Smart[er] Living | Environment | Infrastructure: Low-Tech or No-Tech Solutions
Victor NegreteGSD Smart CitiesOctober 8, 2012
Smart Low-Tech or No-Tech Solutions [?]
• Smart Cities and Smart City solutions are not a new phenomenon
• Smart Cities and Smart City solutions are not necessarily high-tech
• Smart Cities and Smart City solutions empower individual citizens to participate in shaping the urban environment – a kind of DIY Urbanism
Subthemes and Case Studies
[1]
[1] Bus Rapid TransitBogota, Colombia
• BRT began in Curitiba, Brazil in 1974
• Bogota, Colombia opened its system (Transmilenio) in 2000
• The Transmilenio is considered to be among the best/most complete examples of BRT in the world
• [Smart Design] – a low tech solution
[Smart] is Not New
[Smart] is Not New
Buses travel on dedicated lanes.
[Smart] is Not New
Bus Platform is level with bus.
[Smart] is Not New
Riders pay before entering the station.
[Smart] is Not New
BRT is referred to as “surface subway.”
But it costs a fraction of traditional subway infrastructure.
[2]
[2] Grassroots MappingPublic Laboratory
• Grassroots Mapping utilizes digital cameras and open-source technology to stitch together aerial imagery
• A balloon map has 100 times higher resolution than those produced by Google
• Grassroots Mapping empowers communities
• [Accessible technology] – a smart solution
[Smart] is Not Always High-Tech
[Smart] is Not Always High-Tech
A DIY Mapping Kit
[Smart] is Not Always High-Tech
MapKnitter allows you to “stitch” images into a web-viewable map.
[Smart] is Not Always High-Tech
Balloon mapping has been used to document the Gulf oil spill.
[Smart] is Not Always High-Tech
Balloon mapping was also used to document Occupy protests.
[Smart] is Not Always High-Tech
Is it smart to rely on Apple and Google to map our cities?
[3]
[3] PARK(ing)Rebar
[Smart] is DIY
[Tactical Urbanism] –
“The goal is not to simply do a cool project that will get cleaned up by the city or thrown away, but to make something – even something temporary – that will change how a place works and is perceived. And once that change has been made, to figure out how it can be made again or made permanent.” - Nate Berg Writer, The Atlantic Cities
• The original Park(ing) installation occurred on November 16, 2005 in San Francisco, CA
• Each year on Park(ing) Day, people all over the reclaim metered parking spaces as places for people
• In 2010, the City of San Francisco made Park(ing) an official place-making strategy when it introduced its Pavement to Parks program
[Smart] is DIY
[Smart] is DIY
The first Park(ing) installation.