Focus Shifts From Smart Growth to Intelligent Cities
The economic and housing downturn, coupled with changing U.S. demographics, have shifted the focus of city planners from the “smart growth” principles that reigned during the housing boom to the new concept of “intelligent cities.”
The Intelligent Cities Initiative, a National Building Museum project in partnership with Time and IBM, is currently exploring the intersection of information technology and urban design. The initiative aims to capitalize on growing citizen involvement with technology by using the data made available by the new information technologies to determine how best to design and plan cities.
Notwithstanding that “intelligent cities” has become the new buzzword of urban planning, the principles of smart growth, which emphasize accessibility in communities, are still alive. Growing Wealthier: Smart Growth, Climate Change and Prosperity, a study recently released by the Center for Clean Air Policy, found that the application of smart growth principles to development and urban design can improve the bottom line for businesses, household budgets and governmental balance sheets.
