The Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalemhas announced the first-of-its-kind M.A. program in Smart Cities and Urban Informatics. Taught by the Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, the program seeks to develop the new area of higher education and equip a new generation of urban planners, analysts and policy makers with the requisite toolbox for addressing the challenges of the Smart City.
A unique program within the landscape of Israeli universities, it capitalizes on the joint strengths of the existing program in Urban Planning at the Hebrew University and the Geoinformatics track in the Department of Geography.Leveraging these competences, the program is curated for social science students who want to acquire a broad-based understanding of contemporary urban development utilizing state of the art techniques in spatial analysis.
The program focuses on:
- Smart Cities
An urban ecosystem optimizing city functions and driving economic growth while improving quality of life.This involves improving access to the city’s various services, enhancing safety, and reducing pollution using smart technology and data analysis. Smart cities are places with the ability to integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) and people in public areas to enhance the learning, knowledge, and quality of life of their residents, facilitating social, cultural, and urban development.
- Urban Informatics
Urban informatics is grounded in a suite of tools and methods that enable us to capitalize on the latest advances in technology for capturing, storing, processing, and analyzing urban spatial information and presenting it as dynamic and visual entities such as 3D maps, multilayer databases, and dashboards. A big part of being a Smart City is the use of new, digital technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve municipal processes and civic technology for the benefit of urban residents. Urban Informatics is crucial in this process. When applied to urban issues, geo-data is crucial for a better understanding of human interactions with the city.
