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Critical Technologies: Urban Tech for Social Impact
How can technology help create more equitable cities?
Held remotely via Zoom
June 9 & 10, 2021 Cornell Tech NYC
A Collaborative Symposium of the Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech, Cornell University, and the Technion's Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning
9:00
Session 1: Why?
10:00
Session 2: What?
12:00
Session 3: How?
2:00
Session 3: How?
The Speakers
The ongoing pandemic highlighted long-standing social inequalities. These inequities have manifested themselves in various ways and along multiple fracture lines (e.g. race and ethnicity, class, and disability) leading to limiting access to opportunity and public space in cities. Despite mounting inequality – and although theory, social research, and policy indicate the need for more equitable urban environments – social issues that lack spatial definitions remain hard to incorporate into the planning processes. There is a growing need for effective, technology-based, spatial tools to understand the mechanisms that create and distribute disparities through the city.
This conference will focus on the spatial dimensions of inequality in cities and will explore ways for technology to promote more equitable cities. It will bring together academic researchers from Cornell University, Cornell Tech, and the Technion, with practitioners from both NYC and Tel Aviv Planning Departments. The conference will map existing methodologies and planning tools regarding urban challenges based on state-of-the-art research in the field.
The conference will follow five main questions in five panels: Why, What, How, Who, and Where. Why is it important to harness technology to create more equitable cities; What can technology contribute to cities? How can current technologies contribute to societal challenges? This will be exemplified through research projects from the three academic departments, ranging from data-driven urban research to, mixed reality, visualization, simulations to art. The closing session will cover the Who and Where? through a panel of decision-makers and examples of decision environments.
Schedule
Held remotely via Zoom
DAY 1 June 9th, 2021
8:30
Welcome, Introductions and Greetings
Moderator:
Sharon Yavo-Ayalon and Michael Samuelian
Jacobs Institute Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
Greg Morrisett
Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost, Cornell Tech
Ron Brachman
Director of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Professor, Computer Science
Meejin Yoon
Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Cornell University
Yasha Grobman
Dean of the Faculty of Architecture & Town Planning Technion
9:00
Session 1: Why?
Framing the societal challenges related to urban redevelopment in face of urbanization processes and COVID-19
Moderator:
Meirav Aharon Gutman
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
Howard Slatkin
Deputy Executive Director for Strategic Planning at NYC DCP
Erez Ben Eliezer
Israel Innovation Authority
Towards Smarter Decision Making
Rohit Aggarwala
Jacobs Institute Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
10:00
Session 2: What?
11:30
Harnessing technology to develop more equitable cities
Moderator:
Jennifer Minner
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University
Visualizing just places: the critical role of mapping technologies
Michael Samuelian
Jacobs Institute Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
Defending Density
Dafna Fisher-Gewirtzman
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
Analytical Tools for Predicting Urban Well-Being
Robert W. Balder
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University, NY
Aaron Sprecher
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
Senses, Sensors, Sentiment – Few Notes on the Post-Pandemic Landscape of Architecture
Break
12:00
Session 3: How?
Data, and Visualization
Moderator:
Wendy Ju
Information Science, Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech
Anthony M. Townsend
Jacobs Institute Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
Karel Martens
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
COVID-19 and the Duties in Transport
Nicholas Klein
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University
Car Donation Programs Affect Travel, Income, and Healthcare Access Among Poor Families.
Ryan Thomas
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University
1:30
Lunch Break
2:00
Session 4: How?
Mixed Reality, Simulations, Computer Vision
Moderator:
Anthony M. Townsend
Jacobs Institute Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
Director, XR Collaboratory, Cornell Tech
XR Interaction Design and Urban Tech
Wendy Ju
Information Science, Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech
Where Did This Car Learn to Drive?
Sharon Yavo-Ayalon
Jacobs Institute Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
Daphna Levine
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
A New Perspective on Gentrification and Displacement: Bat Yam Case-study
3:30
Break
4:00
Session 5: Who and Where?
Decision-making process and decision-making environments
Moderator:
Sharon Yavo-Ayalon
Jacobs Institute Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
Hagit Naali-Joseph
Strategic Planning Department, Tel Aviv
Neema Kudva
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University
Christine Leuenberger
Department of Science and Technology Studies, Cornell
Beyond Walled Spaces – Transforming Policies of Exclusion with Policies of Inclusion
Batel Yossef
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
Urban Digital Twin Technology Generates a New Setup for Decision Making Environments
5:30
Closing Remarks
DAY 2 June 10th, 2021
Held remotely via Zoom
9:00
Writing Workshop
An intimate workshop activity for generating new research proposals and facilitating further collaboration between Cornell Tech, the Technion and Cornell University.
Sharon Shahaf
PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Speakers
8:30 am
Welcome, Introductions and Greetings
Moderators
Sharon Yavo Ayalon and Michael Samuelian, The Urban Tech Hub,Cornell Tech
00
Greg Morrisett
Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost, Cornell Tech
Ron Brachman
Director of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Professor, Computer Science
Meejin Yoon
Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Cornell University
Yasha Grobman
Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning Technion
9:00 am
Session 1: Why?
Moderator
Meirav Aharon Gutman
01
Meirav Aharon-Gutman
Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
Tech for Change: the social turn in the realm of urban technologies
Howard Slatkin
Deputy Executive Director for Strategic Planning at NYC DCP
Rohit Aggarwala
Senior Urban Tech Fellow, The Urban Tech Hub, Cornell Tech
Rebooting NYC: An Urban Tech Agenda for the Next Administration
10:00 am
Session 2: What?
Moderator
Jennifer S. Minner
02
Jennifer Minner
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University
Visualizing just places: the critical role of mapping technologies
Michael Samuelian
The Urban Tech Hub, the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech
Dafna Fisher-Gewirtzman
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
Urban Wellbeing, as Influenced by Densification Rates and Building Typologies
Robert W. Balder
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University, NYC
Aaron Sprecher
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
Senses, Sensors, Sentiment – Few Notes on the Post-Pandemic Landscape of Architecture
12:00 pm
Session 3: How?
03
Moderator:
Wendy Ju
Anthony M. Townsend
The Urban Tech Hub, the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech
Karel Martens
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
COVID-19 and the Duties in Transport
Nicholas Klein
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University
Car Donation Programs Affect Travel, Income, and Healthcare Access Among Poor Families.
Ryan Thomas
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University
Climate Risk Mapping in Contexts of Informality
2:00 pm
Session 4: How?
Moderator
Anthony M. Townsend
04
Harald Haraldsson
Director, XR Collaboratory, Cornell Tech
XR Interaction Design and Urban Tech
Wendy Ju
Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute
Where Did This Car Learn to Drive?
Sharon Yavo-Ayalon
The Urban Tech Hub, the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech
Daphna Levine
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
A New Perspective on Gentrification and Displacement: Bat Yam Case-study
4:00 pm
Session 5: Who and Where?
05
Moderator
Sharon Yavo-Ayalon
Hagit Naali-Joseph
Strategic Planning Department, Tel Aviv
Neema Kudva
Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell University
Christine Leuenberger
Department of Science and Technology Studies, Cornell
Beyond Walled Spaces – Transforming Policies of Exclusion with Policies of Inclusion
Batel Yossef
The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion
Urban Digital Twin Technology Generates a New Setup for Decision Making Environments
The Venue
Cornell Tech, Urban Tech Hub
2 West Loop Rd, New York, NY, 10044
Held virtually via Zoom
The Cornell Tech campus is New York City’s world-class tech destination. A thriving and inclusive community, a humming center of creative thinking, and a crossroads of research, education, and innovation: the Big Apple’s tech sector finally has a proper home.