VURB is a research foundation established in 2012 by Ben Cerveny and James Burke that investigates how ubiquitous computing, sensor networks, and mobile media are changing how cities are understood, built, and inhabited. VURB acts as a connector between municipalities, public institutions, and private organizations to develop policies around making cities visible through data visualization and computational design, revealing hidden layers of the city as a dynamic immaterial architecture. The goal is to build an "operating system for the city" and investigate Amsterdam as an operating system, where the city functions not just on physical infrastructure but also patterns and flows of information.

1. Urban Intelligence Participatory urbanism and the city as interface Introducing VURB

2. Hello, my name is Juha. Nice to meet you.

3. Pssst! This is Theo Watson… I used to work for the n8, a collaborativeplatform for museum innovation. Its biggest event is the annual Museum Night…

4. Connecting the City “Indeed, and I know what!” “We could use some help.” “Something seems to be missing here..” ...then I founded Non-fiction, with my best friend Michiel. It is an office for cultural innovation that makes things public…

5. …like this place, De Verdieping, a collaborativecultural space downstairs that we started this year. Check it out later, there are interesting things going on there right now.

6. I like electronic music so much, that once a month I share this with some people at a night called Viral Radio (it is actually tonight, you are all welcome to stick around)…

7. ‘Share this!’ + ‘Making things public’ + ‘Just do it!’ are how you could summarise the things we do…

8. So I was happy, and minding my business…

9. … until these guys showed up: Ben Cerveny and James Burke.

10. Together we founded VURB, a research foundation investigating how ubiquitous computing, sensor networks and mobile media are changing the way we understand, build and inhabit cities.

11. It was London 2012, that was one of the reasons VURB was established. Ben’s experiences with thinking about the information infrastructure for the Olympics resulted in a clairvoyance about the need to build an interaction platform…

12. VURB is a momentum machine, for the current international quest for the holy grail: how to build an operating system for the city…

13. Amsterdam OS, the city as an operating system. The city is not just built upon physical infrastructure, but also on patterns and flows of information that are growing and transforming…

14. The medium is the metropolis. A new vernacular in urbanism is upon us: civic information systems, collaborative redevelopment, urban systems literacy, responsive environments and urban interface policy (just to name a few)…

15. VURB acts as a connector, linking municipalities and public institutions with private vehicles. Amongst our partners are Cisco, ARUP and Nokia, but also CitiLab, CurrentCity Foundation and Waag Society. Together we want to develop policy in a European context…

16. …that make cities visible. Through data visualisation and computational design hidden layers in the city become visible and form a dynamic immaterial architecture...

17. We call this Cloud City. Cloud computing is part of the urban fabric. In 2010 we will organise a one-day marathon on informational weather and global infowarming. The city is becoming…

18. Thank you. Juha van ‘tZelfde >>juha@vurb.eu >> www.vurb.eu (sorry for ripping your pictures, internet people)