Most weekends I drive by a construction project in mid-town Manhattan notable for its colossal scale which will transform the city’s skyline, but also for built-in technology that can measure anything that moves. This is potentially a revolutionary development, which will enable site mangers to use resources more efficiently. As the New York Times reports:
“.. the sprawling development on Manhattan’s West Side, built on top of old rail yards along the Hudson River, will… become an urban laboratory for data science. The developers, Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group, are teaming up with New York University’s Center for Urban Science and Progress to create a “quantified community.”
The people aren’t there yet; the first office tower is scheduled to open next year, and the first residential building in 2017. But the plan is extraordinary in its size and comprehensive approach, built in from the outset. Among the things expected to be measured and modeled: pedestrian flows, street traffic, air quality, energy use, waste disposal, recycling, and health and activity levels of workers and residents…..
The Hudson Yards collaboration is evidence of the potential for the emerging field of “urban informatics.” It is a field fueled by the advance of digital technologies — sensors, wireless communication, storage and clever software — that make it possible to see and measure activities in an urban environment as never before.”
The way we measure economic progress (growth) is to some extent determined by what we used to be able to measure easily. But new technology is giving us the chance to cost-effectively measure critical activities such as environmental destruction that are missing from the current formulas. Including this data would dramatically change economic behavior.
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