THE NEW PURBA 2012 WEBSITE IS HERE.

Over the past decade, the development of digital networks and operations has produced an unprecedented wealth of information. Handheld electronics, location devices, telecommunications networks, and a wide assortment of tags and sensors are constantly producing a rich stream of data reflecting various aspects of urban life. For urban planners and designers, these accumulations of digital traces are valuable sources of data in capturing the pulse of the city in an astonishing degree of temporal and spatial detail. Yet this condition of the hybrid city – which operates simultaneously in the digital and physical realms – also poses difficult questions about privacy, scale, and design, among many others. These questions must be addressed as we move toward achieving an augmented, fine-grained understanding of how the city functions – socially, economically and yes, even psychologically.

This workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss and explore the research challenges and opportunities in applying the pervasive computing paradigm to urban spaces. We are seeking multi-disciplinary contributions that reveal interesting aspects about urban life and exploit the digital traces to create novel urban applications that benefit citizens, urban planners, and policy makers.

This workshop attracted significant interest and many interesting submissions. In total 30 papers were submitted, of which we accepted 8 long and 8 short presentations. We are also excited to have Lisa Amini, Director of the IBM Smarter Cities Technology Centre, present the keynote. The candidate students eligible for the PURBA 2011 best student paper award are selected. The award will be announced at the workshop to the student attending and presenting his or her work.

See who is attending on the LinkedIn events site.