Cities Knowledge Graph: bridging human and artificial intelligence to support synthesis in city planning

Abstract

Planning and managing the growth of cities today and into the future is widely regarded as essential to address the challenge of climate change and the host of associated issues that underpin long-term liveability and sustainability. In a rapidly urbanising world, city planning professionals need to integrate ever more data, tools, and targets, with planners weaving together inputs from different domains, departments, and stakeholders in order to develop coherent, consensus-based futures. The Cities Knowledge Graph (CKG) project, a collaboration between Cambridge CARES and the Singapore-ETH Centre, explores the potential benefits of Knowledge Graph technologies to digitally support synthesis in urban planning. In this Global Seminar, Dr Pieter Herthogs will present the CKG project based on specific examples from land-use planning, showcasing novel ways CKG supports the four key meta-practices of planning: representation, evaluation, projection, and synthesis. He will highlight the importance of formal Knowledge Representation in digital planning as a way to link quantitative and qualitative applications, bridging human and artificial intelligence.