Urban Computing Reveals the Hidden City

Walking around a metropolis will never be the same

We want our tools to sing of not just productivity but of our love of curiosity, the joy of wonderment, and the freshness of the unknown.

—Eric Paulos, “Manifesto of Open Disruption and Participation”

Illustration: Oliver Munday

In his essay “Walking in the City,” the French scholar Michel de Certeau talks about the “invisible identities of the visible.” He is talking specifically about the memories and personal narratives associated with a location. Until recently, this information was only accessible one-to-one—that is, by talking to people who had knowledge of a place.

But what if that data became one-to-many, or even many-to-many, and easily accessible via some sort of street-level interface that could be accessed manually, or wirelessly using a smartphone? This is essentially the idea behind urban computing, where the city itself becomes a kind of distributed computer. The pedestrian is the moving cursor; neighborhoods, buildings, and street objects become the interface; and the smartphone is used to “click” or “tap” that interface. In the same way that a computer, mouse, and interface are required to operate a Web browser to surf sites, the equivalent components of street computing create a reality browser that enables the city dweller to “surf” urban objects. On a broader level, the collection, storage, and distribution of the data related to a city and its objects is known as urban informatics (described by one technologist as “a city that talks back to you”).

Smartphone in hand, what can the modern-day flaneur expect to find in this newly digitized urban environment?

• First, thanks to the prevalence of GPS data, wayfinding is giving way (so to speak) to wayshowing, interfaces that provide specific directions from here to there, and to social navigation, getting around with the help of others (avoiding traffic, for example) and then checking in with your friends when you get there. 
• Similarly, our urban gadabout might take advantage of use-someplace technologies such as augmented reality, where physical space is overlaid with virtual data. A good example is Streetmuseum, a Museum of London app that can overlay an archive photo of a street scene onto the same scene as shown through your smartphone’s camera. Beyond augmented reality is amplified reality, where extra data is built into an object from the get-go. For example, the embedding of radio-frequency identification or near-field communication technologies in street objects enables the creation of locative media (also called location-based media). These situated technologies contain data about a specific location, which is then beamed to devices as they come within range, an exchange known as a situated interaction. An example is the sound garden, where designers assign sounds to public places, which users can then listen to using Wi-Fi–enabled devices.

There is, sadly, the ever-present danger that advertisers and hucksters will take advantage of these technologies to turn the city into a giant billboard. But to the technologists and social scientists at the forefront of urban computing, the goal is enhanced civic engagement. To that end, where once the ideal of pervasive computing was to create seamless, unnoticeable technology, today’s urban computing designers want to build seamful interfaces, whose visibility encourages users to interact directly with systems. Curatorial media allow for urban data curation, the careful collection of stories—histories as well as facts and figures—using technologies called urban annotation systems. Since data are both curated and disseminated in such systems, this is known as read/write urbanism.

Is the urban computer a good thing? Well, it’s certainly an inevitable thing, so I wouldn’t waste too much breath complaining about it. Think about a regular PC: You can turn it off, or you can use it for fun or for productivity. The urban computer is no different. You can ignore it (turning a city off is problematic), or you can use it to become a more attentive, engaged, and concerned citizen. It’s a tool. Make it sing.

Urban Computing, Part II

The Language of Smart Cities

As in all Utopias, the right to have plans of any significance belonged only to the planner in charge.

Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961)

Illustration: Oliver Munday

In a previous column, I ran through some words and phrases associated with urban computing, where

• the city is a computer, 
• the streetscape is the interface, 
• you are the cursor, and 
• your smartphone is the input device. 

This is the user-based, bottom-up version of the city-as-computer idea, but there’s also a top-down version, which is systems-based. It looks at urban systems such as transit, garbage, and water and wonders whether the city could be more efficient and better organized if these systems were “smart.” That is, if we applied principles of information technology and connectivity to the various processes that make up the urban infrastructure, we would end up with a smart city.

The need for more urban smarts seems obvious:
Cities have finite (and shrinking) budgets, and the resources that make a city run—including water, energy, clean air, and land—are precious. So the move from the current urban environment to the digital city includes upgrading components and retrofitting so-called smart technologies. For example, many urban homes have had their gas and electrical meters upgraded to smart meters that enable not only remote monitoring and reading but also smart pricing (or time-of-use pricing), where costs rise or fall depending on whether usage is on- or off-peak. On a larger scale, these newfangled meters are part of the smart grid, which uses real-time data and analytics to match energy production with demand, monitor equipment, and control supply.

Big data plays a big part in smart urbanism because city managers are starting to create a networked city that deploys digital sensors and other electronic infrastructure. These generate massive amounts of information not only on energy use but also on traffic, transit, and other civic data. The goal is the real-time city, which enables planners and administrators to make decisions and implement policies based on current data and trends. Call it city 2.0.

Eventually (so the blue-sky thinking of your average civic hacker goes), these sensors, monitoring devices, and other elements of urban technological infrastructure will cover almost every available public surface. The result will be the ubiquitous city (often shortened to u-city), where every urban system and resource will make its data available for monitoring, analysis, and control. This transphysical city will enable new services to be implemented seamlessly over the network or via the g-cloud (government cloud), a computing model sometimes called city-as-a-service.

The ultimate smart city is one that’s built from the ground up with civic tech goals in mind. The forerunner here is the Garden City model proposed in the late 19th century by Englishman Ebenezer Howard, which features parks, retail, residences, and industry organized in concentric circles. The modern equivalent of a built-from-scratch smart city is called a cyburg, and examples include:

• Songdo in South Korea, 
• Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, and 
• the proposed, pedestrian-only Great City in China. 

These cities are planned for efficiency and are wired for data and services—cityware—all controlled by an urban operating system. Citizen access to these services is networked and ubiquitous, thanks to the implementation of civic tech.

The problem with these soft cities (or e-cities) is that, like Howard’s Garden City, the benefits accrue only if the whole thing remains under the strict control of an overarching authority that dictates things such as land use and density. But, as urban critics such as Lewis Mumford, Jane Jacobs, and more recently Richard Sennett have pointed out, a city is almost by definition an organic entity that constantly changes and evolves. To define this aspect of urbanism as a bug that must be fixed strikes at the soul of the city, because it sees commercial and individual freedom as the problem, not the solution. And if the increasing ubiquity of networked monitoring devices—particularly CCTV cameras—is combined with databases and software that enable easy searching and analysis, then the time of the superpanopticon is nigh. That kind of city doesn’t sound very smart to me.

This article originally appeared in print as “The City as System.”

ORIGINAL: IEEE Spectrum (Part I)

By Paul McFedries

27 Jan 2014

IEEE Spectrum (Part II)

By Paul McFedries

26 Mar 2014

Innovación: Lección para Colciencias

ORIGINAL: El Mundo
Guillermo Maya Muñoz
23 de Septiembre de 2013

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Cuando se habla de innovación, por políticos y economistas, generalmente se argumenta que la innovación reside en las fuerzas del mercado, en el empresariado innovador con su capacidad para afrontar riesgos. El estado es lo opuesto de la innovación y el riesgo. El estado es lento, burocrático, y desperdicia recursos.

Sin embargo, la realidad de la innovación no parece ser así. La innovación no reside en el mercado sino en el estado, el gobierno. Los economistas neoliberales como publicistas de la iniciativa privada no estarán de acuerdo, protestarán y dirán que se equivocan quienes reclaman ese papel para el estado, que no hay nada superior al mercado.

Los trabajos de la investigadora y economista Mariana Mazzucato, egresada de la New School for Social Research University (NY) -también mi Alma Máter-, y profesora en la universidad de Sussex, Inglaterra, señalan al estado como el factor más importante para generar innovación tecnológica. Su reciente libro el Estado Empresarial: Derribando los Mitos Sector Público vs Sector Privado (The Entrepreneurial State, 2013) discurre sobre esta hipótesis, al igual que su libro previo (2011). La presentación del libro en su sitio web www.marianamazzucato.com se puede resumir así:

El "Estado Empresarial" echa por tierra el mito del Estado como una organización burocrática grande que puede en el mejor de los casos facilitar la innovación creativa que sucede en el dinámico sector privado. En el análisis de varios estudios de casos sobre el crecimiento impulsado por la innovación, el libro describe la situación opuesta, señalando que el sector privado sólo se atreve a invertir después de que el Estado ha realizado las inversiones de alto riesgo. Este libro sostiene que en la historia del capitalismo moderno, el Estado ha generado actividad económica que de otro modo no habría sucedido, y ha abierto activamente nuevas tecnologías y mercados en los que los inversores privados más adelante pueden entrar. Lejos de las críticas a menudo escuchadas al Estado de que potencialmente “desplaza” las inversiones privadas, el Estado hace que sucedan, formando y creando mercados, no sólo “corrigiendo” sus fallas. Ignorar esta realidad sólo sirve a fines ideológicos, y perjudica a la formulación de políticas eficaces.

Este libro examina estudios de casos que van desde el advenimiento de Internet al surgimiento de las industrias de la biotecnología y la nanotecnología. En particular, el volumen desmiente el mito de que Silicon Valley ha sido creado por el capital de riesgo privado. Un capítulo importante se centra en inversiones del estado detrás del éxito de Apple, y revela que todas las principales tecnologías que sustentan el desarrollo del iPhone deben su origen a los fondos públicos. Mientras las personas emprendedoras como Steve Jobs son necesarias, su éxito es casi imposible sin su habilidad para subirse a la ola de inversiones del Estado. Y si Europa quiere sus propios Googles, necesita más acción del Estado, no menos.

Dos de los capítulos del libro se centran en el examen de la próxima gran área de innovación después de internet: la “revolución verde”. Tanto la energía solar y la tecnología eólica actualmente están siendo guiados por el gasto del Estado, ya sea a través del programa ARPA-E (EE.UU) o por los bancos de inversión de los estados chino y brasileño. La discusión refrescante se mueve más allá de la habitual división entre los partidarios de la austeridad frente a los defensores de los estímulos fiscales. Argumenta que las inversiones del estado no sólo ayudan a disparar el crecimiento durante los períodos de recesión, sino que además, incluso en períodos de auge, conducen a inversiones productivas en nuevas tecnologías radicales que luego promueven décadas de crecimiento.

El libro termina con una pregunta fundamental: si el Estado es tan importante para las inversiones en innovación de alto riesgo, ¿por qué captura tan poco en el retorno directo de las inversiones? Sin embargo, Google y Apple por ejemplo, deberían devolver más a la sociedad, y los ciudadanos que financiaron sus innovaciones con impuestos.

¿Dónde estaría hoy Google sin las inversiones financiadas por el estado en el desarrollo de internet, y sin las subvenciones con que la Fundación Nacional de Ciencias de EE.UU (NSF) financió el descubrimiento de su propio algoritmo? ¿El iPad sería tan exitoso sin las innovaciones financiadas por el estado de las tecnologías de comunicación, GPS y pantalla táctil?

No se trata de que el estado corrija las fallas del mercado, o que la política industrial escoja a los “ganadores”, o que el gasto público estimule la demanda insuficiente, se trata de que el estado tome el papel líder en la innovación. El estado funciona, en términos de Mazzucato, en el papel de asumir los riesgos, abriendo el camino a nuevas tecnologías, antes de que el sector privado entre a rentabilizarlas en aplicaciones industriales.

En conclusión, para la realidad colombiana, la transformación de Colciencias, como instrumento institucional del gobierno para el desarrollo de la ciencia, la tecnología y la innovación, es una necesidad apremiante, a la luz de las experiencias de los países desarrollados, como las descritas y analizadas por Mazzucato. Es necesario un estado, y un sector privado, más comprometido con la ciencia y la investigación, sin dejar de lado el desarrollo experimental y la innovación. Sin embargo, Colciencias retrocede, y el gobierno la entrega a los políticos, de acuerdo a Moisés Wasserman, ex rector de la UN.

Anti-poaching drones to take off in Africa

ORIGINAL: Al Jazzera

James Reinl

20 Jan 2013

Conservationists seek out new technologies as illegal animal killings threaten endangered populations.

Kenya reportedly lost 360 elephants last year to poaching [James Pope/Save the Elephants]

Nairobi, Kenya - The discovery was gruesome. A family of 12 dead elephants rotting in the midday heat of south-eastern Kenya, their faces hacked apart by poachers as they removed the animals' ivory tusks.

The massacre this month in Tsavo East National Park highlighted a surge in poaching in Africa that has pushed conservationists to embrace new technologies in an effort to save threatened elephants and rhinos.

Now, rangers plan to deploy remotely controlled drone aircrafts above three African parks this year.

Elsewhere, elephant collars fitted with iPhone-style technology are being developed to alert wardens when animals are hunted.

"Many nearby conservancies have lost animals. We recently took in a rhino calf which had been shot, but sadly did not survive," said Rob Breare, from central Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

"It's a pretty desperate situation right now, and anything that halts this poaching scourge is a necessity," he noted.

Ol Pejeta employs 160 armed guards across 90,000 acres (360 km2) to protect its prized assets: four of the world's last remaining seven northern white rhinos. In March, it plans to test-fly a $75,000 drone to place eyes in the sky.

Launched either by hand or catapult, the aircraft can cover 10,000 acres on each flight, relaying a live-stream camera feed to rangers on the ground. Thermal imaging means it can also patrol by night.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also plans to deploy drones above two African and two Asian reserves, while tagging and monitoring animals in a $5m scheme that is being funded by Google, the environmental group's anti-trafficking expert Crawford Allan said.

"This isn't just about using aerial surveillance systems. This is about understanding where the animals are on the ground, using low-cost technology to electronically tag animals," he said. "It's a new approach that could change the game and really deter poaching."

Hi-tech collars

WWF describes a soaring trade in ivory and rhino horn to provide trinkets, aphrodisiacs and medicine to the burgeoning nouveau riche of China and other parts of Asia.

"Agitated animals act differently, allowing the collar to send out an alert and our team can get there before the elephant is killed. "

- Frank Pope

Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Kenya lost 360 elephants last year in a "global surge in poaching, fuelled by high demand for ivory in Asian countries". Ivory costs $1,000 per pound in the Far East, while rhino horn fetches up to $30,000 per pound.

After two decades of conservation gains and growing elephant and rhino numbers, much of Africa is witnessing a return to the bad old days and record highs of poaching. Wardens fear the thick-skinned beasts could be wiped out altogether.

The Kenya-based group, Save the Elephants, uses hi-tech collars fitted around animals' necks, which emit mobile phone and satellite signals, allowing rangers to monitor scores of animals via Google Earth, spokesman Frank Pope told Al Jazeera.

When an elephant ceases moving, the collar sends out an alert signal and rangers rush to investigate the scene.

"We find either that the elephant has been injured or, more often, sadly, it's been killed," Pope noted.

Tracking the killers after a carcass discovery can be effective. This month, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers in Isiolo County, in central Kenya, hunted down a poaching gang and killed two poachers in the ensuing shoot-out.

Engineers are currently upgrading the collars so they can raise the alarm even before an elephant has been gunned down, said Pope, effectively turning the heavyweight herbivores "into their own threat-detectors".

Using accelerometer technology found in iPhones, which gauge movement and gravitational pull, improved collars will also track an elephant's movement patterns and breathing, thus indicating if the animal is distressed.

"In the bush, elephants detect poachers before the poachers detect elephants. They have exquisitely good senses of hearing and smell," Pope said. "Agitated animals act differently, allowing the collar to send out an alert and our team can get there before the elephant is killed."

Conservation drones 

While tracking gadgets are widely welcomed by conservationists, the value of "eco-drones" remains hotly debated and has been dismissed as a gimmick, the brainchild of marketing executives in aerospace firms more usually associated with creating weapons of war.

"We need them to understand they are being conned by snake-oil salesmen. Often sick people who cannot afford to waste their money on fakes."

- Crawan Allan. analyst 

Unlike the high-altitude killers deployed above Afghanistan and Pakistan, however, conservation drones look more like model aircraft and have a smaller field of vision. Poachers already bury animal carcasses to avoid detection by ranger aeroplanes.

"We need to see results before we allocate resources," said KWS spokesman Paul Mbugua. "We need to know whether poachers are capable of bringing drones down, just like they can bring down other aircraft."

Ian Saunders, the former military co-founder of the Tsavo Trust, described a battle against Mafia-like gangs toting Kalashnikovs and rifle-fired grenades, comparable to "low-level counter-insurgency" operations.

"UAVs [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles] have a role to play, but they are no silver bullet," he said. "Deterring poachers involves well-trained and well-equipped people on the ground. It's not about Special Forces and drones; it's about doing the basics well."

Ecologists now warn that many of Africa's "rebel militias" have joined the poaching spree for quick cash, with analysts pointing the finger at Somalia's hard-line al-Shabaab fighters and the quasi-religious Lord's Resistance Army of central Africa.

"As much as blood diamonds were fuelling conflict in Africa, we are now seeing blood ivory fuelling conflict and instability on the continent," said Pope, from Save the Elephants.

While conservationists disagree on the merits of eco-drones, there is consensus on the need to quash the demand for tusks and horns in Asia, as well as running intelligence-led anti-poaching efforts in sub-Saharan savannah.

An International Fund for Animal Welfare study revealed that 70 percent of Chinese consumers were not aware that elephants were killed for ivory, often believing that it compares to losing a tooth. Rhino horn is mistakenly believed to cure cancer and boost sexual potency.

"We need them to understand they are being conned by snake-oil salesmen. Often sick people who cannot afford to waste their money on fakes," said Allan from WWF.

"With time, people will come to understand that it isn't morally acceptable to wipe out a species at the whim of wealthy people."

Follow James Reinl on Twitter: @jamesreinl