combined Sewer Overflows during downpours, and the Air Quality Egg, a community-driven air quality data-gathering project.

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