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Data has become a 21st century design material.  Architects, planners, engineers and citizens increasingly use data to understand urban issues and spark design innovation.

This explosion of digital information, known as “Big Data,” encompasses everything from data collected by environmental sensors to messages on social media.

Chicago: City of Big Data revealed the potential of urban data and offered a new perspective on Chicago and cities everywhere. Visitors were able to explore interactive displays, recreated sections of the city and get unique views into their own personal data.

Advisory Committee

John Tolva, PositivEnergy Practice
Brenna Berman, City of Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology
Charlie Catlett, Urban Center for Computation and Data
Anijo Mathew, Illinois Institute of Technology Institute of Design

Special Thanks To

DCBolt Productions, Katelynn Pfeil, Luci Creative, and TruthLabs for contributing to the exhibition’s design.

Catherine Baker, Satya Mark Basu, Keith Besserud, Cartografika, Chicago Cartographics, Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, Chicago Department of Transportation, Dave Drazen, Derek Eder, Annette Ferrara, Angela Ford, Kate Kusiak Galvin, Forest Gregg, Collin Griffin, IBM City Forward Team, Sebastian James, Maggie Jarr, Adam Jentleson, Josh Kalov, Thomas Kearns, Kate Keleman, Tom Kompare, Little Cabin Films, Luci Creative, Corey Marshall, Dennis McClendon, Cory Mollet, Elnaz Moshfeghian, Dan O’Neil, Jeanne Marie Olson, Open City, Open Gov Chicago, Kyla Page, Doug Pancoast, Katelynn Pfeil, John Pletz, Joel Putnam, Prajna Rao, Burton Rast, Bo Rodda, Tom Schenk, Matthew Shaxted, Splunk, Matt Stegmaier, Nathan Storring, TAG Foundation, TenFab, Thirst , Sean Thornton, James Toftness, Don Turnbull, UrbanLab, Juan-Pablo Velez, Aaron Wolf.

Original concept developed by Gregory K. Dreicer.

Presenting sponsors

MacArthur Foundation, DCEO

Lead sponsor

Illinois Clean Energy

Additional support provided by

IBM
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP
The Otho S.A. Sprague Memorial Institute