Dailycsr.com – 31 May 2018 – Artificial intelligence prove that the hunches harboured by the residents of “Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights” neighbourhood and the “Hillcrest area of Washington, D.C.” are correct, whereby the former feel their streets getting safer while the latter are feeling “less secured” in their neighbourhood.
 
Researchers from “Harvard and MIT” are using a “new machine-learning algorithm” to combine pictures of “Google’s Street View” along with the safety perceptions of humans for rating them to see if they are becoming safer or more unsafe over time. The project Streetchange can equip the urban planners with an “artificial intelligence tools” for helping them to develop urban landscapes.
 
The demographic trends points at the fact that policymakers will “need all the help they can get”, as by 2050 as much as “two-thirds” global population will turn urban dwellers, whereby remaking society in a dramatic shift. At this juncture, it is “more critical than ever” that the urban planners need a comprehensive take on the “impact and implications” for delivering on the transformation.
 
Traditional methods for collecting data cannot give the desired picture, while carrying out surveys with the residents can prove to be time consuming and costly, while the responses could never be hundred percent reliable. However, Streetchange allows the data to be collected by using “Google Street View vehicles” and AI does processes the data at a much lower cost.
 
According to “a Harvard University Prize Fellow and co-author of a study about the research”, Nikhil Naik, Streetchange can provide “much more useful window” to learn about the impacts created on the communities by the demographic shifts. While, an economist “Center for Urban Science & Progress”, Julia Lane, agrees with Naik and states:
“This isn’t eye candy — it’s a very high-quality meal. These people are thinking through what the measures they’re analyzing actually mean. It’s pioneering — a terrific piece of work.”
 
A research linked together the neighbourhood’s perception of safety with “actual higher rates of criminality and poorer resident health outcomes” for many year, and Naik informed
“[Turns out] the human decision of whether a place looks safe or dangerous is a good proxy for whether that street has improved or declined”.
 
However, the researchers’ team went beyond “quantifying enhancement or decay” and sought to find patterns to see which characteristics, namely “population density, share of people with a college education, home prices, income, race and other factors”, tends to be “most predictive” indicating the improvement of a block.
 
According to their finding three aspects were indicative to the improvement in neighbourhood, which are “education, location and the elusive ‘tipping point’”. 
 
However, “Naik cautions that Streetchange isn’t meant to show cause and effect — a viewer can’t know, for instance, whether highly educated people moving to a neighborhood caused it to improve or whether improvements attracted more highly educated people”. Nevertheless, he also adds that Streetchange could play a major role in the impact analysis of the developing world.
 
In Naik’s words:
“How does ethnic and demographic composition change neighborhoods? How does immigration change neighborhoods? This is typically an area of research done with limited good data.” 
 
You can explore the maps of “New York City; Boston; Detroit; Baltimore; and Washington, D.C.” in Streetchange in the link provided below:
http://streetchange.media.mit.edu/maps.html
 
 
References:
3blmedia.com

Dailycsr.com – 26 October 2017 – The British Academy has started a research study in the month of September 2017 which will be carried out for a period of three years, wherein the main theme of the study will look into public trust in “business, corporate objectives, regulation and taxation”, reports Brian Collett.
 
The rapidly changing scenario of business role and purpose in the society amid the developing fields of “artificial intelligence”, “virtual reality and the gig economy”, will be scrutinised by the researchers.
 
The British Academy specialises in “humanities and social sciences” and to conduct the study a consortium, made up of individuals, charitable organisations, business and other such bodies, have contributed “£1.5m” to the academy. The above mentioned report will bear the name “The Future of the Corporation” and will feature a “comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis” which will also recommend policy changes or making for “a range of stakeholders”.
 
The academy foresees the trust corroding along with the “perception of corporate irresponsibility”, whereby terming them to be among the list of “biggest challenges” in the corporate world which needs to be addressed globally by the “business leaders”. Colin Mayer, “British Academy fellow”, Professor of Management Studies at “Oxford University’s Said Business School”, while leading the research, stated:
“Since the financial crash in 2008 we’ve seen widespread concern within society about business irresponsibility.
“If trust is to be regained, businesses, shareholders, educators and government need evidence to understand how faith in business can be restored.
“The Future of the Corporation research will provide an evidence base to support future business developments and new sustainable corporate models that adapt to the changing and increasingly technological nature of work.”
 
While, Google Deepmind’s Co-Founder as well as the Head of Applied Artificial Intelligence, Mustafa Suleyman, added:
“While it’s increasingly easy to see how businesses can make a positive social impact, it’s far harder to ensure that they are truly accountable to society itself and serve the broader public interest beyond simply their shareholders.
“Traditional forms of corporate governance have been struggling for years, and technology risks creating ever larger imbalances of power between organisations and the people they are meant to serve.
“Many people around the world are already working to invent new mechanisms for accountability, and I hope that this major research project from the British Academy will help provoke further answers and rally support for change.”
 
The said project forms part of the study series called “Challenge of Change” undertaken by the British Academy to look into the “world’s most demanding modern problems”.
 
 
 
References:
ethicalperformance.com

Dailycsr.com – 06 September 2017 – Whether it is the “academic researchers”, the policy makers or the corporate minds, all are turning to data for solving “urban policy problems”. The “smart city movement” has been signed by most mayors as they “accepted the value of data driven policy”.
 
However, not every city leaders really know the meaning of a “smart city”, reported Bloomberg. For some it is a “futuristic city” wherein services get efficiently and effectively delivered at the click of a button, while others, “more realistic” ones, give importance to the power technology and data which could be used to “improve city services”.
 
As a result, the latter look towards making automatic street lights that would “turn on at night and go off in the morning”. In fact, all the mayors agree that “no one wants to live in a ‘stupid city’”. Therefore, in the 21^st Century, the definition of a cities success equates to a “smart city”.
 
Moreover, the term ‘smart city’ has come to be an “aspirational term” for there is a “deeply embedded” idea attach to it, whereby it is thought that in a smart city “we can develop and implement public policy without making mistakes”. While, Ethical Performance added:
“Since that is completely unrealistic, we need a more practical and empirically-based definition to work with”.
 
Therefore, one can agree upon that in a smart city technology and data can be made “usable and accessible” for addressing “urban with the promise of efficiency and effectiveness in delivering public services”. Data could be used for “good” by concentrating on the “utility of data in improving public services” instead of using the same for “private interest”.
 
Furthermore, Ethical Performance informs:
“Data can be used in every aspect of urban governance: to enhance citizen engagement; design policy; analyze the budget implications of policy alternatives; implement programs; monitor program operations for effectiveness and equity; and improve the efficiency of service delivery”.
 
For further information, kindly visit:
https://www.techatbloomberg.com/blog/smart-cities-stupid-cities-and-how-data-can-be-used-to-solve-urban-policy-problems/
 
 
 
 
References:
http://3blmedia.com