Urban Systems & Smart Cities
Applying Inference Dynamics to Urban Governance
Urban development is shaped by a dense interplay of stakeholders, policies, infrastructures, and societal expectations.
Traditional approaches often struggle to integrate these perspectives into coherent strategies.
We apply Inference Dynamics to urban systems to make these complexities explicit and actionable.
Focus
- Governance processes across municipal and regional levels
- Citizen participation and stakeholder integration
- Sustainability transitions and infrastructure development
Our Approach
Using Stratify, we:
- analyze stakeholder perspectives and policy narratives
- model interactions and tensions within urban systems
- identify leverage points for intervention
What This Enables
- Better-informed urban policy decisions
- Increased transparency in governance processes
- Structured integration of diverse stakeholder perspectives
- More robust and adaptive urban strategies
Example Direction: Urban Experimentation Platforms
We explore the concept of Urban Experimentation Platforms—digital infrastructures that support:
- continuous learning in cities
- coordinated experimentation
- AI-supported policy design
Partnership
We work with:
- cities and metropolitan regions
- public agencies
- urban innovation networks
Invitation
We invite cities and urban stakeholders to collaborate in developing new approaches to governance and sustainability based on collective intelligence and AI.
Read about our Research
Experimentation Platforms as Bridges to Urban Sustainability
In this article, we develop the concept of Urban Experimentation Platforms and showcase some successful projects.
Read the article here:
Rehm, S.-V., McLoughlin, S., & Maccani, G. (2021). Experimentation Platforms as Bridges to Urban Sustainability. Smart Cities, 4(2), 569-587. Open Access, DOI: 10.3390/smartcities4020030
Modeling and Visualizing Smart City Mobility Business Ecosystems: Insights from a Case Study
In this case report, we describe the benefits of analyzing city ecosystems using the example of urban mobility.
Read the article here:
Faber, A.; Rehm, S.-V.; Hernandez-Mendez, A. & Matthes, F. (2018). Modeling and Visualizing Smart City Mobility Business Ecosystems: Insights from a Case Study, Information, 9(11), 270. Open Access, DOI: 10.3390/info9110270
Coping with the Dynamics of Urban Sustainability: Urban Experimentation Platforms as Tools for Adaptive Policy Making
In this paper, we explain how platforms help introducing adaptive policy-making.
Read the article here:
Rehm, S.-V., McLoughlin, S., & Donnellan, B. (2022). Coping with the Dynamics of Urban Sustainability: Urban Experimentation Platforms as Tools for Adaptive Policy Making. Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2022), Research-in-Progress Papers, 61, [Link]