Free Online Course offered by edX on Smart Cities

edX Platform is offering in conjunction with ETHx (that is free courses center at ETH Zurich university in Switzerland) is offering a free online course on the theme of smart cities. Smart cities, such as Zurich and Boston, consist of human-made structures or environments that are, in some capacity, monitored, metered, networked and controlled. With this functionality, combined with stationary sensors and mobile devices, data and information have become the new building materials of future cities. Using this data, citizens are now beginning to influence the design of future cities and the re-design of existing ones.

In this architecture course, enrollees will learn the basics of information cities and urban science research, as well as how dynamic behavior and citizen-driven learning differentiate the responsive city from the smart city. The cities presented and developed in this course use the stocks and flows of information as the main drivers of change.

To deepen learners’ knowledge of smart cities and give a perspective on the future of these cities, course also introduce the concept of citizen design science, a combination of citizen science, urban design, and cognitive design computing. Participants will furthermore have unique access to a design research platform for citizen design science. The intelligent use of data and information is at the core of this course, and these concepts will be the next generation of participatory design and design computing environments.

Course Duration:

The course will be for 10 weeks period.

Course objectives:

Enrollees will learn be able to:

1. Understand the concept of smart cities, why these are still prototypes and what the challenges are.
2. Identify the principle of stocks and flows of information in cities at different scales.
3. Understand the concept of citizen design science and its importance for responsive cities.
4. Understand the concept of complexity science in the context of architecture and city planning.
5. Learn through citizen design science how they can interact and get involved in the planning of their own cities.
6. Articulate what a responsive city is, and identify the criteria for a city to be responsive.

Course costs:

It’s free of charge to take this course, but there is an option of pursing a Verified Certificate for $50, that is:

1. An instructor-signed certificate with the institution's logo to verify achievement and increase learner’s job prospects.
2. Easily shareable that learners can add to their CV or resume, or post it directly on LinkedIn.
3. Proven motivator to give enrollees an additional incentive to complete the course.
4. Dedicated to support edX, as a non-profit, it relies on verified certificates to help fund free education for everyone globally.

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