Digital Cities Event in London

Just a brief note that the Building Centre in London is hosting an exhibition called "Digital Cities" from November 20 until January 24th 2009. According to the event information, the exhibition will:

"look at the impact on movement in cities: how communication and information technologies enhance a person's experience of place; how people interpret cities with the use of technology; and how mapping influences the design and planning of cities. It will also discuss some of the "big brother" issues such as privacy and security.

The exhibition will be presented through a number of research and commercial projects which use technology to provide planning and design and communication tool for the city. It will contain live and interactive presentations in a number of digital media."

A Smarter Planet, Big Blue Style

Following on my last post about the new infrastructure, the talk by IBM's Palmisano was the kick off of IBM's new strategic thrust in the smartspace world, under the heading of A Smarter Planet. To this end, IBM's Jack Mason and others recently launched a new blog to drive public discussion of ways to help bring this vision to reality. This great resource is also related to a previous, lighter vehicle run by Mason over at Tumblr. Both provide a great new scanning resource for all things related to development of integrated intelligent communities. Jack also encourages those interested in moving the larger vision forward to reach out and and establish a dialog and sharing of ideas in what he calls "Plan Bee". Count us in.

The New Infrastructure

Economists and pundits of a Keynesian bent have been pushing for months for national investment in infrastructure as a means of kick-starting economic recovery in the United States. Those of the old school point to crumbling American bridges and highways, sapped of improvement funds over the past decade, as one key area that must be addressed. The tragic collapse of New Orleans' levies in 2005, and Minnesota's 1-35 bridge in 2007 began drawing attention initally to these problems.

But, with the focus President-elect Obama put on green technology as a priority during his campaign, the push now is to go beyond spending on concrete and steel and take the opportunity to put in place or upgrade next generation smart infrastructure: a new power grid, solar, wind and hydro-power generation, broadband wireless networks, and so on. Even mooted cabinet appointment candidates are taking a next-generation flavor, particularly around the Department of Energy, are looking as much toward next-gen innovation as current-gen patronage.

Now the election has happened, experts of all stripes are channeling their input toward smart infrastructure investments, and, as it is Washington, interested parties are starting lobbying in earnest. IBM's Sam Palmisano fires an early shot today, laying out a brief vision for smart infrastructure investment that includes many of the items listed above at the Council on Foreign Relations. Politics? Yes, a little, but thankfully at least some progressive thinking about where the US should put its efforts, not only to shore up infrastructure, but also to create demand for next-gen jobs, opening up opportunities for training and employment in these critical areas in a country whose heavy industry had declined and expertise has shifted overseas. Of course, it also has the desired effect of fueling R&D.

So, here's to a new Administration, and hoping it keeps focus on the next infrastucture.

Update on November 7, 2008 by Scott Smith

More here about Al Gore's repoweramerica.org and its push in the same direction—new energy grids to power the switch to alternative energy sources.

Interview: Frank Kresin - Waag Society

Among the many interesting speakers I listened to at PICNIC 08 last month was Frank Kresin of Waag Society, giving an overview of some of his organization's efforts to use technology to give us a better view of the world around us and our impact on it. Frank's main focus was a discussion of sensor networks and an ongoing project on smart environments, and how they are being used in the Netherlands, for such applications as measuring direction and intensity of sound pollution from Schipohl Airport near Amsterdam.

Frank was kind enough to take a few minutes during PICNIC 08 to give me a brief description of his work and point of view on the event.

Frank Kresin Interview - PICNIC 08 from changeist on Vimeo.

Smartspaces: Nodes or Knots?

One question that the discussion of smartspaces raises is, "Should a smartspace be a network of interlinked nodes, with resilience created by the dispersion of the nodes in the network (e.g., the city as internet), or a more tightly woven, tightly controlled 'knot' of systems, run by a homogeneous, centrally controlled infrastructure (e.g. the city as CPU)?" In other words, nodes or knots?

John Robb has done some fantastic work on the concept of Resilient Communities, and is in the process of writing a book on the topic. His discussion today of micropower and microgrids points to this question. Should we be thinking now about how to enable smartspace structures by setting the standards, modes and protocols for flexibility at the level of each house, building, car and potentially mocrogeneration or microcommunication center, or go with the idea that infrastructure can be deployed at a massive scale, even at the scale of a megacity, all at once. Top-down, or bottom-up? Comments?