The self-aware city

• Main Author: Sevtsuk, Andres
• Other Authors: William J. Mitchell.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2007
• Subjects: Architecture.
• Online Access: http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/35128; http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35128

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2006. === This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. === Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-126). === This thesis explores the idea of real-time urban space management. While increasing amounts of real-time information about the city, specifically the location of people and resources, appear, it becomes necessary to explore how different strategies of distributing real-time location information can be used as urban design tools for a more sustainable resource allocation. I focus on the study of street-parking, a system that clearly has a market situation with demand and supply, but due to lack of information is poorly managed today. I argue that an equilibrium state of the parking market in popular areas, similar to many other urban space markets, is a frequent over demand. The important challenges are therefore allocation optimization and queuing management. I propose five different strategies of using real-time location information to reduce search times and analyze the system through computer simulations and logic. Borrowing ideas from Game Theory, I try to illustrate how collaborative behavior between drivers could yield most efficient results from both the individual and the group point of view. Lastly, I outline some challenges that the use of real-time information systems introduce to the realm of urban design in general. === by Andres Sevtsuk. === S.M.