As part of the expansion of the international presence of the MIT Senseable City Lab, which is opening "satellite" locations in different parts of the world to establish long-term relationships with host territories, the Regional Council has given the formal go-ahead to the agreement, which includes an initial year-long phase of "exploration" of how the Lab can be set up and the area of interest in which it is to be located, through a feasibility study and the identification of potential local partners. This phase is preparatory to a future decision on the actual opening and operational start-up of the Lab in Emilia-Romagna.
What the Senseable City Lab does
The Senseable City Lab, an omni-disciplinary research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, conducts its research on the interaction between cities, people and technologies, exploring how the spread of digital devices and telecommunications networks are affecting the urban environment. Active for 20 years, the lab directed by Professor Carlo Ratti has over time activated collaborations with dozens of institutions, companies, foundations and public bodies around the world. The Senseable City Lab pertains to MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, which has been ranked the top university in the world for many years. The Lab's work is based on diverse fields such as urban planning, architecture, design, engineering, computer science, natural sciences and economics, to capture the multidisciplinary nature of urban problems and provide research and applications to improve the lives of citizens. Since 2004, the Senseable City Lab has grown rapidly to more than 130 completed projects with more than 500 scientific publications.