Urban Socio-Technical Systems: An Autonomy and Mobility Perspective

The future of the human race is urban. The world's population is projected to grow an additional 2.5 billion by 2050, with all expected to live in urban areas. This will increase the percentage of urban population from 55% today to 70% within three decades and further strengthen the role of cities as the hub for information, transportation, and overall socio-economic development. Unlike any other time in human history, the increasing levels of autonomy and machine intelligence are transforming cities to be no longer just human agglomerations but a fusion of humans, machines, and algorithms making collective decisions, thus complex socio-technical systems. This manuscript summarizes and discusses my efforts from the urban autonomy and mobility perspective to develop the urban socio-technical system.

人类的未来是城市化的。预计到2050年，世界人口将再增加25亿，而且预计所有人都将生活在城市地区。这将使城市人口的比例在三十年内从现在的55%提高到70%，并进一步强化城市作为信息、交通以及整体社会经济发展中心的作用。与人类历史上的任何其他时期不同，日益提高的自主性和机器智能正在使城市发生转变，城市不再仅仅是人类的聚居地，而是人、机器和算法共同做出决策的融合体，从而成为复杂的社会技术系统。这份手稿从城市自主性和流动性的角度总结并讨论了我为发展城市社会技术系统所做的努力。