Headed through JFK? You can now stop on your way to the pre-boarding Starbucks and spend some time learning about the Smart Cities project. IBM has come up with an interesting new way to get people involved with their smart-energy/building/transportation initiative — through a giant interactive display. And they put it smack in the middle of a place where one can’t help but think about improving our infrastructure: Terminal 8 at JFK Airport in New York, which sees 8 million passengers come through per year.
The point of the Smart Cities project is clear: By 2050 there will be 27 cities with over 10 million inhabitants, and the equivalent of 7 new New York Citys are added to the planet every year. All of which means we need to get a lot better about figuring out how to smarten up transportation, streamline utilities, increase public safety, and more in urban areas.
Through a series of slide-through neighborhoods guided by touch icons that use gesture technology, the display offers insights on education, transportation, energy, economic development, healthcare and more. There’s even a soporific-voiced narrator who warbles instructions on how to navigate and get more information. It may not be enough to stop millions of busy air travelers in their tracks, but it’s definitely an engaging entree into the discussion about how to build more efficient and sustainable cities.
