Robert Metcalf

MIT Senseable City Lab

Started in 2005, the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) a multidisciplinary research group that studies the interface between cities, people, and technologies. It investigates how the ubiquity of digital devices and the various telecommunication networks that augment our cities are impacting urban living. With an overall goal of anticipating future trends, the Lab bring together researchers from many academic disciplines to work on groundbreaking ideas and innovative real-world demonstrations. This research is undertaken in partnership with cities, the private sector and other universities; through this collaborative approach, we strive to reveal how a new, rapidly expanding network of digital devices is serving to modify the traditional principles of understanding, describing and inhabiting cities. The Lab's work has been exhibited in leading venues including the Venice Biennale, the Design Museum Barcelona, the Canadian Centre for Architecture and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Among many awards are TIME Magazine's Best Invention of the Year in 2007 (Digital Water Pavilion) and 2014 (Copenhagen Wheel).