The Berlage

Since cities emerged ten thousand years ago, they have become one of the most impressive artifacts of humanity. But their evolution has been anything but linear—cities have gone through moments of radical change, turning points thatHe will examine the forces behind urban change and offer new visions of the many possibilities for tomorrow’s city. Pervasive digital systems that layer our cities are transforming urban life. He will share his work at the MIT Senseable City Laboratory, which focuses on experimentation and implementation of a variety of urban initiatives and concepts, from assistive condition-monitoring bicycles to trash with embedded tracking sensors, from mobility to energy, from participation to production. Ratti calls for a new approach to envisioning cities: futurecraft, a symbiotic development of urban ideas by designers and the public. With such participation, we can collectively imagine, examine, choose, and shape the most desirable future of our cities.Image caption: Representation of one minute of taxi rides with passengers in New York City, April 20th 2011, starting at 10:00 am. Courtesy of MIT Senseable City Lab.

Carlo Ratti is an architect and engineer and teaches at MIT, where he directs the Senseable City Lab. He is a founding partner of the international design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati. He graduated from the Politecnico di Torino and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, later earning his MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge, UK. In the last decade, Carlo has given talks around the world on the theme of Smart Cities, while his work has been exhibited in international venues including the Venice Biennale, New York’s MoMA, London’s Science Museum and Barcelona’s Design Museum. Two of his projects – the Digital Water Pavilion and the Copenhagen Wheel – were hailed by Time Magazine as “Best Inventions of the Year.” He has been included in Blueprint Magazine’s “25 People who will Change the World of Design” and in Wired Magazine’s “Smart List: 50 people who will change the world.” He was curator for the Future Food District at Expo Milano 2015, and is currently serving as co-chair of the World Economic Forum Global Council on the Future of Cities and Urbanization.