Intelligent Cities Initiative

The National Building Museum announced the launch of its Intelligent Cities initiative.

Over the next 12 months, the project will explore how data and information technology are changing cities. Information surrounds us - data on how much energy we use in the home, projected traffic congestion, and census reports. But how do we make sense of all this information? How do we make connections between the way we travel and our health or the growth of cities and economic output? The Intelligent Cities attempts to make these connections visible and more importantly USEFUL. Starting with the November 1 issue of TIME magazine (on newsstands today), NBM will have a full page ad mashing up data about the home and asking the public to respond to a series of questions that will be geo-coded by zip code. These ads will continue each month through April, 2011. As part of this initiative, NBM will host a public forum in June 2011, a publication next fall and ultimately all of the work will culminate in an exhibition opening in 2013.

NBM released their first polling question, asking how one chooses where to live. And then compare your responses to fellow citizens. Next month will feature the next infographic and polling question about how kids travel to school.

Visit the Intelligent Cities web page, for essays, videos, and related links.

TIME magazine has created their own Intelligent Cities channel on their website featuring links to our site and an initial article by Bruce Katz, Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings.