Andrew Miller - Urbanist, Futurist, and Mobility Specialist
Talk Title: The Cities of Tommorow
June 13, 2024
What are the principal problems facing cities today, and can technology help to solve them? Using Internet-enabled technology, sensors and cameras, and cloud computing, advocates believe that new urban systems can transform existing urban areas into "smart cities", thereby lowering housing prices; reducing congestion; eliminating greenhouse-gas emissions; and more. Critics contend that such approaches are, at best, costly exercises that make urban infrastructure more brittle. At worst, they are attempts to make the personal public, and transform personal data into commodities that enrich private business. Who is right in this debate? What, if anything, can technology do to improve our cities? What will cities look like in the future? Andrew Miller will tour these questions and their answers.
From 2018 to 2020 Andrew was the Toronto mobility lead for Sidewalk Labs, the Google smart-city arm. He is a noted speaker: in 2023 alone, Andrew was a panelist for the Canadian Automated Vehicles Conference, and a keynote speaker for Intelligent Cities Canada and the annual congress of the Urban Development Institute of Australia. He has provided private briefings on the future of mobility to the senior leadership of General Motors; Transport Canada; and the Advanced Research Institute of Japan (autonomous mobility division). He lives in Lakeview, Mississauga