Duration
6 weeksWeekly study
3 hours
Smart Cities
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Cities are incubators of innovation and opportunities but they also face great challenges such as rapid urbanisation, climate change and inequality. How can smart cities address these challenges and become more resilient? And what role will people play in the design and planning of our smart cities?
This free online course will help you to navigate your own path through the complex landscape of smart cities. You’ll hear from smart city innovators and entrepreneurs, city leaders, communities and business, connecting with learners from around the world to reflect on issues facing smart cities of different sizes and situations.
You’ll explore what it’s like to live in a smart city, the role of systems thinking, living labs, open data, crowdsourcing and roadmaps. You’ll debate challenges of privacy, ethics and security, and weigh up the value of leadership, standards and metrics. You’ll learn how to co-create a smart city project where you live.
The course was developed as part of MK:Smart, a £16 million collaborative smart city initiative partly funded by a grant from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and led by The Open University, which developed innovative solutions to support the economic growth of Milton Keynes.
Your educators are Dr Lorraine Hudson who is developing the MK:Smart citizen education strand and Professor Gerd Kortuem, one of the lead academics of the initiative.
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
Who is the course for?
This course is intended for anyone with an interest in the application of new technologies to city challenges and smart city solutions. It does not require any prior experience of studying the subject.
Who will you learn with?
Lead Educator of The Open University's Smart Cities MOOC & OU Associate Lecturer teaching Environmental Sciences.
Professor of Computing at the Open University with a research interest in Smart Cities, Internet of Things, Data Science and Human-Centered Computing.
Who developed the course?
Established
1969Location
Milton Keynes, UKWorld ranking
Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
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