Scoping out iCity 2.0

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Table #5 generates ideas at iCity 2.0 Workshop, June 24, 2019 (clockwise from left: Helen Ng, Consultant; Jon Salter, Esri; Linda Hazzan, Toronto Public Library; Greice Mariano, OCAD U; Sandra Fitzpatrick, Region of Peel)

Two half-day workshops were convened on Monday, June 24 and Tuesday, June 25 to capture research ideas and flesh them out. Those ideas were then presented as the outline of the iCity 2.0 research proposal at a meeting on Thursday, June 27  with candidate partners.

We thank all participants for their thoughtful contributions towards an iCity 2.0 proposal to be submitted in the fall.

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Dr. Mark Fox at iCity 2.0 Workshop discussion, June 25, 2019
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Postdoctoral Fellow Megan Katsumi comments during iCity 2.0 Workshop, June 25, 2019

About iCity

We are completing Year 4 of a five-year ORF-RE07 supported project titled “iCity: Urban Informatics for Sustainable Metropolitan Growth”. Our iCity 2.0 vision is of a “virtual lab” for urban design in which we develop and apply advanced data, analysis, simulation and visualization capabilities to find innovative ways to improve urban transportation system performance and design cities that are economically, equitably and environmentally sustainable. The way forward will not resemble the past. How can we help decision makers steer towards good outcomes and away from bad outcomes and prepare the public to come along?

iCity-Urban Informatics confirmed to us the value of truly transdisciplinary and highly collaborative research. iCity 2.0 must likewise bring many perspectives and broad knowledge to bear on the transportation challenges we face preparing for a growing (and aging) population, in the face of climate change, aging infrastructure, fiscal constraints, rising inequality, etc., at a time when the transportation industry is being disrupted by ridesharing and autonomous vehicles.