Greening’ the Cities: How Data Can Drive Interdisciplinary Connections to Foster Ecological Solutions

We are facing an urgent global environmental crisis that requires a reframing of traditional professional and conceptual boundaries within the urban environment. Complex and multidisciplinary issues need complex and multidisciplinary solutions, which result from the collaboration of many different disciplines concerned with the urban environment. A more integrated ecological perspective that recognizes the complexity of urban environments and resituates our ‘artificial’ or human-made world within its natural ecosystem can facilitate this shift towards greater knowledge exchange. C40 Cities case studies provide a framework within which to understand the disciplines and scales encompassed by ecological solutions, while projects at MIT Senseable City Lab and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati highlight how data is used as a tool in driving ecological solutions. The artificial world of sensors, data and networks creates a bridge between the ‘artificial’ and ‘natural’ elements of our urban environments, allowing us to fully understand the present condition, connect city users and decision makers, and better integrate ecological solutions into the built environment.