Research & Expertise

Claudio Silva, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the Polytechnic School of Engineering, New York University visited Moscow to take part in the Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning summer programme, Adaptive City. Professor Silva is a specialist in computer technology and big data. He works on interdisciplinary projects involving biotechnology, neurobiology, physics, ornithology, sports analysis, urban changes and others. Silva has been a major influence on researchers working in big data, for one thing, because of his determination to close the gap between academic research and practical applications.

On July 27, as part of the Adaptive City seminar series organised by the Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning at Moscow’s DI Telegraph, a discussion took place called ‘Big Data and New Insights for Urban Transportation Planning.’ The discussion was devoted to the problem of transportation planning in the new era of big data.

Chief Architect of Barcelona, Head of Guallart Architects and founder of the world famous Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Vicente Guallart has been a major attraction in the Adaptive Cities cycle of seminars (June to August 2015) organised by the Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning and the Strelka Institute. Guallart gave two lectures and took part in a round table discussion at the end of June and beginning of July.

On June 9, the head of the Urban Planning master’s programme at Paris’ Sciences Po, Morgan Poulizac, gave the lecture ‘Social Innovations as an Urban Development Tool: Examples of French Cities’ as part of the Adaptive City seminar series organised by the Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning.

HSE students Olga Talovskaya, Aleksandr Ryzhkov, Nadezhda Hort, Alevtina Baynakova  (2013 selection) made a plan for the urban development of Bishkek (the capital of Kirghizia) in 2040. The project was a public competition entry to redesign the city for the 50th anniversary of Kirghiz independence.

Russia’s urban residents can be split into four groups, depending on their relationship with the city, what they expect from it, values, and lifestyle. Three groups prefer to lead a settled or sedentary lifestyle, as they are either content with their place of residence, or passive. The fourth category is mobile, and always ready to move. By taking each group’s values into account, cities can be made more comfortable for all residents, research by a study group at the HSE’s Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning says.

The HSE Institute of Regional Studies and Urban Planning held a panel discussion entitled ‘Developing Cities and Infrastructure’ as part of the Russian-Japanese forum ‘Points of Intersection: Business, Technology, Culture’ that took place in Moscow. The discussion focused on development opportunities in Moscow and the adoption of solutions to urban problems already applied in Tokyo.