DE•SYN lab smart communities focus on

• the smart citizens/ smart systems feedback loop,
illustrated by the smart card icon (right);

• urban innovation through engaging diverse communities, using in person Round Tables, virtual web tools, and all the methods of the ECO-cafe (diagram below);

• problem-mapping methods and tools to enhance collaboration across disciplines for decision support toward eco-sustainability, as in the Smart Infrastructure problem map below.

The Eco-Cafe method is used to generate ideas for sustainability programs to address challenges requiring cross-sectoral urban innovation.

Zann Gill speaks at
SAP Labs Future Salon on
smart systems • smart citizens

The words “leadership,” “ethics,” “integrity” and “transparency” have entered mainstream discourse as never before. Management consultants are proffering advice to the mainstream on sustainability.

Garrett Hardin. "The Tragedy
of the Commons." Science.
December 13, 1968. vol. 162.
p. 1243-1248.

Problem-mapping toward collaboration & visualization:
Gapminder
Green Map System
NCDC Imaging (Native Communities Development Corporation)
Planetary Skin
San Francisco ECOmap
Visible Strategies

Social Network
for ECO-knowledge-sharing
Wiser Earth

Half of the world's population lives in cities. By 2050 that percentage is predicted to rise to 75% (UN-Habitat, quoted
in the Siemens Mega-cities Challenges report, 2008). So reducing the carbon footprint of cities will become increasingly important.

As global urbanization continues, cities are increasingly recognized as complex, interacting systems, requiring data integration across transport, built environment, water and energy supply networks and the social fabric – evolving towards “smart infrastructure.”

According to the Institute of Advanced Studies (Marcotullio and Boyle, 2003), "Sustainability can only be achieved when cities are approached as systems and components of nested systems in ecological balance with each other." These needs are recognized globally by city administrations. The 2008 International Convention of the Metropolis Network of governments, comprised of more than 100 cities of more than a million people identified standing commissions focusing on six current priorities:
•    eco-regions,
•    urban mobility management,
•    water management,
•    metropolitan performance measurement (exchanging data among cities),
•    financing of urban services and infrastructure, and
•    comprehensive neighborhood regeneration and “smart communities.”

To meet the growing challenges of complex urban environments, we need better, more integrated tools and methods that are interoperable across a range of information technology, science, business, and government policy disciplines. The tools needed to support complex decision-making across disciplines have not yet been built, while tools that do exist are not well integrated. There is a need for new tools and practices. Digital technologies provide us with richer ways to visualize, manage and design our cities, while also providing a platform for next generation "best practice" in integrated planning. New digital measurement techniques, geo-spatial information systems, 3D interactive visualization, electronic collaborative techniques, sensor networks, security systems, and predictive models together can provide the tools needed to manage and improve our large and complex urban areas with smart infrastructure. Eventually it should be possible to model a city in its regional context in order to measure the performance of an entire urban system and its environmental impact. This modeling capacity will be the first step toward using integrated models to explore and generate future alternatives, prototyping cities and entire construction projects digitally.

Coordinated construction of comprehensive digital models of cities, urban clusters, and cities networked in their global context could cause a revolution in planning "best practices" and urban growth management that can address the problems in our urban areas and the impact of urban development on the eco-sustainability of our planet. Problems of excessive energy use, over-burdened infrastructure and declining efficiency are urgent (Siemens).  Even piecemeal, digital technology has demonstrated potential to meet the challenge:
•   Adaptive traffic systems cut trip times by 20% (Siemens/ Tyra).
•   Building information models reduced construction mistakes by 40% (Stanford).
•   Pervasive use of broadband could cut U.S. greenhouse emissions by 1 billion tons over 10 years (Cisco).
• Informed "green" urban planning could reduce US household energy consumption by 75% (Harvard).
Mega-cities are struggling to be economically competitive, ecologically sustainable, and to deal with fundamental scaling issues. Current planning processes do not provide adequate decision support and there is much scope for adding intelligence to how we manage our built environment and supporting infrastructure. Integration of current piecemeal research, technology and skills is needed to address this grand challenge, providing opportunities for government, industry and researchers.