Anthony Townsend to discuss smart cities at Bloustein School’s Catlin lecture, April 10

Dr. Anthony Townsend RC ’96 (Urban Studies), research director for the Technology Horizons Program at the Institute for the Future and senior research fellow at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management will present the Bloustein School’s 2014 Robert A. Catlin Memorial Lecture, “A New Civics for Smart Cities,” on Thursday, April 10, 2014. The event is sponsored by the Bloustein School and the Bloustein School Alumni Association (BSAA).

The event will be held in the Special Events Forum at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Civic Square Building, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ. It will begin at 5:00 p.m.

Dr. Townsend’s research focuses on the impact of new technology on cities, infrastructure and public institutions and the role of technology in economic development. In an era of mass urbanization and technological ubiquity, what happens when computers take over the city? He explores this and other questions in a new book, Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia. Dr. Townsend’s presentation will take a broad look at the people and historical forces that have transformed the design of cities and information technologies. Smart Cities explores the motivations, aspirations, and shortcomings of a new generation of “technology barons,” entrepreneurs, mayors, and civic coders working together to shape our urban future.

The Robert A. Catlin Memorial Lecture honors the legacy of Robert A. Catlin, Bloustein School professor, who died in July 2004. Catlin began his career as a staff planner for governmental agencies and community organizations in several cities, including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York. He also served as dean of the College of Social Science at Florida Atlantic University, dean of the Camden College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers, and provost and vice president for academic affairs at California State University, Bakersfield. He was inducted as an AICP Fellow in 2001. At the Bloustein School, he specialized in urban revitalization and’ the impact of race in public policy decision-making.

The event is free and open to the public. RSVP is requested to RSVP@policy.rutgers.edu by Wednesday, April 2, 2014.

This event has been approved for 1.5 American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Certification Maintenance credits.

Commentary on Camden by CURE affiliated scholar Howard Gilette

‘Manhattanizing’ Philadelphia could help make Camden the next Brooklyn

Looking west on Market Street in Camden you can see the renovated RCA building and rising fortunes of Center City. (Alan Tu/WHYY)
Looking west on Market Street in Camden you can see the renovated RCA building and rising fortunes of Center City. (Alan Tu/WHYY)
 

COMMENTARY  BY HOWARD GILLETTE

Could it simply be a coincidence? Hard on the exciting news that celebrity Iron Chef Jose Garces will soon be serving exquisite dinners priced between $150 and $250 a person pre-performance at the Kimmel Center, we learn of a new tower apartment complex overlooking historic Independence Hall.

For those unlucky enough not to grab a multi-million dollar condo on Rittenhouse Square, developer Tom Scannapieco is offering a second chance at 5th and Walnut. Prices for the 40 new units aren’t public, but Scannapieco’s research assures him that among the 2,000 people in the Philadelphia metropolitan area worth more than $10 million, there are bound to be enough customers to fill the new structure. Certainly, he thinks, the city’s 10-year tax abatement program offers “a very valuable incentive.”

Philadelphia doesn’t project the image of “super luxury” easily. That Quaker frugality so firmly associated with the city may be a thing of the past, but surely these new efforts to cater to the super wealthy must mean something.

Please click here to read the full article

CURE affiliated scholar Lori Minnite testifies in voting rights hearing, again!

Dr. Minnite, Associate Professor DPPA, Rutgers-Camden, was asked by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to submit written testimony to their Wisconsin-Minnesota regional National Commission on Voting Rights Hearing, held on February 25, 2014.  See submitted testimony at: https://www.lawyerscommittee.org/newsroom/press_releases?id=0415.

Congrats to Lori for weighing in on court cases and the opportunity to offer her expertise in this important issue!!