Over the next several decades, the population of the world’s cities will nearly double, increasing by 2.6 billion people and requiring massive urban expansion globally. This massive growth in urban density and scale will compound ongoing city challenges related to climate change, energy, infrastructure, public health, and more. To make the cities of tomorrow healthier, energy-efficient, and livable for all will require a coalition of governments, researchers, and citizens. Data and computation are valuable resources that can help us in this pursuit.

Today's leading cities collect and publish an unprecedented volume and diversity of city data and deploy advanced technologies to optimize many city services and functions.  These new data sources fuel new applications and services, changing the way that citizens interact with the built environment, city government, and one another. The application of advanced computational tools and methods can push cities even further, from reactive to proactive policies, investments and expansions.

UrbanCCD combines the complementary strengths of Argonne National Laboratory in physical sciences and engineering with University of Chicago’s expertise in social sciences, economics, and policy. The center creates computational research tools and leads initiatives that unite academic researchers, government agencies, architectural firms, private enterprise, and civic volunteers in ambitious efforts to understand and improve our cities.

To pursue these opportunities, the Urban Center for Computation and Data (UrbanCCD) was created in 2012 within the Computation Institute, a joint initiative of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory.


UrbanCCD pursues the goals of the center by:

CREATING data analytics techniques and capabilites that allow for proactive city operation and Planning, replying upon evidence-based analytics to move beyond policy based primarily on heuristics and intuition

 

APPLYING expertise and resources in computational modeling through the integration of urban design tools with computational simulation

PROVIDING tools and methods that gather and integrate data from a variety of sources, including databases, scientific simulations, and mobile and fixed sensors, and working with governments, citizens and researchers to build applications and maximize the potential of these rich datasets

 

CATALYZING and participating in interdisciplinary teams and networks to identify, collaborate, and address the most prominent and impactful challenges and opportunities in urban science