Atlas of the Senseable City

Picon and Ratti argue that the sensor-saturated city is best understood through a new generation of maps — of pollution, traffic, connectivity — and that who makes and reads those maps is a question of power. It touches the SDF's Social-Responsibility motto and its view of design as a political act, with open, collaborative mapping as a tool for the vulnerable. Published by Yale University Press, the book draws on twenty years of research from MIT's Senseable City Lab to argue that as physical and digital worlds converge, new kinds of maps are needed to navigate contemporary cities. It shows how pervasive sensors reveal previously invisible urban dynamics, such as the ebb and flow of pollution, traffic and internet connectivity, and considers both the practical uses of this data for planners and policymakers and its political and social implications for monitored populations. The authors also point to open-source, collaborative mapping as a way for activists and underserved communities to reclaim some of that power, presenting the material in an illustrated format meant to be broadly accessible.