SAPPD ITB Webinar: Sustainable Development of the Built Environment with MIT Professor and Big Data
By Adi Permana
Editor Adi Permana
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – The School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development (SAPPD ITB) conducted a hybrid webinar titled “AI-Based and Big Data Analytics on Urban Planning and Design.” on Thursday (10/8/23). The webinar featured expert speakers who are professionals in their respective industries, including Andres Sevtsuk Ph.D., an Associate Professor specializing in Urban Science and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Andres delivered a presentation titled Sustainable Development in the Built Environment. During the webinar, he discussed the impact of using big data models, such as Chat GPT and others at MIT, including urban planning. Andres described the application of this technology in transportation, urban planning, city design, and other planning sectors. In this context, Andres emphasized the importance of having a clear vision when developing new technologies to align it with the goals and intentions of urban planners.
The webinar material also highlighted Andres’ research on using technology to design a sustainable, healthy, and equitable city. He pointed out the importance of directing technology towards addressing the various challenges the city may face with effective solutions. However, he also called it back that without a clear direction, technology is vulnerable to exploitation by other interests which can lead to city development not aligning with the planners' expectations.
One of the project examples explained in this webinar is how the environmental characteristics can affect pedestrian behavior. Andres also emphasized the importance of mapping pedestrian infrastructure in cities, identifying critical links in pedestrian infrastructure, and using models to predict the impact of a city intervention on pedestrian mobility.
In all projects carried out by the researchers, the privacy of individuals is treated with utmost care. Andres emphasized that the data used in these projects does not personally identify individuals as they are doing a maximum effort to strike a balance between data utilization for city development and safeguarding individual privacy as well as ethical data usage.
This webinar provided valuable knowledge about the use of artificial intelligence technology and big data analytics in urban planning and design. This kind of initiative is an important step in shaping a sustainable, healthy and equitable city towards city development in the digital era.
Reporter: Hafsah Restu Nurul Annafi (Perencanaan Wilayah dan Kota, 2019)
Translator: Sherina Wijaya
Editor: Anggi Nurdiani (Manajemen, 2021)
