MIT Schwarzman College 2018 - 2019

MIT e-Planning 1992 - 2008

"The new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing will be an interdisciplinary hub for work in computer science, AI, data science, and related fields." (MIT News 2018)

"The fast progress on information and communication technologies (ICT) enabled significant advances (...) But new conditions bring also new problems and raise many new questions (...) e-Planning is a new scientific area of inquiry that is emerging to address a substantive part of these issues.(...) A strategic “push” on technology requires the integrated engagement of many different key disciplines." (Ferraz de Abreu, P. et al, "Towards e-Planning as part of MIT-Portugal", 2006)

" The College will:

- reorient MIT to bring the power of computing and AI to all fields of study at MIT, allowing the future of computing and AI to be shaped by insights from all other disciplines (…)" (MIT News 2018)

The seminars are intended to facilitate dialogue across a broad cross-section of the department about some of the shared issues, methods, and implications of “e-planning”. we also hope to stimulate debate about an e-planning research agenda among an international community of our peers, not only in Planning but also in closely-associated fields. (e-Planning Seminar, MIT, 2003)

"- educate students in every discipline to responsibly use and develop AI and computing technologies to help make a better world"  (MIT News 2018)

"Technological advances enabled more informed actions by planners (...) At the same time, planners functions are faced with the challenge of private agents well equipped and familiarized with the most sophisticated information technologies, a challenge that computer engineers and information management experts are not equipped to answer (...) This is why technologically oriented sciences became a mandatory component of informational planning, which in turn is extending and changing these sciences to respond to the planning problematic." (Ferraz de Abreu, P. 1993, "Towards a Definition of Information Systems in Planning", MIT, DUSP)

"the College will equip students and researchers in any discipline to use computing and AI to advance their disciplines and vice-versa, as well as to think critically about the human impact of their work.", (Reif  2018)

“Informational Planning (...) is a discipline whose cognitive object or domain is the study of the information technologies (IT) with relevance to the institutional and planning processes, and the relationships between those IT and these institutions and planning processes.“ (Ferraz de Abreu, P. 1993, ibidem)

"The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing will seek to be not only a center of advances in computing, but also a place for teaching and research on relevant policy and ethics to better ensure that the groundbreaking technologies of the future are responsibly implemented in support of the greater good." (MIT News 2018)

"Information technology is far from being simply a tool, that planners can master and use; it is also a powerful driving force transforming our society, that planners must understand and find the means to influence, where and when is possible and convenient. Information was always a source of power; now it is also an increasingly important source of wealth, a commodity with unique attributes, a form of capital with different laws of consumption and reproduction." (Ferraz de Abreu, P. 1993, MIT, ibidem)

"To advance these priorities, the College will:

- develop new curricula that will connect computer science and AI with other disciplines(…)" (MIT News 2018)

"What new technology and analytical skills and competencies are required for the new generation of planners? How can we improve our current school curricula to correspond to these new requirements?"

(e-Planning Seminar - goals, MIT, 2003)

"- encourage scientists, engineers, and social scientists to collaborate on analysis of emerging technology, and on research that will serve industry, policymakers, and the broader research community; (…)"

(MIT News 2018)

Since 2006, several Universities, Research Centers and other Institutes created an informal "Consortium on e-Planning" in Portugal, in collaboration with the Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) at MIT (...). The main goal is to articulate research and academic curricula from both engineering and social sciences, towards an e-Planning agenda. It is important to research and develop Technology with, and for, Social Sciences. (Colloquium on e-Planning for MIT-Portugal 2008)

"(The College will (...) · transform education and research in public policy and ethical considerations relevant to computing and AI." (MIT News 2018)

"Computing is no longer the domain of the experts alone. It’s everywhere, and it needs to be understood and mastered by almost everyone. In that context, for a host of reasons, society is uneasy about technology — and at MIT, that’s a signal we must take very seriously,” (Reif, 2018)

https://computing.mit.edu/news/mit-reshapes-itself-to-shape-the-future/

https://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-reshapes-itself-stephen-schwarzman-college-of-computing-1015    

"Technology is also the focus of attention in a world troubled with increased levels of insecurity and conflict / competition. How can Planning and IT contribute to a better grasp of the trade-offs among issues of security, human rights and freedoms? What are the new threats to privacy posed by the level of detail and accuracy of data collected in planning procedures and policy implementation? (e-Planning Seminar, MIT, 2003)

"The Information Revolution is introducing...dramatic changes, from the mode and organization of production to the form and function of government, changes whose nature became the object of intense research and debate. This is a complex research domain, given that the effects of the impact of IT in society, and therefore in cities and regions, vary according to their interaction with the economic, social, political and cultural processes that shape the way IT is produced and used." (Ferraz de Abreu, P. 1993, "Towards a definition...", MIT)