Technology | Bennat Berger

Hudson Yards Development & The Future of Smart Cities

When the historic Hudson Yards project joined forces with Constantine Kontokosta and NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) in 2014, the topic of smart cities came to the fore. Hudson Yards is a real estate endeavor unprecedented in the modern era for many reasons: the land developed is west of Midtown West in Manhattan, home to the some of the hottest real estate on the market; the project spans many city blocks, essentially comprising its own neighborhood; and the complex will recycle organic waste, collect and reuse rainwater, and host a power generator onsite. Add the fact that Kontokosta and CUSP are outfitting the site with thousands of sensors, and you have a truly groundbreaking development, what many have termed a “smart city.” Smart cities powered by “user data” have the potential to be safer and certainly smarter, but the methods and application of data gathering deserve attention.

The myriad uses of this sensor system are still being explored, but certain essential energy efficiency and environmental factors will undoubtedly be addressed with the data gathered: air and noise pollution, for example. Hudson Yards’s emphasis on sustainability as well as “resiliency, redundancy, [and] future-proofing” is in part an answer to natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy and to energy initiatives launched by the mayor’s office. In 2009 Local Law 84 came into effect in New York, mandating that larger properties collect and submit information about buildings’ energy and water usage. Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to harness that data in the 80 x 50 effort, aiming to cut New York’s greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050.

For a developer’s perspective, the Observer spoke to David Brause, president of family-owned Brause Realty: “His firm is comfortable investing in green features that might take 20 years to pay off, because his company’s strategy is to buy and hold long-term. He’s honest though that beyond energy cost savings, the economics of green treatments have yet to be entirely proven. […] For existing buildings, even the economic case for updating systems can be tough to make for building owners who aren’t able to work on a 20-year time horizon like large owners can.” However, regulations like Local Law 84 and initiatives like 80 x 50 make it in developers’ best interests to retrofit their buildings with energy management systems and to design green buildings going forward, especially as New York is not the only city to enact such legislation, and more is likely to come down the pipe in coming years.

A open source project called Array of Things has set out to gather urban data similar to that collected at Hudson Yards. By deploying 500 nodes attached to traffic poles and streetlights throughout Chicago, this project will “initially measure temperature, barometric pressure, light, vibration, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, ambient sound intensity, pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and surface temperature.” Data is transmitted to the Argonne National Laboratory, and measures have been taken to ensure the privacy of passersby.

This issue of privacy, along with security and equality, will need to be addressed in the creation of any smart city. The internet of things – the concept of a network of physical objects collecting data and contributing to a kind of matrix of physical information – is an easy connection to make when visualizing the thousands of sensors placed around Hudson Yards. CUSP brands this idea as a “quantifiable community,” but that raises the question of who can afford to live in the Hudson Yards community, and who may be left behind in the age of smart cities.

An urban neighborhood built from the ground-up, like Hudson Parks – complete with commercial and retail spaces, a school, and a hotel – is almost unheard of, especially in New York City. Most city neighborhoods are deeply rooted in culture and history, even those that undergo controversial growth spurts like gentrification. Even cities that underwent large scale reconstruction, like Chicago after the fire of 1871 or San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake, still grew organically, shaped by residents and experiences. Can smart cities be considered “cities” in the traditional sense if they are too engineered, and not by their own residents, but by management companies and city planners with a wealth of data at their command?

Kontokosta emphasizes that personal information about residents’ health and activities will only be gathered voluntarily. Such personalized data could be incredibly useful from a city planner’s perspective, but when does it become invasive or even Orwellian? And how is all the information gathered to be secured against cyber attacks? As Kontokosta admits in this Bisnow article, “There will be a lot of challenges dealing with the fire hose of data this is going to unleash, but we’re hoping this will eventually become a model for how cities think about this type of informatics infrastructure going forward.”

For more information, listen to WNYC’s summer 2016 segment: The Future of the Smart City. Find further reading in Anthony Townsend’s book Smart Cities and in Adam Greenfield’s shorter piece Against the Smart City.

By Bennat Berger|2018-10-31T17:51:14+00:00October 24th, 2016|Technology, Urban Planning|

How CompStat Helps Cut Crime in New York City

Many businesses today make use of a performance management system to achieve their revenue goals. In 1994, the New York Police Department adopted a similar system to reduce crime and ensure the police department was maximizing its efforts. This computerized tool, called CompStat, works to track some of the most serious crimes in New York City by analyzing statistics and researching patterns and trends. Here’s a closer look at how CompStat helps cut crime in NYC:

How CompStat Works

CompStat, otherwise known as COMPuter STATistics and short for Computer Comparison Statistics, is a complete organizational management tool that provides a dynamic approach to crime reduction and resource management within the New York City Police Department. It was created by Jack Maple, a Transit police officer in New York City and originally tracked crime through push pins stuck in a map, a process that helped to reduce subway crime. It was later adopted by the NYPD and rebranded as CompStat.

CompStat is comprised of four key components that can be replicated by other police departments: timely and accurate information or intelligence; rapid deployment of resources; effective tactics; and relentless follow-up. The problem-solving tools and system includes weekly crime control strategy meetings to increase accountability; development of commander profile reports; crime strategy meetings at the Command and Control Center with representatives of District Attorney’s Offices in attendance; crime mapping and database collection systems.

CompStat Data

The entire CompStat system is entirely data-based. As a result, it is dependent on accurate information gathering and data entry. Management decisions cannot be made without timely and accurate information so those involved with sourcing and reporting data need to follow very specific protocol and adhere to certain processes. All employees are expected to act upon this data and everything is accessible by various departments. When a problem must be solved with the involvement of another government agency, such as at the county level with the Sheriff’s Department or at the state level at the Department of Corrections, the data must be accessible by all.

Value of CompStat

In an article published back in 2002, Garry McCarthy, deputy of commissioner of operations at the New York Police Department, explained how CompStat had taken over the New York City Police Department and was a critical component of the agency. It was, and continues to be, a valuable business management tool for the agency since it helps to organize information using different performance indicators and identify areas of improvement. Over the years, it has evolved into a complete system that allows for accurate measurement of all activities and accountability within the police department.

Since its implementation, CompStat has helped to track many major crimes, including murder, rape, robbery, shooting incidents and grand larceny. It can also track minor crimes, including public drinking and prostitution. However, one of the biggest benefits of this system is that it also keeps track of police officials. If a police officer is guilty of misconduct or there is enough reason to believe that a police officer is playing an accomplice to a crime, everything can be reported and tracked within the system.

Ultimately, CompStat helps police officers hold each other accountable and everyone is documented and analyzed. The reports are stored in the database and made available to all precincts for review. This creates a greater degree of transparency and helps all officers and officials better understand the overall impact of their efforts.

Effects of CompStat

According to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University’s School of Law, CompStat-style programs adopted by police departments across the country have contributed to a 5 to 15 percent decrease in crime. Between 1994 and 2012, CompStat has been credited for reducing 63 percent of crime in New York City.

Many police departments are also adopting cloud technology and developing custom software programs that allow for more accurate predictive analysis, documentation and tracking. For example, some police departments can make use of a cloud-based software program that generates predictive maps of where crimes are likely to occur so police officials can allocate resources accordingly.

Since its implantation in the mid-90s, CompStat has help cut crime in NYC and has been readily adopted by several other cities across the country. It has helped many police departments streamline operations and obtain accurate data about current and potential crimes. Today, many police departments continue to use CompStat in conjunction with other software programs and cloud-based technologies to fight crime effectively. We can only hope that this evolving technology continues to keep communities and officers safe — and crime rates low — in the years to come.

By Bennat Berger|2018-10-31T17:48:35+00:00October 18th, 2016|Culture, Technology|

Look Out: Drones Are Taking Off in the Real Estate Industry

Whether they’re used to show off the beautiful landscapes around a property or stunning home exteriors, flying cameras can help to produce compelling and dramatic shots for real estate marketing purposes. For this reasons, drones have already begun to impact the real estate industry in a big way.

Law enforcement and national security organizations have been using drones for commercial operations and to conduct scientific research for many years because drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are capable of capturing high-quality bird’s eye view images of land and property, providing a wide-angle perspective of the target area.

Today, the real estate industry is starting to make use of drones to showcase homes with aerial views — the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued its first drone permit for the real estate sector in 2015, according to TIME Magazine.

Here are some ways drones are impacting the real estate industry:

Showcasing Properties with Aerial Photography

Aerial drone photography and even drone-captured videos provide high-quality images for marketing real estate properties. Agents can provide aerial views of the property to potential homebuyers and also map out key details such as area schools, restaurants, shops and parks so that the homebuyer gets a ‘flyover’ view of what it would be like to live in their new residence.

Real estate agents that want to provide a prospective buyer with property maps or create land surveys can do so with drone photography. Drones can also be used to provide flyover views of an entire neighborhood and community — ideal for buyers that may be new to the state or for those who are exploring options from overseas.

Creating Simulation Experiences

The purpose of a walk-through in person, with a real estate agent, is to simulate the experience of living in the home. Drone photography and videos can be used to create simulations by taking close up shots while ‘walking’ around the property and even flying close to the driveway all the way up to the front door or garage. These types of captures can help to create entire property tours that help a buyer visualize exactly what it’s like to live in the home or neighborhood.

Making Photography Affordable

Capturing birds eye views of a property is virtually impossible for most real estate agencies, though aerial photographs could be obtained via helicopter or even with a small airplane. Still, these can cost thousands of dollars to shoot and my not provide the level of detail needed to truly showcase a property for a potential buyer.

Drones, on the other hand, are an economical alternative to these methods and are easier to deploy and use on a regular basis. Instead of having to make arrangements for helicopter or airplane photography sessions for a set of properties at a time, the drone can be used to capture photos as needed, speeding up production time of any marketing materials while keeping costs down. For example, drones with a 20-minute flight time and built-in front sonar to prevent collisions are priced under $1,200 on Amazon.

Rules for Using Drones

Using unmanned aircraft for real estate photography requires compliance with FAA rules and regulations that outline how drones can be used for commercial purposes. Drone operators do not need to have an FAA-issued pilot license but do need to obtain remote pilot certification with a sUAS rating.

Drone operators need to be cautious about how and where they operate their drones for safety reasons and to avoid violating any FAA rules. The agent must obtain permission from the seller to capture drone footage of the property but might also takes steps to ensure neighbors and neighboring properties aren’t captured in the process. Some drones can be noisy so operators also need to be aware of causing interference at the ground level.

Drones are making a big impact in the real estate industry and many drones for commercial use can provide high-quality images at a low cost. Realtors and real estate agencies can make use of drone capabilities, such as flyovers and even fly-throughs of a property to entice, entertain and encourage buyers to move forward with the sale. Creating lifelike simulations using drone photography and videography can be a valuable addition to the sales and marketing process. It’s no surprise that it’s begun to take off.

By Bennat Berger|2018-10-31T17:47:11+00:00September 7th, 2016|Technology|

How Big Data Can Make Philanthropy More Effective

Corporations across America are already tapping into big data to analyze customer behavior, conduct market research at a whole new level, and seek out new revenue opportunities. There is no reason why philanthropic organizations — and donors — can’t do the same.

From reviewing an organization’s performance to determining where fundraising dollars are coming from, big data-based strategies could be a powerful addition to the nonprofit sector in upcoming years. With a wealth of data readily available in the digital space and the ease in which more can be collected from supporters, sponsors and other contacts in their network, many can formulate plans and initiatives that are largely data-driven.

Here are some insights about how big data can make philanthropy more effective:

Tracking Fund Allocation

Many philanthropic organizations and charities publish annual reports about their usage of funds and other financial information. While these financial reports are valuable to stakeholders and donors, it’s not always easy for the average donor to find this data when deciding which charity to donate to or when comparing worthy organizations.

With big data, we would be able to access a smartphone app or online dashboard to review this information in real-time. Imagine how much easier it would be to compare performance and review activities of a certain organization so that you could verify how funds are being allocated.

Marketing Planned Giving Programs

Attracting donors interested in planning giving initiatives can be easier and streamlined with big data. Organizations able to tap into market segments in a position to join a planned giving program — based on certain conditions or factors, such as age, occupation, retirement status, donation history, or similar — would have more information at their disposal for their marketing database.

Such organizations could coordinate more targeted marketing efforts to appeal to these potential donors, reaching out at just the right time and creating campaigns that resonate with their audience. This way donors would receive more valuable and impactful marketing materials from philanthropic organizations.

Identifying Supportive Markets

No matter what the organization’s cause, recruiting supporters is critical to success. Marketing teams may be able to identify the most responsive or supportive markets using big data analysis. For example, an organization could track the total number of dollars donated to the organization from every single state to see if there are any noticeable trends or patterns. Analyzing what may be causing these disparities can help the organization fine-tune their marketing and fundraising efforts so they are not wasting marketing dollars. This type of data analysis can also help unveil untapped markets or opportunities.

Increasing Reach via Digital Platforms

Another element of marketing that almost all nonprofits have already moved forward with is social media. While any organization can set up a Facebook Page or Twitter account to promote their cause and engage donors and related organizations, it takes some analytical muscle to dig through the data and determine what types of activities are most effective on social media, and who exactly the organization can reach through its efforts.

Whether they are coordinating online giving programs or simply making announcements about the latest activities, increasing reach to the ever-growing audience on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram, can be a valuable addition to an organization’s marketing efforts. Big data can tell us what this audience looks like, what their interests are and how likely they may be in a position to give. Nonprofits can explore a variety of social media marketing initiatives based on this data, making those advertisements and updates that much more impactful when connecting with potential supporters.

Maybe you’re a board member of your favorite charity or are thinking about joining forces with a philanthropic organization in some other capacity. No matter what your role may be, executing an effective fundraising strategy will be a high priority. In today’s data-driven world, there are numerous opportunities for fine-tuning fundraising strategy using big data. From accurately tracking fund usage in real-time to benefiting from planned giving programs, big data is opening new doors in the nonprofit sector — it will change things for good, both literally and figuratively.

By Bennat Berger|2018-10-31T17:46:00+00:00August 15th, 2016|Philanthropy, Technology|

How Self-Driving Cars Would Transform New York City

Self-driving cars developed by the likes of Google and Tesla are generating a lot of buzz as their wheels are tested and designs refined. While it’s difficult to imagine driverless cars in a New York City — a city defined by its traffic jams and vocal drivers — all signs point to their eventual introduction. But what exactly would that look like? The vehicle and pedestrian congestion levels of NYC would make the adoption difficult, to say the least.

Self-driving cars universally raise questions regarding safety, legislation, mass transit, and environmental and human impact, not to mention their inevitable impact on gas prices. Add to that list the volume of foot traffic in New York City, the city’s well-established taxi fleet, and a massive public transit system, and you end up with an interesting conundrum.

Here’s a look at how self-driving cars would transform one of America’s largest metropolises, and what it could mean for urban spaces across the nation and world.

Safety

For self-driving cars to become commonplace, the cars first and foremost need to be safe. Early in 2016 Elon Musk claimed that Tesla’s Autopilot feature was “’probably better than a person right now.’” However, Sebastian Thrun, the founder of Google’s autonomous driving initiative, noted Autopilot’s limitations during test drives.

According to this New York Times article, “The Tesla performed well in freeway driving, and the company recently fixed a bug that had caused the car to unexpectedly veer off onto freeway exits. However, on city streets and country roads, Autopilot’s performance could be described as hair-raising.”

In fact, the first recorded fatality occurred in May of this year, when a Tesla car on self-driving mode failed to break as a tractor trailer ahead made a left turn. In a city, this type of incident could be even more likely — especially in New York City, where vehicle and foot traffic are perpetual problems. Still, human error being the main cause of accidents, driverless cars are likely to prevent many deaths and accidents.

In a tight city, that won’t be easy. The Midtown grid may be easy for Autopilot to navigate, but what about the twisting streets of the Financial District and the Village? Northeast weather conditions can introduce additional challenges.

Another big issue is the switch to manual control, as prompted by the Autopilot, which presumes close human supervision. According to John Leonard, an MIT mechanical engineering professor, “’The whole issue of interacting with people inside and outside the car exposes real issues in artificial intelligence.’”

Human error while operating large machinery is a known–if beleaguered–quantity. Although potentially safer, self-driving cars will probably be held to higher safety standards prior to widespread use, prompting a chilling question: will these self-driving cars and corresponding apps be susceptible to sabotage and hacking?

Despite precedent in features like cruise control, which automates some aspects of driving, people will undoubtedly want certain guarantees before giving up manual control.

Legislation

With continued funding, testing, and refinement, safety issues can certainly be improved upon, if not eliminated. However, that leaves the next hurdle of legislation.

Autonomous cars must be made legal state-by-state, which could be a challenge depending on the region and public perception. What will the inevitable transition period look like–the mix of driven and self-driving cars? How will issues of litigation be settled in the inevitable event of an accident?

If driverless cars are to become normalized, especially in big cities, all of the legal kinks will need to be worked out first.

Congestion

Beyond all these practical implementation concerns, how will these self-driving cars affect the New York cityscape? According to an article by Curbed, autonomous cars would eventually lead to a “shared vehicle ownership model, ” similar to Citi Bike or Zipcar, which would in turn lead to more efficient driving and parking practices, such as the reduction of parking spaces and roadways, which would mean the reclamation of public space.

According to Dr. Kara Klockman, “shared bikes” will also get a boost from this kind of transit model. Alain Kornhauser posits that autonomous vehicles will actually make regional transit and by extension urban public transit more accessible.

Essentially, if all cars (or even most) in NYC were to go the driverless route, it would mean less traffic and smoother roads.

Commuting

Still, one can’t help but ask if autonomous cars would be a preferred mode of transport over public transit. There’s the transfer to consider, as well as the costs of each mode of transportation (and the tally when combining them). Why not take an autonomous car all the way to work? Even with carpooling, we might see increased urban sprawl and an uptick in commute times.

As Dr. Kara Klockman notes, “’A big concern that I have for cities, states and regions is excessive travel. […] I think we’ll need a credit-based congestion pricing model.”

As the environmental costs of vehicular travel continue to be scrutinized, alternative modes of transportation are more likely to be prioritized, especially in cities like New York that have robust public transport systems already. But if driverless cars could operate sustainably, quickly and cheaply, they may play a chief role.

Human impact

The question of cost raises additional concerns. Gerry Tierney notes: “If we’re moving toward this autonomous, decentralized transit system, we need to make sure that it’s accessible to everybody, that there’s a social equity concept in the design.”

For people of lower income who cannot afford to live in the city center where they work, self-driving cars could be a real time-saver. But if these people are priced out of the service, we could end up with a very lopsided combination of public transportation systems and autonomous vehicle transit.

Another human cost to consider is the impact on labor. As this New York Post article puts it, “Chalk up another possible job victim of the Internet age — the New York City cab driver.” Mayor Bill de Blasio already signed an agreement with Google in April 2015 to add thousands of self-driving cars to New York’s taxi service.

The proposed 2016 White House budget included $4 billion for pertinent research funding. And Uber, along with its competitor Lyft, are planning to use autonomous cars, which–given the recent controversy surrounding Uber’s employer practices and the app’s controversial reception in many cities–could prove contentious.

Lastly, what of New York City’s finest, the NYPD? Traffic tickets add a consistent stream of revenue to police forces, and assuming self-driving cars limit (if not remove entirely) the possibilities of road violations, some estimates predict half of cops could be put out of work.

While this would be bad in the short-term for police officers, it could free up their time and resources to concentrate more fully on serious crimes.

At the end of the day, it’s tough to say what NYC would really look like if and when driverless cars are popularized in urban spaces. But we can say for certain they will play a part in the future, and that the impact on America’s infrastructure and the face of its most vibrant city will be drastic.

Featured image: DiAnn L’Roy via Flickr.

By Bennat Berger|2018-10-31T16:19:00+00:00July 11th, 2016|Culture, Technology|

Dying Sustainably: What Greener Burials Mean For Big Cities

The world’s cities have a grave problem. With limited space and growing populations, the dead outnumber the living in packed cemeteries that occupy valuable real estate, cost families exorbitant fees, and strain the environment to boot.

While land is abundant in more rural areas to respectfully bury the deceased, in cities like London and New York City space is increasingly scarce. Because cemeteries aren’t inherently profitable — the dead do not pay rent, after all — existing sites must grapple with an influx of demand without much chance at horizontal expansion.

So what is the solution? Pushing bodies further underground? Building mausoleum towns? Creating floating cemeteries and skyscrapers? As radical as these ideas may seem, they have all been explored and implemented in cities attempting to make room for the dead.

With 50 million people passing away every year, afterlife accommodation is as much a real estate issue as it is an environmental one. Just as the real estate industry has moved toward a more ethically and environmentally conscious ethos, the funeral business is doing the same for deceased tenants. Some say as many as one in four older Americans are likely to opt for sustainable burial options in the future, given the growth of environmental awareness.

Though challenges lie ahead, especially in cities, many sustainable and space-saving burial options exist. It may take an extra dose of creativity — and maybe even some cultural change — but new earth and community-friendly burial solutions could do the world a great good.

A costly problem

Even if they want to, many city residents can no longer bury their loved ones the traditional way. Inground plots in Manhattan are in the single digits with six-figure costs. Even a burial outside of cities can cost upwards of $10,000, considering the price of coffins and other funeral services.

In US cemeteries alone, 30 million feet of hardwood caskets are buried, along with 90,000 tons of steel caskets, 14,000 tons of steel vaults and over 2,500 tons of copper and bronze. That’s a huge wealth of trees and minerals buried beneath the earth, unable to be recycled or put to use. Embalming chemicals can also be incredibly toxic to humans, animals and wildlife. Even cremation takes its toll: it’s an energy-intensive process that emits mercury from burnt teeth fillings.

With baby boomers aging, 76 million Americans are projected to reach life expectancy between 2024 and 2042. To give each a standard burial, an area about the size of Las Vegas would be required. This won’t be an issue for the many people living in rural locations, but with city populations growing there will no doubt be problems among denser populations. In fact, there already are.

City residents and urban planners are in perhaps the perfect positions to pursue sustainable alternatives, for the sake of space, money and the planet.

The Green Burial Movement

The concept of green burials is not a new one — in fact, it was once the norm, with burials often occurring at home in wooden boxes. At the turn of the 19th century, when deaths moved from homes to hospitals and funeral parlors, the post-death rituals we practice today became widely adopted. Embalming began during the Civil War to help preserve the bodies of soldiers during their transport, and though not legally mandated continues to be the standard practice.

The green burial movement, which began in the early 90s, seeks to return to the style of natural burial. Biodegradable caskets made of bamboo, cardboard, or wicker are less expensive and easier on the earth; for those that want to go the cremation route without the detriments, an alternative method called resomation is less toxic and energy exhaustive.

Today, people who want green burials need only consult with the Green Burial Council (in North America) to find a certified green burial provider, the number of which has increased from just one in 2006 to over 300 today. Unlike other services bearing the “organic” label, green burials tend to be even cheaper than traditional ones.

The Green Burial Council estimates that about one-quarter of older Americans want green burials — an opportunity to take the trend from niche to mainstream. Because city residents face the biggest dilemma and tend toward progressive social leaning, it’s no surprise that New York City boasts great green options like Brooklyn’s Greenwood Heights Funeral & Cremation Services.

Saving space and memories

Just making the switch from steel to straw caskets won’t solve space issues, however green they may be. With the last open cemetery in Manhattan selling vaults for $350,000, it’s worth wondering if there’s a better way to die without shipping yourself to faraway fields a day-trip away from family.

Other cities have tackled this problem, some to great success. Countries like Belgium, Singapore and Germany practice grave recycling, through which families get a free public grave for the first 20 years or so, after which they can either pay for renewal or allow the cemetery to move the body to make space for another. Locations without this practice balk at the idea of disturbing the dead.

Some Asian cities have decided upon large, mechanized columbariums, which store thousands of urns that can be retrieved with an electronic card. Hong Kong has plans for a columbarium island called “Floating Eternity,” and other cities are considering vertical cemeteries. A Norwegian student won a design contest with his vision of such a skyscraper, which would house coffins, urns, and a computerized memorial wall.

As our virtual selves gain credence during life, digital memorializing has become more popular. A Japanese company offers virtual cemeteries for descendants to tour, while Hong Kong’s government created a virtual social network for families unable to.

Designing for the future

How do we negotiate respect for the dead with respect for the planet? And how do we negotiate these with cemetery real estate deficits and cost concerns? We don’t want to do away with cemeteries, after all. Like schools and hospitals, graveyards add a layer of emotional and cultural intelligence to neighborhoods. In cities, they are more akin to history museums and monuments — housing century-old skeletons instead of people more recently warm.

Moving forward, city residents will have to make tough choices, and urban planners will have to make smarter ones. As the number of people living in cities grows, the number of those dying there will too. Real estate developers may not be directly responsible for accommodating the dead, but one a larger scale urban planners may be wise to do so.

Grave as the situation may seem, so long as there are both private and public efforts to solve space and environmental issues, cities and their residents will grow to adopt the most efficient and green burial processes possible.

By Bennat Berger|2018-10-31T16:13:37+00:00April 18th, 2016|Culture, Technology, Urban Planning|

7 Ways Technology is Shaping the Real Estate Landscape

There isn’t an industry on earth, sea or sky that hasn’t been impacted by new technology over the last century, whether dramatically or slightly. On top of the disruption of industrial age factories, today we have high-speed computers, big data, social media, robotics and so much more to come to terms with. For real estate, the transformation has been slow but steady: as the technology improves, the field has morphed one gigabyte at a time.

New forms of technology change the real estate experience for buyers, renters, and industry insiders. The transformation has been ongoing; in today’s information age, it arguably began once listings were hosted online, since which time the process of buying and renting has become even more digitalized.

Here are seven distinct ways in which technology has begun, and will continue to shape the way real estate is marketed, rented, sold and managed.

1. Mobile technology is heating up

With the rising ubiquity of smartphones at hand, it’s little surprise that when searching for real estate, over 60 percent of renters use mobile devices to do their research. By allowing a huge audience of potential buyers and renters to browse remotely, sales are driven up and exposure amplified.

This means responsive websites, mobile apps, and quick communication via text and email is more important than ever for real estate industry insiders. Potential buyers are likely to be turned off if they can’t view a property on their device, or send inquiries digitally. The entire process needs to become at once easy, trustworthy, and quick — or else clients will move on to the next mobile-friendly listing.

2. Marketing has been digitalized

Marketing a piece of real estate is no longer as simple as listing your home in a local newspaper. While open houses are still fairly important, quality photographs, information and descriptions are perhaps the most vital in attracting potential buyers. This is because the Internet offers many digital outlets to advertise property on — and great photographs are the bare minimum that buyers look for.

Disseminating your advertising onto different digital platforms, complete with the information buyers and renters need, ensures that the listing isn’t overlooked. It also means that those browsing will have all the answers they want up front in terms of price and amenities, speeding up the process from first sight to lease-signing.

3. Startups are surging

Venture funding of real estate tech firms has been experiencing a surge: in 2015, it crossed the $1 billion mark, and is projected to surpass $1.5 billion in 2016 at its current rate. So, where is all this VC money going?

There are a range of tech startups that tackle all areas of the real estate industry, from listing and search, to investment, to brokerage platforms and lease management software. Some of the leading startups include Zillow and Trulia, both of which provide robust online real estate databases, Redfin, a web-based brokerage platform, and High Tower, which offers online tools for landlords.

The amount of companies occupying this space goes to show that the demand for digital real estate services is not only high, but increasingly essential.

4. Buyers and renters are more informed

With the Internet at their fingertips, buyers and renters have access to more information than ever before. There is no pulling the wool over the eyes of today’s informed buyers: with records of building’s history, neighborhood demographics, comparative listings, fees and reputation. Technology is so often synonymous with transparency, and it’s making buyers smarter.

Informed buyers and renters raise the demand for accountable and specialized real estate insiders that meet their needs. This demand drives better real estate practice in general — and it’s all thanks to communication and information technology.

Unsatisfied tenants may turn to the web to review or report issues they experience. Thus, good management is sought after via online research, and bad management is a digital stain difficult to remove.

5. Virtual tours are on the rise

Photographs are all but essential in real estate marketing, but the next step — virtual touring — is already upon us. For larger properties, such tours are all but expected to give potential buyers a 360 view of various spaces, not unlike Google Earth navigation.

There are emerging ways to enhance virtual tours. Video touring is one popular choice, along with the option of interactive floor plans. There’s also a tool called StyleDesigner by Obeo that lets real estate agents virtually upgrade bland spaces with decorations to show clients how far a little imagination can go. For a tour of the surrounding neighborhood, maps can be mashed up with Google or Mapbuilder to highlight local hotspots and attractions in proximity to the listing.

3D virtual tours are also well on their way. Microsoft recently announced its new Photosynth technology, which can take 2D photographs and render them in 3D for immersive digital tours. Add a whiff of new-home smell and hardwood floor texture, and you could have a 4D experience, too.

6. Online bidding, crowdfunding and transactions

In a day and age where most of individual wealth and information is stored digitally, physical checks and contracts are beginning to seem antiquated, as are the normal means of investing and paying. Nowadays, enterprise software can enable transactions between real estate agents and buyers — this way, documents and information can be shared and signed in seconds, with or without a physical handshake in tandem.

Online, a variety of transactions are becoming more communal, too. Prospective buyers can bid against each other, or pool their money to invest in properties. Homes auctioned virtually through Hubzu and Auction.com will sell properties to the highest bidder. Individuals can also get in on the investing game with a number of real estate crowdfunding options.

7. The sharing economy strikes

Lastly, the success of disruptive vacation rental models like Airbnb demonstrate that renters are interested in more flexible options — for life, work, and play — and are happy to do so without a middleman. This flies in the face of tradition, but is proving to be more than just a trend. There is already a UK startup called Yopa that allows peer-to-peer home selling, purported to save users thousands of dollars.

The jury is still out on whether the real estate industry is ripe for disruption by the sharing economy or any of these other technologies. Some argue that it simply does not apply, but I think the truth is somewhere in between.

In some ways, real estate does differ from the industries that have been shaken up by technological innovations — the basic business model is a generally stable and adaptable one. This said, real estate has, and must continue to take tech innovations into stride if it’s to remain profitable and modern. This way, it’s sure to be amplified and augmented by change rather than left shattered in its wake.

By Bennat Berger|2022-04-12T19:27:26+00:00February 16th, 2016|Technology|

Have Smartphones Made Us More or Less Charitable?

In the minds of many, smartphones and narcissism go hand in hand, in pocket. From selfies to social media, mobile technology has become a digital extension of the physical self, or a means through which to carefully curate one’s personality and values. For some, this means mirror shots at the gym, brunch photographs, or vaguely political articles and memes. For others, it’s photos of missionary work, Kickstarter campaigns and philanthropy apps. Almost always, the aim is the same: to promote and enable an identity to be admired. Whether that identity is generous or conceited is up to the choices we make with the power of a million apps at our fingertips.

Where does charity fit into the smartphone experience, and does mobile technology actually encourage people to be more giving? It would be easy to assume that smartphones promote vanity above all else, an argument many have made while sneering at Snapchatting youngsters. Just consider the breadth of tools dedicated to selfies, the weight of likes and upvotes, and the shallow mentality of viral news trends.

At the same time, smartphones make donating easier than ever, to more causes than ever. This ability has been wildly impactful, if not only because the availability and simplicity of the tools that enable it.

The truth is complex — a little of this, a little of that, and a lot of speculation. It may just be that humans are both more charitable and more self-absorbed, and that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. It may just be that the effects of smartphone ubiquity can steer us toward a greater good.

Cell phones and selfishness

We all can picture the stereotype of a grumpy teenager texting at the dinner table, oblivious to both conversation and food. This negative image isn’t completely without warrant: studies have shown that those that spent more time with smartphones were less socially minded. They are also less inclined to volunteer for community service compared to those without their noses in screens. The feeling of connectivity a phone provides, in theory, may in the moment feel like enough to replace physical connection. And so, when we’re digitally connected to our closest friends and family, the impulse to engage with or help outsiders diminishes. We remain glued to Instagram, instead of donating gifts to homeless shelters or building schools for kids.

This effect is called “virtual distance” by some analysts, and it has measurable impacts. The greater the distance, researchers have found, the more separated we become from those around us. We are less inclined to share our ideas, especially in the workplace. Smartphone usage also may prevent us from engaging with and helping others, whether out of distrust or isolation.

Photo: Brandon Warren via Flickr.

The point is, when technology is used as a default for human relations, it can be harmful to their ability to produce real-world benefits. The key is to step back from the digital distance and re-engage with the world, including strangers. For children growing up in the golden age of smartphones, this may be more difficult task than it is for today’s adults, who grew up in a less tech-driven era.

Because mobile apps let users create their own worlds with like-minded individuals and friends, people have a tendency to become more insular in their beliefs and interests. Within a carefully curated social group, there is little room for discovery or new ideas. This can make people less empathetic, and block access to new social causes. While the availability to expand our minds and hearts is greater with smartphones, there’s also just enough information to reinforce complacency.

That’s not to mention the instant gratification of smartphones, which can breed mindsets unwilling to embark on new and potentially difficult journeys without immediate returns. The ease of mobile technology makes delaying gratification harder; the gratification of charity, in comparison to a tangibility of a Seamless delivery, appears more abstract in value.

Whatever the cause, interest in volunteering and charity has seen a precipitous decline in America. Volunteering hit its lowest rate in a decade in 2013.

The case for mobile charity

Every factor that might contribute to a perceived selfishness and detachment among smartphone users can also be used to the benefit of charities worldwide. The trick is in the delivery and expression.

Giving is a social act. Mobile technology can fuel anti-social behavior, as detailed above, but in the digital realm it begets a whole new type of social behavior: social media. Online networks can have enormous reach, and facilitate the constant sharing of thoughts, ideas, and content. When this content is philanthropic in nature, the reach alone can prompt awareness and drive donation.

Researchers say there are three reasons people give: one, because they want to; two, because they think it’s valuable to do so; and three, as a form of showing off. The third reason is a significant one when it comes to mobile donation, which has in many ways become a form of social performance. Think of the ALS Icebox Challenge, which had participants pour icy water on their heads, or the no-makeup selfies for cancer awareness. Neither explicitly required donation, but both raised huge funds along with stroking the egos of the people that jumped on the bandwagon.

Instant gratification works in the favor of charity, too — mobile technology makes donating as easy as one or two taps. When Facebook implemented a “Donate Now” button for nonprofit pages, they positioned themselves to become a hub for online fundraising. Mobile-responsive crowd-funding also lets users get involved in peer-to-peer donation projects. These easy social options have been hugely successful so far on all digital platforms, including mobile.

Text message donations can also be made by smartphone owners — for example, in 2012, the Red Cross launched a donate-by-text initiative, generating $46 million in relief funds after a deadly earthquake in Haiti. Now, there are various SMS processes and campaigns people can use to text pre-set micro-donations to different causes.

Lastly, mobile technology opens completely innovative ways for people to donate to causes that catch their interest. Mobile app Instead let users make small donations in lieu of daily expenses like coffee; One Today showcases a different cause every day; and Tinbox donates money from corporate sponsors in exchange for ad placement on your phone.

What’s the verdict?

By numbers alone, people are more charitable than ever. As the planet’s overall wealth amasses and spending increases, statistically more of this money goes to charitable causes (every year, more of these are made on mobile phones.) Americans give about 3 percent of their income to charity, and this figure has not changed in the decades before or after the smartphone’s rise.

Generally speaking, then, it’s rather dubious to claim that smartphones have changed our charitable virtues for better or worse. More accurately, they have changed not what we do, but how we do it. It just so happens that smartphones have the ability to amplify our actions ad infinitum.

That’s not to say that mobile technology doesn’t have its pitfalls in terms of the behavior it can bring out in users. It sometimes seems as if people have traded in working to help their actual communities in favor of their digital ones, at a loss to psychical spaces in need of extra hands. I think that we should all be careful to engage more with real people and their needs than we do with front-facing camera phones — this said, there is a lot of value behind screens in terms of reach and convenience.

Nonprofits should definitely lean into mobile donations and campaigns that jive with what’s shown to drive progress. It’s simple: Make it a selfie. Make it instant. Make it social. Heck, make it a game. These are the new vehicles of charity — and though may never replace soup kitchen style volunteering, they do work. We can only keep faith that the desire to give back remains part of the human DNA, not to be overwritten by iPhone coding.

Featured image: Jon Fingas via Flickr.

By Bennat Berger|2020-11-05T19:57:47+00:00January 28th, 2016|Philanthropy, Technology|

The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has persisted in the fantasies of futurists, the pages of novelists, and the minds of mathematicians for nearly a century. Even before the rise of computers, the idea of non-human sentience has been the fodder of legends and conjecture: from the intelligent robots of Greek mythology to Turing’s theory of computation, images of sentient machines have rarely come into public conversation without the integral questions of ethics they pose.

Even by definition, artificial intelligence is a malleable term: coined in 1956, it typically refers to intelligence exhibited by computers or machines and the academic field of study that seeks to research and create them. Depending on the extent of the so-called “intelligence” and the form of the machine, AI is as much a topic of great optimism as it is fear. It means many different things to many people and industries; a symbol of both hope and dread, friend and foe, savior and destroyer.

AI: Ethics in Fiction

2001 A Space Odyssey: Bill Lile via Flickr

The implications of AI today pose more issues than ever. Works of fiction have been proposing potential concerns for hundreds of years, if not more — especially in terms of ethics. For example, the sympathetic but flawed monster of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was a pivotal illustration of man-made intelligence, published to highlight the morality of man “playing God.” Corpse reanimation, fortunately, still remains an impossibility. But AI, in general? Not so much.

With the dawn of technology, AI as we conceive of it in the 20th and 21st century is less green and hulking than it is metallic and calculating: think HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the title character of The Terminator, Matrix agents, or any other number of fictional representations. Throw a stone in a pool of science fiction artworks, and you’re bound to hit a robot; more than half the time, it’s one with human-like or even superhuman intelligence.

These fictional works tend to illustrate our greatest fears of technology: In 2001, HAL attempted to kill the humans aboard the Jupiter-bound spaceship. In the 2015 film Ex Machina, the ultra-seductive robot Ava ends up killing her creator; in Her, digital operating system (voiced by a breathy Scarlett Johansson) leaves Joaquin Phoenix’ character for a network of romance beyond human understanding. The philosophical theme of artificial intelligence has always been ethics and consequences; it’s played out in books and movies time and time again with no signs of slowing.

Rapid Advancements

In reality, AI may seem, on the surface, less glamorous than the robotic villains and lovers in feature films. On the forefront of sophistication, IBM’s Watson is capable of winning Jeopardy and writing original, date-based recipes. Machines can (and do) perform human jobs in fields ranging from manufacturing to journalism, to high-frequency trading and customer service. These are just several examples of the gradual growth of artificial intelligence: unsexy, sure, but far from insignificant.

Each of these new innovations, though seemingly innocuous in comparison to homicidal robots, carries ethical concerns of its own. Take Google’s self-driving cars as an example. Should autonomous vehicles be programmed to protect their driver, if other lives are at risk, or sacrifice the driver if it saves more lives? It comes down to coding with a conscious; not so much whether to program intelligent algorithms, but how.

Another example is the smart weapons under development by militaries across the world: some, like smart drones, are already in use, capable of selecting targets based on coding and machine learning. This reduces the need for human soldiers, but gives machines enormous power without the values or judgement to match it.

Tech giants including Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft are also investing big-time in artificial intelligence, especially when it comes to machine learning, deep learning, and image, speech and emotion recognition. These investments have already begun reshaping tools like Siri, OK Google, and Facebook newsfeeds. Their growing sophistication and personalization is ostensibly for better user experience, but for company and monetary gains too.

Regulating Development

Michael Cordedda via Flickr

With AI technology advancing fast, it’s important that ethical standards evolve just as quickly to prevent potentially disastrous side effects. The job of most researchers and companies is simply to develop intelligent technology, but whose job should it be to ensure computers prioritize ethics as much as profit or success? Should a machine’s values be defined only by the biases of its creator, or adhere to a higher standard?

Industry experts are more aware today than ever of the very real ethical concerns artificial intelligence poses, especially if and when they reach human-level intelligence. Thus, efforts to keep AI peaceful and safe are being implemented in numerous forms: For example, in December of 2015, technology companies invested $1 billion in a nonprofit initiative called OpenAI, the aim of which is to digital intelligence advances to the benefit of humanity. In theory, opening access to important AI ideas and development will keep the industry transparent and accountable.

Organizations like Future of Humanity Institute are also focusing their efforts on ensuring new technology is safe, ethical, and to the benefit of humans and the world. Their AI Safety program intends to address the “control issue” of artificial intelligence: in other words, ensuring that advanced AI systems are created and deployed without risk to humanity as they get smarter.

Austin-based Lucid is one AI company with an ethics advisory panel in place to apply best ethical practices so that new products are built specifically with social, cultural and moral values in mind. Google’s recently acquired Deepmind allegedly has a similar board. This is a start, but others believe that codes should eventually be set nationally or even internationally, instead of just internally.

Though it may seem paranoid to some, top scientists including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have urged the scientific community to regulate and monitor AI development, or else face dire consequences — the risk being that computers outpace humanity, and are bestowed with moral responsibility that puts people at risk. That’s not to mention the question of at what point, if any, robots might require rights of their own. Are we obligated to care for and respect smart machines, as we do animals? Or will they end up taking care of us?

Looking forward

Whether or not AI at this level of advancement comes about anytime soon doesn’t change the fact that science fiction is getting closer to reality with every dollar put into this field of research. As a hint, it’s been trillions already, and ballooning rapidly.

Self-aware machines may be a while away from existence; in fact, it may never actually be possible to mimic human thought and emotion entirely. Questions aside, some experts think human-level intelligence (or greater) will be a reality within the century.

As robots acquire skills ranging from learning to reasoning, today’s Dr. Frankenstein could conceivably be at work in his or her own lab in this lifetime. Will we be prepared to ensure that before new intelligence is unleashed, it has the ethics it needs to thrive cooperatively with its creators and the planet? This territory is uncharted, but the more it is explored the sooner we’ll have our answer.

Featured Image: Health Blog via Flickr

By Bennat Berger|2020-11-05T19:58:59+00:00January 12th, 2016|Technology|

How Cultural Institutions Are Changing in the Digital Age

Cultural institutions — like museums, educational centers, and historical societies — have traditionally relied heavily on on-site traffic for growth. However, with upwards of 50% of U.S. schools canceling planned field trips and historical information easily accessible online, cultural institutions are actively exploring new ways to reach learners digitally.

In light of the decreasing rates of visitor attendance, cultural institutions have moved toward two distinct strategies — creating stronger online presences and presenting a more captivating digital experience in-person.

Creating A Stronger Online Presence

Works & Process is a performing-arts series at the Guggenheim whose online presence is one of the more developed among the museum industry.

“By having an online forum where, not only are we streaming the video, but we’re allowing a chat to happen simultaneously, it’s an extension of the discussion going on inside the museum auditorium into the online world,” said “Works & Process” general manager Duke Dang.

The decision to use the web to present the Guggenheim’s content to the world is part of a greater agenda for the museum. Museum executives said their audience demographic was largely international, so offering the displays online helped extend the Guggenheim brand to those who couldn’t be around physically.

The digital age has also created avenues for strictly online organizations. Take the Warsaw Risingsite for example, a group whose digital display ventures into the history of the Warsaw Uprising and its effect internationally and domestically.

Miranda Carroll of the LACMA told ABC, ‘We were the first museum to use Snapchat, and we now have over 400,000 users. It brings people to the museum, because they want to hang out and take photos there.’

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the latest institutions to house its own digital media department. The department “leads the creation, production, presentation, and dissemination of multimedia content to support the viewing and understanding of the Met’s collection and exhibitions, both within the galleries and online.”

The need for a strong online presence is important not only to attract new visitors but also to extend museum information to new platforms and offer global accessibility.

The In-Person Digital Experience

It’s no longer enough to line museum walls with old exhibits, especially with the increasing competition to fight for both on-site and online traffic from viewers. Cultural institutions are becoming more of an experience which has led the push for more of the digital aspect on-site.

Learning centers are finding new ways to attract local students through updated technology and hardware so that on-site time is just as enjoyable as it is informative. Many museums now offer mobile apps with audio tours, push notifications for gallery changes, and a searchable database of art right in your fingertips.

Innovative organizations today are supplementing their exhibits with new technologies to blend the online and offline worlds. The Huntington recently installed iPads with relevant collection information while giant touch tables in the “Mummies” exhibition at Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities allow guests to unwrap mummies virtually, one layer at a time.

The digital age has created new avenues for cultural institutions. The advancements of technology and digital media has pushed these types of organizations to establish themselves online and create innovative digital presences on-site in order to stay relevant and engaging.

By Bennat Berger|2018-10-31T15:49:48+00:00December 3rd, 2015|Culture, Technology|

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