Click to enlarge

In 2007, for the first time in history, the majority of the world’s population —3.3 billion people — lived in cities. By 2050, 70% of Earth’s total population (6.4 Billion) will live in cities. Providing adequate services to the megacities of the future requires a fundamental rethinking of urban governance. Leveraging information technology and imbedded intelligence coupled with innovative service provision and governance structures can allow city governments deal with the complexities of the fundamental shift from a nation-state mindset to cities as the centers of global competition and cooperation. The ability of citizens to use their smart devices to communicate their needs to city governments provides an unparalleled opportunity in history to customize urban service delivery. 

The Intelligent Governance of Large Urban Systems (IGLUS) initiative at Stevens (http://www.cognitive-cities.org) is engaging in a pilot field project in implementing smart city technologies for Hoboken, NJ. Led by Dr. Ali Mostashari, Dr. Mo Mansouri, Dr. Jon Wade, Dr. Babak Heydari, Dr. Rob Cloutier and Dr. German Creamer, in collaboration with Dr. Matthias Finger at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, the IGLUS project seeks to leverage information technology advances and smart devices to evolve cities into learning and adaptive urban system of systems that can cater to the changing needs and conditions of the urban environment.

For its Smart City: Hoboken project, IGLUS intends to coordinate the implementation of advanced sensor networks and intelligent infrastructure architectures with the City of Hoboken, NJ. The goal is to allow smarter living by resident of Hoboken and allow decision-makers and service providers make better operational and strategic decisions based on real time information and archival knowledge. The research group will collaborate with industry partners in embedding intelligence into the infrastructure and services provided to the residents of Hoboken and establish a joint data center with the City government (mayor’s office and city council), which will be located on the Stevens campus.

The goal of this case study is to develop the fundamental architecture and processes for intelligent urban governance, which can be applied to other cities in the future. An initial mockup of the Smartphone App for Smart City: Hoboken is accessible at the project website: http://www.cognitive-cities.org/app