Is urbanization sustainable? That is precisely what a team at SFI is working on, says a Big Think article that features the Institute's cities research.
"SFI is like CERN for complexity research, a highly selective think tank where physicists, biologists, mathematicians and the like congregate in attempts to decipher how the world works," writes Big Think's Brian Hoffstein. "Two researchers in particular, Geoffery West and Luis Bettencourt, have been collaborating on something referred to as a 'science of cities.'"
"So as the city becomes the bedrock of human activity on the planet, it may be our last shot at getting this sustainability thing right," Hoffstein adds. "A science of cities can provide the clarity needed for swift and accurate decision making. It's a transformation that fuses at the intersection of technology and ecology. Where big data illuminates problems and innovators design solutions. Where urban planners collaborate with biologists, and collectively we champion the holistic values essential for modernity to flourish."
Read the Big Think article (October 23, 2013)