Case Studies

These case studies were created by Cornell Tech students enrolled in the Spring 2023, 2024, and 2025 course, "Smart Cities: Requirements, Ambitions, and Limitations", taught by Dr. Anthony Townsend. This course examined the concept of “smart cities” as a sociotechnical movement that seeks to expand the use of digital technologies in urban development, service delivery, and governance.

Through these case studies, students gained a thorough understanding of the engineering considerations involved in proposed and delivered technology interventions, as well as the key social, economic, and political factors influencing how technologies are assessed ahead of time and how system performance is evaluated following deployment.

Browse and search cases below to see the findings of these investigations.