Nicolay Boyadjiev

Google Urbanism leverages technology to fund city improvements. Nicolay Boyadjiev, designer at the Strelka Institute for Media Architecture and Design, created the concept to use income from frequently used digital space to reinvent smarter cities. Google Urbanism creates a loop between city residents and a technology resource, monetizing the interaction to fund more private/public partnerships to improve urban areas. Boyadjiev’s theory is that as public spaces improve more people flock to them, driving additional income and more opportunity to create and improve the spaces. In this program, user activity in public spaces is treated as a resource that can be reinvested into the space, similar to how toll roads work. The project team leveraged Google’s online economy to develop a web site to view, track, and charge advertisers an additional amount for advertising in certain spaces, providing public entities with a new revenue stream.

Google Urbanism leverages technology to fund city improvements. Nicolay Boyadjiev, designer at the Strelka Institute for Media Architecture and Design, created the concept to use income from frequently used digital space to reinvent smarter cities. Google Urbanism creates a loop between city residents and a technology resource, monetizing the interaction to fund more private/public partnerships to improve urban areas. Boyadjiev’s theory is that as public spaces improve more people flock to them, driving additional income and more opportunity to create and improve the spaces. In this program, user activity in public spaces is treated as a resource that can be reinvested into the space, similar to how toll roads work. The project team leveraged Google’s online economy to develop a web site to view, track, and charge advertisers an additional amount for advertising in certain spaces, providing public entities with a new revenue stream.