EAGER: Exploring the Coupled Dynamics of Urban Systems Using Data Science and Micro-Experimentation

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project will help develop the underlying scientific and engineering foundation necessary to spawn the new technologies and systems necessary to make cities and communities more sustainable. Three to four blocks in downtown Palo Alto, California, will be instrumented to form a living lab for the collection of high-resolution data on building, energy and transportation infrastructure systems and the underlying human systems of the community. By engaging the City of Palo Alto in a close partnership, this project will have broad impacts in both the academic and civic communities. Results will be readily accessible and disseminated to Palo Alto municipal officials to empower municipal officials to make data-informed design, management and policy decisions. This work will include making study data and findings available to public as part of Palo Alto's Open Data Initiative thereby helping to promote a more engaged population and overall citizen well-being. This project will also help train an advanced scientific workforce capable of designing and managing our future cities and communities through pedagogical integration of the "living lab" into MS and PhD course offerings at Stanford University and a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) initiative. This project addresses the enormous pressure rapid urbanization is exerting on the myriad of complex and interdependent urban systems (e.g., energy, transportation, environmental, buildings). Changes in one system can have substantial impacts on others making it difficult to discern and predict the effects of urban design, management and policy decisions. This work aims to develop and employ a radically new data-driven micro-experimentation framework to characterize and quantify the coupled interactions and dynamics between urban infrastructure and human systems. Three to four blocks in downtown Palo Alto, California, will be outfitted with sensors to form a living lab for the collection of high-resolution data on building, energy and transportation infrastructure systems and the underlying human systems of the community. A multi-dimensional network model will be developed to simultaneously analyze multiple incoming urban data streams. Utilizing the results of the network data analysis, empirical micro-experiments will be conducted in this living lab to understand how changes in one urban system impact other systems. Ultimately, this project will contribute a novel micro-experimental framework for studying the coupled dynamics of urban systems that represents a radical shift away from viewing urban systems as purely technical, and integrates concepts from social policy to study urban systems from a socio-technical perspective.