Research & Innovation

CityVerve is a £10m investment from The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to demonstrate the Internet of Things in Manchester City Region.

The CityVerve Project aims to test better services using the Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The Internet of Things adds sensors and data analysis to urban equipment like streetlamps, vehicles or home heating equipment. These ‘smart’ improvements will help deliver more personal, efficient and flexible products and services. The collaborative research and development project will draw on expertise from the School of Architecture (Faculty of Art and Design) and the Schools of Computing and Engineering (Faculty of Science and Engineering).

MMU has three investigators involved – two from the Manchester School of Art looking at the ‘Culture’ strand of the bid and one from the School of Computing exploring ‘Energy’ use cases.

Ulysses Sengupta leads research activity from the faculty of Art and Design and is the head of the Centre for Complexity Planning & Urbanism (CPU) which he runs with Rob Hyde. The focus of his research addresses co-evolution between ICT and future urban transformation within Manchester and with a focus on the Manchester Corridor.

The largest single strand of research within MMU focuses on Innovative Digital Tools to Enable Greener Travel

This research is undertaken by CPU and will include research, development, design, evaluation and publication of a research methodology and custom made digital tool ‘Green Travel Planner’ that aims to encourage more sustainable choices for citizens in day-to-day use and develop an evidence based usage map of Manchester for improved transport planning and policy decisions. The research will result in a comprehensive review and innovative approach to developing the next generation of travel planning applications, and how these can better focus on user engagement, behavioural change and evidence based planning for sustainable/greener transport choices.

Research, development, design, evaluation and publication of a research methodology and custom made digital tool ‘Green Travel Planner’ to encourage:

1. More sustainable choices for citizens in day-to-day use.
2. An evidence based usage map of Manchester for improved public transport planning and policy decisions.

Project Details

Author(s)

Ulysses Sengupta, Eric Cheung

Designer

Eric Cheung

Director

Ulysses Sengupta

Function

Planning Tool and Travel Planner Prototype

Client

Innovate UK

Project Start Date

July 2016

Project End Date

June 2018

Budget

£340000

Funder

Innovate UK

Partners

Cisco, BT

Collaborators

Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester

Research Outputs

Book Chapters

Ulysses, S., 2017. 'Complexityscience'. In Defining the Urban, pp. 249-265, Routledge.

Reports

Cheung, P., Sengupta, U., 2017. 'Journey Sustainability Analysis Report', MMU: Manchester School of Architecture.

Cheung, E., Sengupta, U., 2016. 'Occupancy / Emissions Sustainability Metric Matrix', MMU: Manchester School of Architecture, Manchester, UK.

Conference Papers

Sengupta, U., Cheung, P., 2017. 'Keynote Lecture: Digital Tools for Urban Transformation', Digital Tools for Urban Challenges, Workshop in Wuhan, China, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, 18/4/2017 - 21/4/2017.

Other Outputs

Sengupta, U., Iossifova, D., 2016. 'Smarter Data Use & Future City Models', Lecture at Gensler Los Angeles, USA.

Project Staff

Professor Ulysses Sengupta
Professor Ulysses Sengupta Professor of Architecture and Urbanism View profile