Researchers and policy makers have proposed “smart cities” as one approach to an evolutionary transformation in urban infrastructure and management, focusing on optimizing planning and coordination through information technology systems and real-time data. How does the smart city approach compare with a potentially competing approach-ecological wisdom (EW), which is defined as a property of good design requiring minimal ecological and social intervention? Do the two approaches offer potential for productive synthesis for planning practice? We analyze academic, corporate, public intellectual, and public policy sources to present a comparative review of smart cities with “wise cities,” based on an EW framework. Through our analysis, we derive basic definitions of these two planning approaches, outline the general goals and objectives of each, and develop an overall multi-tiered framework of analysis for both approaches. We conclude by proposing potential areas of synthesis, applications for planning practice, and areas of future research.

In Texas and elsewhere, the looming realities of rapid population growth and intensifying effects of climate change mean that the things we rely on to live—water, energy, dependable infrastructure, social cohesion, and an ecosystem to support them—are exposed to unprecedented risk. Limited resources will be in ever greater demand and the environmental stress from prolonged droughts, record-breaking heat waves, and destructive floods will increase. Existing long-term trends and behaviors will not be sustainable. That is our current trajectory, but we can still change course. Significant advances in information communication technologies and big data, combined with new frameworks for thinking about urban places as social–ecological–technical systems, and an increasing movement towards transdisciplinary scholarship and practice sets the foundation and framework for a metropolitan observatory. Yet, more is required than an infrastructure for data. Making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable will require that data become actionable knowledge that change policy and practice. Research and development of urban sustainability and resilience knowledge is burgeoning, yet the uptake to policy has been slow. An integrative and holistic approach is necessary to develop effective sustainability science that synthesizes different sources of knowledge, relevant disciplines, multi-sectoral alliances, and connections to policy-makers and the public. To address these challenges and opportunities, we developed a conceptual framework for a “metropolitan observatory” to generate standardized long-term, large-scale datasets about social, ecological, and technical dimensions of metropolitan systems. We apply this conceptual model in Texas, known as the Texas Metro Observatory, to advance strategic research and decision-making at the intersection of urbanization and climate change. The Texas Metro Observatory project is part of Planet Texas 2050, a University of Texas Austin grand challenge initiative.

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, multiple media sources claimed the event was an “equal opportunity” storm. These claims challenge existing social vulnerability research that finds marginalised groups have both unequal risk exposure and subsequent differential impacts from disasters (Cutter, Boruff, and Shirley 2003, “Assessing Current and Future Freshwater Flood Risk from North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones via Insurance Claims.” Scientific Reports 7 (February): 41609; Faber 2015, “Superstorm Sandy and the Demographics of Flood Risk in New York City.” Human Ecology 43 (3): 363–378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-015-9757-x; Thomas et al. 2013, Social Vulnerability to Disasters. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press). To understand the accuracy of this “equal opportunity” assertion, we use ordinary least squares, simultaneous autoregressive, and geographically weighted regression techniques to investigate the relationships between indicators of social vulnerability and FEMA-approved housing damages from Hurricane Harvey across five cities in the Houston area. Findings suggest Harvey had disproportionate impacts on housing damages for Black, Latinx, and mobile home residents. These results serve as a foundational analysis for the broader purpose of informing policy decisions regarding recovery efforts and future approaches to improving flooding resilience in the Houston area.

Places around the world already experience significant damage from climate change–related weather events, economic disruption, and health impacts, exacerbated by poverty, segregation, and inequitab...