An average Formula 1 car has over 300 sensors, precisely located to relay performance-critical information. The latest Airbus wing has 10,000 sensors and 2-way telemetry to optimise in-flight performance. These aren’t sensors for the sake of it; these are precise and specific design decisions based on deep scientific understanding in order to use real-time analysis to produce best-in-class operation. Over time our goal is to transform the performance of cities – reduce their cost, eliminate their waste, enhance the life of their citizens and make them function seamlessly and elegantly.

Cities, however, are not like an F1 car or an aeroplane wing. Their science – the “science of cities” – is not well understood. Fluid and aero-dynamics have more than a millennium of practical evidence and academic study behind them; they are the result of a long history of trial and error, multiple failures, endless design iterations and hard scientific evidence. If we are to develop interventions that systematically add value to our cities we must begin by applying a much higher level of discipline and rigour to the analysis of how they actually work.

Our new connected world of devices and data offers unbridled potential for us to understand complex human and physical systems and the interactions between them. Just as the invention of the telescope and microscope allowed us to measure things we had never measured before – opening up entire new fields of science – the science of cities will enable improved perception, better prediction, superior risk management and enhanced decision-making.

We are developing this science today.