Earlier this semester I attended the Wharton-Weitzman Future of Cities conference at the University of Pennsylvania. Attending this urban technology focused event was not only exciting to me as a Master of City Planning student but also as the co-founder of the Urban Tech Club. The theme, Embedded Environments, brought to life various discussions in the environmental, social and physical realm of latent technology.
What was refreshing about this year’s conference was the inclusion of demonstrations by various pioneers of the industry, bringing their inventions or research to the stage. For the first demo, Nathan King, the CEO and founder of itselectric, brought a three foot tall EV charger to demonstrate their "Cities First" approach to EV charging, where newer models of curbside charging could change the landscape of cities. For the second demo, Violet Whitney and William Martin, co-founders of Spatial Pixel, touched upon bringing senses back into technology; they explored the idea of letting computers aid humans and alternate ways of using technology to navigate the city rather than always looking into our phone screens. Their demo was largely based on how spatial AI could allow for a future present in the tangible world.
The third demo, delved into the power of generative AI in reconstructing visual memories, dubbed as Synthetic Memories. Pau Garcia, the co-founder of Domestic Data Streamers, showed us how they used the process of converting conversations into images for refugees in São Paulo. He explained that these images were intentionally made blurry because our minds finish images much more easily that way. The fourth demo was presented by Chris Shelley from the Philadelphia Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT) where he talked about how OIT is piloting and embedding urban technologies in Philadelphia. Overall, the conference touched upon various ways to think about embedded technologies in our physical and natural spaces and how we could be more mindful about integrating this ever-growing tool best into our lived environment.
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