Innovative technology could improve urban life, panel says

 New innovations in transportation and architecture can improve living conditions in cities, speakers said Wednesday.

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology urban design and planning professor Dennis Frenchman, researcher Christine Outram and research assistant Susanne Seitinger spoke at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology lecture, titled “Bikes, Lights, and Sites,” to an audience of about 40 professors.

The talk was one of a four-part series called “The Responsive City,” which focuses on problems related to urban planning. 

Outram said the use of bicycles when commuting improves the living conditions of all city residents.

She also compared Boston to European cities such as Copenhagen, in which nearly all citizens bike to work, and said that Bostonians’ increasing reliance on bikes is a step in the right direction toward making the city more environmentally friendly.

Outram said she is currently working on a prototype for a new bike she called the “Honda Prius Hybrid of bikes,” due to its potential to conserve energy. The bike is controlled by riders’ iPhones and Bluetooth devices and collects information to help make people more aware of their behavior and environmental impact.

“It gives feedback to how many miles you have gone,” she said. “It also collects information on noise and pollution.”

 Frenchman focused on the positive impact of biking upon the community. He said cities need to grow in order to accommodate an increasing population, and suggested citizens rely on bikes instead of cars for transportation due to their practicality and because they don’t pollute the air.

 “Private cars are an inefficient mobility system,” he said. “We should be using scooters, bikes and RoboScooters instead.” RoboScooters are light and compact electric motor scooters developed in part by MIT’s Smart Cities laboratory.

 Frenchman also said he is in favor of placing dumpsters and garbage bins underground.

 “Dumpsters are unsightly and difficult to use,” he said.

 Instead, he said he has devised a system in which the underground garbage containers could be opened and closed with the push of a button and signals would be sent to the collection system to automatically empty the garbage when it is full.

 Seitinger shifted the focus of the talk to lighting, which she said could be both practical and visually interesting.

 She said more cities are implementing urban lighting master plans to make illumination more consistent throughout the city.

She said she is also working on a system of streetlights that would follow a person’s path and change colors in response to his or her movements, making cities both safer and more aesthetically appealing for residents.

 Frenchman, Outram and Seitinger agreed that Boston should work toward developing these innovations in order to improve the overall quality of life for its residents.

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