UKCRIC - CORONA: City Observatory Research platfOrm for iNnovation and Analytics

The CORONA project will provide the research and technical resource needed to support and unlock the research potential of the UKCRIC investment in Urban Observatories.

Cities generate the vast majority of the country's wealth and investment in its infrastructure amounts to billions each year. Cities are complex entities, with dynamic and interacting infrastructure, social and environmental aspects. Research typically focuses on single sectors, and limited timeframes and therefore is unable to understand the interwoven processes and systems.

The UKRCIC Observatories equipment grant has provided resource for sensors and observation equipment to be deployed at the whole city-scale to monitor over long timeframes an unprecedented range of variables, systems and processes. CORONA uses advances in 'smart city' technologies and the Internet of Things to enable these Observatories. However, we are not just using this data in a 'smart' way to optimise the operation of city functions (e.g. transport systems), rather using this data to build a long term understanding of the complexity of cities and infrastructure in their short and long term.

CORONA will achieve this by developing an understanding of how to apply scientific rigour to observation and learning (as one might expect in a typical laboratory) to measure a city and to start to unpick these patterns to enable decision makers, policy setters, citizens and scientists improve their understanding of how cities operate. Ultimately the research foundations put in place by CORONA and the UKCRIC equipment grants will enable us to collectively, make better decisions on investment and have a clear understanding of the potential impacts of our choices within urban areas.

To achieve our long term vision we need a solid foundation in the science of urban sensing, the collection, management and governance of the data and to establish working practices that enable local authorities, utilities, scientists, citizens and policy makers to work together. In CORONA key societal challenges facing our cities will be addressed (Air Quality, Energy, Housing) as a means to understand the practical aspects of urban monitoring and to develop a clearer picture of how this new 'urban sciences and engineering' can enable better decisions to be made that will improve quality of life and benefit the economy.

This research expects to make impact across a number of communities:

Industrial Practice
The concept of the Urban Observatories has received significant support from UKCRIC's industrial partners. Atkins, Arup, Buro Happold, Arjuna etc. are among many who have already attended Urban Observatory workshops. Our approach to ensuring this impact is through close collaboration with partners to enable us to understand emerging technologies, user needs, evolving policy drivers and key decisions on the horizon. Our Industrial Challenge workshops will identify key urban and infrastructure challenges for industry and identify how the Urban Observatory might help address them. The place-based observatories already established at Newcastle, Sheffield and Bristol as the means to establish, maintain and sustain partnerships across academia, industry, public sector and the third sector in order to improve cities and their infrastructure. CORONA will support the initiation of the 2nd wave of observatories in Cranfield, Manchester and Birmingham. These provide a platform to facilitate open knowledge-sharing and discussions to speed up the process of innovation in each urban area.

The Wider Public
A key aim of the UKCRIC Observatories and CORONA is ultimately to deliver improved quality of life and health to UK citizens. Our partnerships with industry, local and national government, and the third sector will de-risk innovation, improve understanding of how infrastructure performs in real environments, and provide the evidence base to improve decision-making in cities. We are in an outstanding position to achieve this through our local and national partnerships that underpin our Observatories. These place-based activities will be complemented by widely available material including open data platforms (http://uoweb1.ncl.ac.uk), digital media and educational material. We will also collaborate in high profile events such as the Great Exhibition of the North 2018 to showcase the work being done in this sector to a wide audience.

Local and National Government
Government Departments and bodies such as DCLG, Defra, and the Environment Agency (EA), are key stakeholders in ensuring long-term benefit from this research as part of their ongoing remits. Involvement with workshops will include appropriate members of DCLG, Defra, the Environment Agency as well as local partners and relevant city council departments. Ongoing engagement with government bodies above will be maintained through CORONA's links established in the workshops and a policy briefing document will be created and developed in the last year of the programme in collaboration with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. Additionally, we shall also engage with the House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee and especially in relation to its activities in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and Smart Cities.