PinnedAtlas of the Senseable City(An excerpt from the new book by Antoine Picon and Carlo Ratti) Introduction: Mapping the Future of Cities Digital urban maps are everywhere. They are not limited — far from it — to geographic information systems used by professional cartographers and planners. They punctuate city life for everyone, popping up…Urban Planning10 min readUrban Planning10 min read
Nov 9Building on an enduring bondTuskegee University and MIT deepen a connection that’s existed from the start. Robert Robinson Taylor’s impressive legacy straddles two institutions. There’s MIT, where he studied architecture and became the Institute’s first African American graduate; and then there is Tuskegee University, originally the Tuskegee Institute, where Taylor spent most of his…7 min read7 min read
Nov 7Bringing design justice to the classroom and workplaceProject shares ways to create community around design equity, ethics, and justice. Whether you’re building a home or programming a robot, design is a human-centered activity, making it essential to teach design in a way that focuses on equity, justice, and ethics. That’s one of the messages that was shared…5 min read5 min read
Nov 2MakerLodge: A launchpad for hands-on learningMIT’s program for first-year students helps develop hands-on maker skills, with tools, socializing, and safety training. MakerLodge is an extracurricular training program open to all MIT first-year undergraduate students that teaches making skills. It’s a great way to discover MIT shops and makerspaces, use manual and digital tools, socialize, and…MIT4 min readMIT4 min read
Oct 20Is AI in the eye of the beholder?Study shows users can be primed to believe certain things about an AI chatbot’s motives, which influences their interactions with the chatbot. Someone’s prior beliefs about an artificial intelligence agent, like a chatbot, have a significant effect on their interactions with that agent and their perception of its trustworthiness, empathy…MIT5 min readMIT5 min read
Oct 16Exploring traditional Japanese woodworking for building sustainabilityThrough a fellowship, Demi Fang documented her experience researching Japanese architecture and craftsmanship. By Olivia Mintz When Demi Fang SMBT ‘20 began her graduate work in Building Technology at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, she had no expectation that her research would take her to Japan. A doctoral…MIT4 min readMIT4 min read
Oct 11Giving students the computational chops to tackle 21st-century challengesWith the growing use of AI in many disciplines, the popularity of MIT’s four “blended” majors has intensified. Graduate student Nikasha Patel ’22 is using artificial intelligence to build a computational model of how infants learn to walk, which could help robots acquire motor skills in a similar fashion. Her…Urban Planning5 min readUrban Planning5 min read
Sep 153 Questions: How are cities managing record-setting temperatures?MIT David Hsu explains what municipal governments are doing as climate change accelerates. July 2023 was the hottest month globally since humans began keeping records. People all over the U.S. experienced punishingly high temperatures this summer. In Phoenix, there were a record-setting 31 consecutive days with a high temperature of…Climate Change5 min readClimate Change5 min read
Sep 12Student interns reflect on their time at the MIT Summer Research ProgramAfter the nine-week program, undergraduates from across the globe share their experiences and academic goals. By Olivia Mintz Summer at MIT is not just for current MIT students. Since 1986, the MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP) has created opportunities for underrepresented college students to attend MIT, conduct research and learn…Summer Internships7 min readSummer Internships7 min read
Aug 29Growing IslandsArchitecture’s Skylar Tibbits says the key to better designing our cities may be spending more time working and playing with sand. An exhibit now on view at the MIT Museum offers visitors a new way to reflect on the dynamics…Architecture4 min readArchitecture4 min read
