MIT course looks 'Beyond Smart Cities'

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) plans to offer a short continuing education course titled “Beyond Smart Cities” this June.

The course, according to MIT, will focus on “understanding the complexities of cities through the use of Big Data Urban Analytics and the design of New Urban Systems for high-density cities such as systems for mobility, energy, food, and living/working.”

Aimed at urban planners, entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors, the course will center on the concept of “compact urban cells,” a “a neighborhood area of approximately one square kilometer in diameter containing most of what citizens need for everyday life within a 20-minute walk.”

To be held on MIT’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the course will be led by Kent Larson, who directs the Changing Places research group at the MIT Media lab, and Ryan C. C. Chin, who is managing director of the City Science Initiative at the MIT Media Lab.