Future Friday: Cities as Hubs of Innovation

Gain valuable insights into how cities can become catalysts for innovation. This program will offer an optimistic view of the future of urban technology, policy, and design, followed by a focused discussion on strategies for fostering entrepreneurship that transforms urban areas. Explore how cities can cultivate a culture of experimentation and collaboration to drive creative problem-solving and stay ahead in a rapidly changing world. Hosted by James Darius Ball, director of Future Cities, this one-hour event will provide actionable takeaways for unlocking innovation and fostering growth in cities across America. 

Panelists

Kent Larson, Director of City Science at MIT 

Kent Larson is the Director of the City Science group at the MIT Media Lab. His research focuses on developing urban interventions that enable more entrepreneurial, livable, high-performance districts in cities. To that end, his projects include advanced simulation and augmented reality for urban design, transformable micro-housing for millennials, mobility-on-demand systems that create alternatives to private automobiles, and Urban Living Lab deployments in Hamburg, Andorra, Guadalajara, Taipei, and Boston.  

Larson and researchers from his group received the “10-Year Impact Award” from UbiComp 2014. This is a “test of time” award for work that, with the benefit of hindsight, has had the greatest impact over the previous decade.

Larson practiced architecture for 15 years in New York City, with design work published in Architectural Record, Progressive Architecture, Global Architecture, The New York Times, A+U, and Architectural Digest. The New York Times Review of Books selected his book, Louis I. Kahn: Unbuilt Masterworks (2000) as one of that year’s ten best books in architecture.

Tyler Svitak, Executive Director of Colorado Smart Cities Alliance  

Tyler Svitak has built his career solving problems at the intersection of technology and urbanism. Svitak has held strategic roles advancing connected, automated, and electric mobility initiatives at the City and County of Denver, Colorado Department of Transportation, and American Lung Association in Colorado, where he led or contributed to some of the most innovative smart mobility projects and policies in the country. 

Svitak became the Executive Director of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance in 2019, which is the first and only statewide coalition of public, private, academic and research organizations committed to advancing smart cities initiatives across sectors and jurisdictions. Svitak leads the membership-based organization as it develops a new model for project identification, replication, and scale. 

Gideon D’Arcangelo, Americas Digital Services Leader & Global Experience Design Leader at Arup 

Gideon D’Arcangelo is a Principal and the Americas Digital Services Leader based in ARUP’s New York office, as well as a Global Experience Design Leader.  

He joined Arup in 2019, bringing three decades of leadership as a designer of interactive and immersive experiences in the built environment. Gideon is skilled in user-centric design processes and in the integration of architecture, technology, software, and media to create holistic digital and physical experiences. He is an accomplished leader who has overseen many projects for corporate, cultural, and civic clients ranging from Delta Airlines and many major technology companies to the Science Gallery Melbourne and the City of Providence, where he recently brought his experience design approach to support a unified vision for the city’s downtown district. Gideon brings a special focus on data-driven content and visualization to his projects. 

About Future Fridays 

Future Fridays is the first online event series of the National Building Museum’s Future Cities initiative, bringing together leading experts and practitioners to explore innovative ideas for building vibrant, resilient cities. Hosted by James Darius Ball, director of Future Cities, each virtual session focuses on different aspects of urban development and growth. This national program aims to address the key challenges shaping the future of urban environments. Held the first Friday of each month via Zoom, these one-hour events are designed to inspire and energize with actionable insights, helping to create a more prosperous future for cities that serve all Americans. By creating a space for collaborative idea-sharing, each session seeks to generate real-world solutions to urban challenges. 

This Program is part of the National Building Museum’s Future Cities Initiative. A special thank you to our sponsors AARP and Rooted Communities.