Arial view of Phoenix, Arizona

Center for Smart Cities and Regions

Leverage innovation to create urban and regional futures

The Center for Smart Cities and Regions’ (CSCR) mission is to advance urban and regional innovation to make more inclusive, vibrant, resilient and sustainable communities. We collaborate with researchers, policy-makers, planners, entrepreneurs, industry and the public to enhance the ability of cities and regions to responsibly use emerging technological infrastructures and improve quality of life.

“Smart technologies” and “big data” have rapidly emerged as hoped for solutions to many of the challenges cities and regions face. Yet, there is often a disconnect between the efforts of technology innovators and the local needs and context of policy-makers and communities. Leveraging resources from across ASU, CSCR bridges this gap between innovations in data and technologies and urban governance to develop anticipatory capacities and responsible innovation processes to create positive futures for cities, regions and their diverse communities. CSCR generates ideas, methods, scenarios, networks and spaces for collaboration, engagement, educational programs and other research products to enable our partners to leverage technological innovation to create the urban and regional futures they want. The CSCR is affiliated with Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law,  the Thunderbird School of Global Management and the School for the Future of Innovation in Society in the College of Global Futures.


Our people

   

 

Diana Bowman

Diana Bowman
Co-Director and Associate Dean

Erik Johnston, PhD

Erik Johnston, PhD
Co-Director and Professor

Christal Beauclaire

Christal Beauclaire

Bas Boorsma

Bas Boorsma
Professor of Practice

Jan Cordero

Jan Cordero

Emma Giles

Emma Giles

Partners

Smart Cities Partners