Project

Theme | Urban Performance Model

Gabriela Bila

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Urban areas are responsible for 70% of global GHG emission, and must play a central role in solutions to global warming. Using Kendall Square as a case study, this simulation shows how collective decisions can dramatically lower carbon emissions while improving the social and economic performance of a community.

How should cities set priorities to build a better future?

With federal leadership retreating and uncertainty rising, it falls increasingly to city leaders to address the critical challenges of our era through bottom-up, community-scale innovation.

But where should the focus be?
Which investments offer the greatest return — environmentally, socially, and economically?
Will creating more housing near jobs reduce emissions more than electric vehicles?
Is a deep building retrofit more effective than local solar generation?
Should changing infrastructure be a higher priority than increasing urban density?

Measuring What Works: A Unified Urban Simulation Platform

The City Science group is developing an open-source urban performance model to quantify the potential impact of a wide range of interventions at the urban community scale. This tool is designed to help civic leaders prioritize and make informed decisions about difficult-to-predict outcomes of urban policy.

The model reveals, for example, that creating essential housing for the workforce near jobs and amenities of daily living cuts emissions more than conventional “green” measures such as electric vehicles, rooftop solar, and building retrofit[s?] - while simultaneously boosting health, equity, and innovation potential. Compact, transformable housing and lightweight, shared mobility further reduce energy use while increasing affordability and access. The model also examines how hybrid work and local production of water, food, energy, and goods can reduce reliance on centralized infrastructure and supply chains.

Why it Matters

This is a multi-year, collaborative effort to build a scalable, modular simulation platform that can easily be scaled to cities around the world. We invite researchers and practitioners to contribute simulation modules, test assumptions, and join a growing community working to make urban innovation measurable, comparable, and actionable.