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

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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.