System City


Book Description

A radical shift is taking place in the way that society is thinkingabout cities, a change from the machine metaphors of the 20thcentury to mathematical models of the processes of biological andnatural systems. From this new perspective, cities are regarded notsimply as spatially extended material artefacts, but as complexsystems that are analogous to living organisms, exhibiting many ofthe same characteristics. There is an emerging view that the designof the thousands of new cities needed for an expanding worldpopulation are to be founded on intelligent and inhabitedinfrastructural systems or ‘flow architectures’ ofurban metabolisms. The physical arrays of the flow architecture ofthe city are intimately connected to the networks of subsidiarysystems that collect and distribute energy, materials andinformation. They animate the city, and should therefore beintimately coupled to the spatial and cultural patterns of life inthe city, to the public spaces through which people flow, andshould unite rather than divide urban morphological and ecologicalsystems. Featured architects: AMID(cero9), Buro Happold, Foster +Partners, Groundlab and SOM. Contributors include: Joan Busquets, Kate Davies and Liam Young,Mehran Gharleghi, Evan Greenberg and George Jeronimidis, MarinaLathouri, Wolf Mangelsdorf, Daniel Segraves, Jack Self, RicardSolé and Sergi Valverde, and Iain Stewart.




Urban Systems Design


Book Description

Urban Systems Design: Creating Sustainable Smart Cities in the Internet of Things Era shows how to design, model and monitor smart communities using a distinctive IoT-based urban systems approach. Focusing on the essential dimensions that constitute smart communities energy, transport, urban form, and human comfort, this helpful guide explores how IoT-based sharing platforms can achieve greater community health and well-being based on relationship building, trust, and resilience. Uncovering the achievements of the most recent research on the potential of IoT and big data, this book shows how to identify, structure, measure and monitor multi-dimensional urban sustainability standards and progress. This thorough book demonstrates how to select a project, which technologies are most cost-effective, and their cost-benefit considerations. The book also illustrates the financial, institutional, policy and technological needs for the successful transition to smart cities, and concludes by discussing both the conventional and innovative regulatory instruments needed for a fast and smooth transition to smart, sustainable communities. - Provides operational case studies and best practices from cities throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia, and Africa, providing instructive examples of the social, environmental, and economic aspects of "smartification - Reviews assessment and urban sustainability certification systems such as LEED, BREEAM, and CASBEE, examining how each addresses smart technologies criteria - Examines existing technologies for efficient energy management, including HEMS, BEMS, energy harvesting, electric vehicles, smart grids, and more




City of Goblins (In the System Book #1)


Book Description

Ivan Susanin, a typical guy and unemployed techie, is initiated by the System and transported, together with a thousand other players, to an unknown location beyond Earth. Ivan has an interface, a spear, and basic weapon skills. All he has to do to return to Earth is complete a simple quest and reach the second level. But experience points are only awarded for kills in this game, and the clock is ticking. Whoever doesn't score within 24 hours will remain in the location forever.The game takes places in the ruins of a massive city, where the undead lurk in the central districts and the outskirts are raided by the descendants of past owners. The undead are strong, while the goblins rarely move around alone and aren't worth much XP. The most valuable prey under these conditions are formal allies, i.e. the other players. If a player is capable of killing a fellow human, of course. Even if they aren't planning to go against their own nature by murdering innocents, who said that they will have a choice? It's kill or be killed!Those who complete the quest will be returned to Earth, where they can rest and prepare for the next attempt. Beyond the local objective is also a global one. In the center of the city stands a temple to a fallen god, and until one of the players captures the Altar, the mission will be repeated again and again. But when all you're holding is a spear, your allies can't be trusted, and resurrection is nearly impossible, this isn't much more than a delayed death sentence...For the first seven players, who become the Earth Gods, this mission is a chance to rapidly gain power and take charge of a united Pantheon. A chance to escape death and protect our world from invasion. Although there is only one altar and the Gods make others do their work. Ivan must make a choice and decide whose pawn he will become. Or should he take a risk, refuse their patronage and keep his options open?







Energy Data Requirements of the Federal Government


Book Description




The Smart Enough City


Book Description

Why technology is not an end in itself, and how cities can be “smart enough,” using technology to promote democracy and equity. Smart cities, where technology is used to solve every problem, are hailed as futuristic urban utopias. We are promised that apps, algorithms, and artificial intelligence will relieve congestion, restore democracy, prevent crime, and improve public services. In The Smart Enough City, Ben Green warns against seeing the city only through the lens of technology; taking an exclusively technical view of urban life will lead to cities that appear smart but under the surface are rife with injustice and inequality. He proposes instead that cities strive to be “smart enough”: to embrace technology as a powerful tool when used in conjunction with other forms of social change—but not to value technology as an end in itself. In a technology-centric smart city, self-driving cars have the run of downtown and force out pedestrians, civic engagement is limited to requesting services through an app, police use algorithms to justify and perpetuate racist practices, and governments and private companies surveil public space to control behavior. Green describes smart city efforts gone wrong but also smart enough alternatives, attainable with the help of technology but not reducible to technology: a livable city, a democratic city, a just city, a responsible city, and an innovative city. By recognizing the complexity of urban life rather than merely seeing the city as something to optimize, these Smart Enough Cities successfully incorporate technology into a holistic vision of justice and equity.







City Sense


Book Description

Projects presented at the 4th Advanced Architecture Contest, by the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, IAAC. Edited by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, this book presents a selection of projects on Smart Cities, Eco neighborhoods, Self-sufficient buildings, Intelligent homes and other proposals that analyzes the phenomena of sensor-driven cities and inteligent behavioural systems that were presented in the 4th Advanced Architecture Contest.







A Study of China's Urban-Rural Integration Development


Book Description

China's urbanization has stunned the world in the past two decades- but as the authors of this book explain, the growth is only set to continue. The divide between urban and rural citizens in China implicates every aspect of Chinese life, from education to pollution to healthcare. In this book, one of China's most celebrated academic urbanists and a major urban planner collaborate in laying out and analyzing the problems of China's urban-rural divide, experiences of urbanization, and what the future holds. This book is a must read, not only for the accurate summaries of China's developmental experience it includes, but also for the insights it provides into the mentalities of the government officials and private developers who are creating realities on the ground in Chinese cities.