Cars have shaped modern cities the way we know them today – vibrant, dynamic, and cosmopolitan. Cars were the energy that boosted their growth. But alongside their massive impact on urban life, cars also caused numerous strains on the very fabric of our society, that have been stitched up with over-development of roads and highways in an attempt to keep up with the massive growth in the production of the automotive sector. Before we knew it, our cities have become overcrowded

Who likes public transport anyway? Buses never arrive on time, travel time is rather unpredictable, and during rush hours you most likely have to go standing at an uncomfortably close, almost intimate distance from someone you see for the first time in your life. But often cities leave us no other choice. For example, long distances and traffic jams may force people to switch to public transit to spend, let’s say, an hour instead of two commuting to work. Or there can be a pa

Whatever action is taken by today's resident, most likely it leaves a digital footprint. Morning run? The fitness tracker will remember the route. Taking a taxi to the office? Uber will keep its address. Meeting a friend in a bar? Google will use your location and time spent there to estimate the busiest hours for the place. Huge amount of data is being generated in cities every day, and municipalities are increasingly seeking to use them to make important decisions. So far,

31ºNorth together with the Urban Sustainability and Innovation Lab at the Porter School for Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University launches a study, designed to simplify and unify the analysis of urban data, focusing on the specific resident needs. The idea is to create a universal typology of residents archetypes, or ‘city clusters’, developing an algorithm and measures for its definition using multiple data dimensions. There is no single recipe for developing a smart

Do you remember the second Back to the Future movie? The way our present time was shown there, with flying cars, odd architecture, and ridiculous metallic clothing reminiscent of space travel? But look around - today's hoverboards don’t even hover, let alone flying vehicles. In fact, cities haven't changed all that much in recent decades and we're still pretty far from this sci-fi, futuristic reality. However, while less noticeable to the public, a rather important and unexpe