May 24The Consumed CityRethinking urban tourism in Venice through big data By Carmelo Ignaccolo Once the heart of a powerful maritime republic, Venice’s historic city has lost more than 120,000 residents since the early 1950s, driven away by myriad issues, including, more recently, 21st-century mass tourism. …Venice4 min readVenice4 min read
May 23Greening roofs to boost climate resilienceRoofscapes, a startup founded by three MIT students, is planning to build green spaces on pitched roofs in Paris, to decrease temperatures while improving quality of life. When the historic cities of Europe were built hundreds of years ago, there were open green spaces all around them. …Paris5 min readParis5 min read
May 1MIT Center for Real Estate advances climate and sustainable real estate research agendaProjects, publications, and academia-industry networks produce pathways for the real estate industry to address the climate crisis. Real estate investors are increasingly putting sustainability at the center of their decision-making processes, given the close association between climate risk and real estate assets, both of which are location-based. This growing emphasis…Real Estate4 min readReal Estate4 min read
Apr 21Low-cost device can measure air pollution anywhereOpen-source tool from MIT’s Senseable City Lab, in the School of Architecture and Planning, lets people check air quality, cheaply. Air pollution is a major public health problem: The World Health Organization has estimated that it leads to over 4 million premature deaths worldwide annually. Still, it is not always…Air Pollution4 min readAir Pollution4 min read
Mar 24Where the sidewalk endsMost cities don’t map their own pedestrian networks. Now, researchers have built the first open-source tool to let planners do just that. It’s easier than ever to view maps of any place you’d like to go — by car, that is. By foot is another matter. Most cities and towns…Pedestrians4 min readPedestrians4 min read
Mar 10Where do stolen bikes go?An experiment in Amsterdam reveals how pilfered bicycles are put to use. Amsterdam is one of the most bike-friendly major cities in the world. That also means the city is a happy hunting ground for thieves, who steal tens of thousands of bikes per year — a substantial chunk of…Amsterdam5 min readAmsterdam5 min read
Feb 21Blue-sky thinking and the 150-year chairMIT students studying advanced product design explored sustainable chair manufacturing and showed their work in a community exhibition space in Venice, California. A major aspect of sustainability — a core component in many MIT School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) courses — is considering the future effect of any given…Sustainability7 min readSustainability7 min read
Feb 2Learning Beautiful brings MIT’s “mind and hand” ethos to early childhood educationSpun out of a MIT Media Lab project, the startup offers materials that help children explore computer science concepts through hands-on learning. People at MIT know “mens et manus,” or “mind and hand,” as the school motto. But it’s also a good framework for early childhood education. Kids often learn…Computer Science6 min readComputer Science6 min read
Jan 24Living the history of CairoNasser Rabbat’s new book explores the life and legacy of al-Maqrizi, Egypt’s most influential historian. A bit of turbulence in the job market can affect people in different ways. Consider the Egyptian scholar Taqiyy al-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Maqrizi (1364–1442). In the early 1400s, after about a quarter-century of frustration…Egypt6 min readEgypt6 min read
Jan 9New research collaboration aims to tackle global societal challenges through designThe Hasso Plattner Institute-MIT Research Program on Designing for Sustainability will focus on sustainable design, innovation, and digital technologies. At a signing ceremony last week, leaders from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, the MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD) and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) announced the Hasso…Hasso Plattner3 min readHasso Plattner3 min read
