Your future in Applied Urban Science and Informatics
SMART MINDS
+ SMART CITIES
Your future in applied urban science and informatics.
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6.2
1.9
143
data points are
collected every day.
Big Data is set to create
1.9M IT jobs in U.S. by 2015.
“printed” pages of digital
data NYC generates daily.
billion
5.1
billion
million
million
350 247
billion
billion
Google searches made
per day globally.
text messages sent
worldwide monthly.
email messages
sent each day.
80
20
350
Up to 80% of the emails
sent each day are spam.
calls made to NYC’s
311 system yearly.
Annual meter readings
analyzed by IBM Big Data.
percent
million
Your future in Applied Urban Science and Informatics
billion
What is Urban Informatics?
Urban informatics is a relatively new field that uses data to better
understand how cities work. This understanding can remedy a wide
range of issues affecting the everyday lives of citizens and the
long-term health and efficiency of cities—from morning commutes to
emergency preparedness to air quality. New York University's Center for
Urban Science and Progress aims to be the world’s leading authority on the
emerging field of urban informatics, with New York City as its laboratory
and classroom. The urban issues CUSP takes on will be New York’s. The
solutions it creates will make cities around the world more productive,
livable, equitable and resilient. Read on to learn more.
240 400 500
$
billion
million
million
photos uploaded to
Facebook so far.
tweets sent every
day worldwide.
in venture capital has been
invested in Big Data.
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Center for Urban Science + Progress
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How does Urban Informatics work?
The practice of urban informatics is a multi-step process that integrates the
accumulation, analysis, reporting and acting upon of data generated in an
urban setting. Urban informatics practitioners:
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1. collect data from a variety of sources—public and private databases,
sensors, camera feeds, commuter data etc.;
2. integrate and manage the data, using advanced systems and best
practices to empower insight, build connections and protect privacy;
3. analyze and interpret the data through powerful methods such as
machine learning, data mining, and agent-based modeling and
simulation;
4. develop recommendations and implement solutions that can help cities
to be more livable and efficient; and
5. monitor and evaluate outcomes for immediate and long-term benefits
including opportunties for optimzation.
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Your future in Applied Urban Science and Informatics
Why Urban Informatics now?
With urban informatics, large-scale datasets and analytics can be used
to address fundamental challenges of city operations, planning and
development—problems that left unchecked will only grow as cities grow.
Two phenomena make urban informatics possible and necessary for
our times:
1. Global urbanization
For the first time in history, more than half the world’s population lives in
urban areas. By 2050 it is predicted that 64.1% of people in the
developing world will live in urban areas and 85.9% of the developed
world’s inhabitants will call urban areas their home.
2. The digital revolution
Our ability to collect, store and process data has steadily, and in
recent years, rapidly increased since the dawn of the digital age
in the 1950s. The Internet’s rise sparked an explosion of digital data,
and the spread of mobile technologies has turned much of the world’s
population into individual data factories. Now, with 90% of the world’s
data having been created in the last two years alone, we stand at a
pivotal moment in the history of the digital revolution.
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Center for Urban Science + Progress
The application of Urban Informatics
Urban informatics can turn data into solutions for the toughest problems
faced by cities. Solutions are being explored in many application areas
including:
1. Mass transit
Overcrowded subways aren’t just a morning hassle. They have a real
impact on the livability of the city and the well-being of its citizens.
Utilizing big data, urban scientists can maximize efficiencies,
overcrowding and cut operating costs.
2. Air quality
Air pollution is one of the most significant environmental threats facing
the city. It contributes to approximately 6% of annual deaths in New York
City each year. Utilizing thermal imaging, buildings can be analyzed for
energy efficiency and pollution, helping to cut greenhouse gases and
dangerous emissions.
3. Aging buildings
While many of New York’s buildings excel in beauty, they lack the brains
of newer, smarter construction that uses resources more efficiently
and attracts the commercial tenants vital to the city’s economy. New
standards are being developed to make buildings as smart as they are
good looking.
4. Noise pollution
The incessant horn honking of taxis, the rattle of trucks and the
ear-splitting sirens of emergency vehicles at all hours of the day and
night create the soundscape of urban environments around the world.
Utilizing networked sensors and sophisticated sonic analysis, CUSP
researchers are exploring ways to bring down the volume.
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Education
Social Programs
Urban Planning
Healthcare
Environment
Government
Public Safety
Energy & Water
Transportation
Your future in Applied Urban Science and Informatics
Master of Science in
Applied Urban Science
& Informatics
Advanced Certificate in
Applied Urban Science
& Informatics
Full-time (1 yr.)
Graduate Education at CUSP
Part-time (2 yrs.)
Project
or
Course-Based
With the importance of urban informatics clearly established, it begs the
question of where tomorrow's skilled practitioners will come from. To
address this need, NYU CUSP has launched several education programs
including a M.S. in Applied Urban Science and Informatics. The goal of
these programs is to provide students with the ability to use large-scale
data, from a variety of sources, to understand and address real-world
challenges in the urban context. Graduates will learn and gain knowledge
and skills in a variety of critical areas including:
1. The ability to identify, define, collect, analyze and communicate
relevant data from diverse sources (tabular, web, sensors, etc.).
2. A depth of knowledge in a particular urban domain, such as energy,
buildings, transportation, etc., and in a discipline, including visualization,
decision models and optimization, simulation and computational
methods.
Executive Education in
Urban Data & City Analytics
3 Day Intensives
3. An understanding of urban informatics and its relationship to the
operation and development of cities.
4. The capacity to identify and assess problems, evaluate data needs
and analytical approaches to problem-solving, and develop solutions
in real-world, multiple-constraint contexts.
Ph.D. in Urban Science
Coming in 2015
5. Direct, hands-on experience working in high-intensity, real-world
environments with industry and agency partners, along with gaining
leadership skills for their chosen career path in an entrepreneurial
venture or existing organization.
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Center for Urban Science + Progress
Partnerships
NYU CUSP draws its research strength from an extraordinary consortium—
leading institutions of higher learning, leaders in the tech industry and
leaders in public service — that individually rank among the most prominent
in their sectors, but together form an unsurpassed whole. CUSP observes,
analyzes, and models cities. Partnerships enable participants in the
master's program to apply their knowledge immediately to solving
problems in an urban context.
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Your future in Applied Urban Science and Informatics
Urban Informatics research
As you might expect, the principal scope of NYU CUSP’s research is urban
informatics. To have impact on the city and commercial partners, and to
give students real-world experience, CUSP’s research program contains
projects with goals and deliverables that develop or integrate technologies
to specific ends (for example, understand and improve congestion and
emergency response). CUSP also has core activities that foster the
expertise required to execute projects, and that inform its educational
curriculum.
CUSP is using data to make cities efficient, livable, equitable and resilient.
Our research is centered on an organizational structure based on
disciplines, domains and projects. We expect our graduate students to be
active participants and indeed co-creators in our research endeavors.
CUSP is urban informatics.
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Center for Urban Science + Progress
The Urban Informatics opportunity
With the volume and variety of statistics now generated by businesses,
consumers and governments, data science and analytics have quickly
become a vital component of daily operations at enterprises worldwide. In
fact, according to McKinsey Global Institute, 140,000 to 190,000 people
with deep analytic skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts will be
needed by 2018 to fill jobs in Big Data. This factor and others portend an
enormous opportunity for individuals with the skills and knowledge to apply
big data, particularly in the urban domain.
• 3.5 billion people are moving to cities over the next 50 years
(NY Times)
• $20 trillion in infrastructure will be needed to handle this urban
growth. It’s either a big problem or an opportunity. (NY Times)
• 75% of companies say they will increase investments in Big Data
within the next year (Avanade)
• $3.2 billion was spent by companies on Big Data in 2010; it is predicted
companies will spend $16.9 billion on big data by 2015 (CIO)
• $500 million in venture capital funds have gone into Big Data
technologies, startups and vendors in recent years (CIO)
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ARE YOU READY?
Discover your future in Urban Informatics.
Fall 2014 priority application deadline
Learn more and apply to the Master of Science in Applied Urban
Science and Informatics. Make a difference in the world and an
extraordinary career for yourself.
February 15, 2014
Apply now at cusp.nyu.edu/education