Today, the annual TED Prize was awarded to the idea of City 2.0, the city of the future. The effort focuses on rethinking our urban areas so that 10 billion people might live on our planet both sustainably and healthily. The rethink is a massive undertaking that requires a whole new way of design, input and application.
TED has teamed with the Knight Foundation, with sponsorship from Autodesk and IBM, to create a new platform, www.thecity2.org, that provides an open and transparent means for people everywhere to help create their own future city. The site will work to connect citizens with ideas that work, to spread enthusiasm and action.
The site provides details regarding the Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler and Project Vasari, with integrated energy modeling and analysis features. There are also resources from IBM and their Smarter City initiative, with a city Forward web platform to find patterns in city data for insight into areas that need further investigation.
Citizens can propose and lead projects to upgrade their own cities on issues important to them – from transportation to public housing and recreational space and more. Civic and business leaders from around the globe will share ideas and resources.
This effort by the Knight Foundation follows other engagement efforts that include Community PlanIt, Code for America and DoSomething.org.
