Sessions at SXSW Interactive 2011 about Cities on Saturday 12th March

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• You Don't Have to Move, to Live Better

  by Majora Carter

  Before New Orleans, Detroit, or Bradford PA, the symbol of Urban-American blight was Majora's hometown, the South Bronx in NY City. After spennding her early years trying to get away from the Bronx, she found herself back at her parents' house as a result of financial needs while attending graduate school at NYU. What seemed like a defeat at first, led to her rediscovery & healing of her community and herself. No matter what condition your hometown is in, the possibility for more happiness, equality, efficiency, and prosperity can be realized when "problems" are looked at in the context of Home(town) Security and what that means to communities everywhere.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Cities
  • Community

  At 9:30am to 10:30am, Saturday 12th March

  In Ballroom D, Austin Convention Center

• How Does SciFi Influence Our Future Cities?

  by Igor Schwarzmann, Jo Guldi and Adam Greenfield

  How do you imagine the future of our cities?

  Flying cars like in 5th Element or maybe fully automatic car systems like in Minority Report? A lot of green spaces like on the Star Trek version of future Earth or maybe more like the dark, wet streets in Blade Runner? Will we live on a planet that resembles Star Wars' Coruscant city-planet idea or will it be something stick to our mix of urban and rural environments? Is something like Cisco's New Songdo in South Korea more fiction or reality? How would most people perceive IBM's Smart Cities plans?

  Currently, there is almost no topic discussed as intensely as the future of urban environments. No wonder, since studies show the projection that by 2050 almost 75 percent of the then 9 billion people on this planet will live in megacities. We want to compare the current developments with the ones we know from fiction, because we're highly influenced by those science fiction images that swirl in our heads.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Cities
  • Future
  • Science Fiction

  At 3:30pm to 4:30pm, Saturday 12th March

  In Salon F/G, Hilton Austin Downtown

• Public Transit Data, APIs and City Governments

  by Julie Blitzer, Michael Uffer and Jerry Jariyasunant

  The centerpiece of the urban lifestyle is an extensive, reliable public transportation system. Transit riders are embracing smartphones, 3G, 4G and even tablets. These tools can help us get better information, faster. Learn what changes are giving information in real-time and for trip planning. The New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) created NotifyNYC in 2009 "to enhance NYC's emergency public communications to the public." NotifyNYC allows NYC residents to sign up for transit notifications in a format of their choice, SMS, email, voice recording, Twitter or RSS for any or all boroughs. Numerous third-party applications exist in New York, including Exit Strategy NYC, which tells the user where to wait for the train so as to minimize station exit time upon arrival. San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) website offers developers a huge amount of resources including a comprehensive API with schedules, station information and real-time service updates. The BART site features third-party applications developed using the API for iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac and more. This panel will examine creative new projects that enhance our lives as city residents on the go, including how these websites and applications could reduce costs, bureaucracy and response time in public transit.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Cities
  • Government
  • Open Data
  • Open Government
  • Transport

  At 3:30pm to 4:30pm, Saturday 12th March

  In Room 9ABC, Austin Convention Center

  Coverage slide deck

• Web Mashup Platforms for Future Programmable Cities

  by Christine Outram, Dominique Guinard and Vlad Trifa

  The public infrastructure of our cities are obscure structures whose workings are not accessible to most citizens. What if every sensor in our cities would have a Web API anyone could access in real-time and mashup? Open and easy to use Web platforms that enable efficient integration, processing, storage, and access to the enormous amount of data digital cities generate are increasingly needed, and we'll explore the various technologies that are making such solutions possible. Furthermore, we'll go much more beyond the technical aspects of such a platform to address the more controversial implications of such an Orwellian scenario. Hopefully, this session will provide a forum for the different disciplines involved in the design of future cities to establish a common ground for better interdisciplinary cooperation and understanding in this area.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Cities
  • Web APIs

  At 5:00pm to 6:00pm, Saturday 12th March

  In Salon F/G, Hilton Austin Downtown