Can Cities be Smart?
Cities have streets, highways, exits, buildings and parks…not exactly a new discovery. Although, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have put a new spin on this idea, linking city organization to that of a brain.
Advanced brains like ours require a well-developed neural network for optimum thought process. Along the same lines, larger cities require advanced roadways and transportation systems to allow for larger and more productive populations.
“Natural selection has passively guided the evnolution of mammalian brains throughout time, just as politicians and entrepreneurs have indirectly shaped the organization of cities large and small,” said Mark Changizi, a neurobiology expert and assistant professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at Rensselaer, who led the study. “It seems both of these invisible hands have arrived at a similar conclusion: brains and cities, as they grow larger, have to be similarly densely interconnected to function optimally.”
As species evolve and become more complex, so do their brains. The organization and structure changes in order to reach the correct level of interconnectedness. This concept is the same for cities. A smaller city like Baltimore does not require the interconnectedness to function that say, New York or Tokyo would need.
So, next time you visit a city…notice the development around you. You might have more in common with the city than you think!
For more information about the Ego City study, please visit www.changizi.com.
