Moving from "smart" to "responsive" cities
Prof Gerhard Schmitt shared the Singapore-ETH Centre's emphasis on a people-centric approach in the planning, design and management of “responsive cities” in stars insights.
In the stars insights article external page Moving From "Smart" to "Responsive" Cities Prof Gerhard Schmitt shared the strong emphasis at the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) on the visualisation of data and simulation as important means to communicate research to partners, stakeholders.
An example is the external page Cooling Singapore project which uses the visualisation tool “Singapore Views” to communicate the extent of the urban heat island (UHI) effect in Singapore. Researchers also conducted face-to-face interviews with citizens to find out their perception of outdoor thermal comfort.
"Through science, by design, in place" is the motto of the SEC's Future Cities Laboratory (FCL). It encapsulates the need for responsive cities solutions to be backed by science, designed with the citizens in mind, and with their active support, implemented in a context-appropriate manner for the specific place.
The Citizen Design Science team at the FCL makes use of user-friendly design tools such as the qua-kit (Quick Urban Analysis kit), which allows a person without any design background to communicate their ideas visually. The team conducts several design exercises with the public where participants can communicate their desired neighbourhood by using the qua-kit to place public parks, residential areas, streets, buildings and infrastructure within a neighbourhood.