Page 10 - U4SSC: City Science Application Framework

2. City Science

City science in this deliverable refers to the use of scientific methods and techniques to solve urban
problems and challenges. The scope of problems encompasses a wide range of sectors in cities. The
characteristics of city science adopted in this deliverable include the following aspects.

City science:

• Aims to address and solve urban challenges and problems,
• Uses data extensively,

• Applies scientific techniques and methods by using STI (Science, Technology & Innovation).

The following simple steps indicated below describe the city science approach, formulated in this
deliverable, to solve a given urban problem.

• Identify the problem – entails identifying and understanding the urban problem.

• Model the problem – includes transforming the identified urban problem into a model (which
represents the urban problem)

• Solve the model – entails solving the model to provide a solution to the initially identified urban
problem
• Apply the model solution to the urban problem – includes the actual implementation of city
science solution in the context of a real city by applying the model solution to the urban
problem. It may also entail applying a set of enablers to accelerate and increase the likelihood of
its success.

Section 5 will introduce the city science application framework methodology which incorporate
these steps among others into the overall framework.

2.1. Urban Challenges and Problems

The following is a list of potential urban problems sorted into different Categories as identified in
this deliverable:

a) Environment (air, water, energy, land, waste, biodiversity, green spaces, etc.)
b) Mobility (transportation, movement, traffic, etc.)

c) Economy (economic sectors and industries, etc.)
d) Society (people, education, health, etc.)

e) Governance
f) Safety & Security

g) Resilience

2 City Science Application Framework