Urban AI Guide
Many city leaders are confronted with the reality that they lacked the background knowledge to properly engage with and evaluate urban solutions involving emerging technologies such as AI. In some instances, this knowledge gap produces a barrier to project implementation or leads to unintended outcomes. This guide aims at aiding city leaders and urban technologists (academic, public, private, and community-focused) better understand how AI operates in urban contexts.
The guide begins with a literature review, presenting the state of the art in research on urban AI. It then diagrams and describes an “urban AI anatomy,” outlining and explaining the components that make up an urban AI system. Insights from experts in the Urban AI community enrich this section, illuminating considerations involved in each component. Finally, the guide concludes with an in-depth examination of three case studies that highlight the diversity of ways in which AI can be operationalized in urban contexts, as well as the steps and requirements necessary to implement an urban AI project.