This book sets the stage for understanding how the exponential escalation of digital ubiquity in the contemporary environment is being absorbed, modulated, processed and actively used for enhancing the performance of our built environment. S.M.A.R.T., in this context, is thus used as an acronym for Systems & Materials in Architectural Research and Technology, with a specific focus on interrogating the intricate relationship between information systems and associative material, cultural and socioeconomic formations within the built environment. This interrogation is deeply rooted in exploring inter-disciplinary research and design strategies involving nonlinear processes for developing meta-design systems, evidence based design solutions and methodological frameworks, some of which, are presented in this issue. Urban health and wellbeing, urban mobility and infrastructure, smart manufacturing, Interaction Design, Urban Design & Planning as well as Data Science, asprominent symbiotic domains constituting the Built Environment are represented in this first book in the S.M.A.R.T. series. The spectrum of chapters included in this volume helps in understanding the multivalence of data from a socio-technical perspective and provides insight into the methodological nuances involved in capturing, analysing and improving urban life via data driven technologies.
Dr. Nimish Biloria is an Associate Professor at the, Faculty of Design Architecture and Building at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Prior to this, he served as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. He has over 15 yrs of experience in the Emergent Technologies and Creative Industry sectors across Europe and Asia and is currently leveraging his global network and expertise within the Australian context. Dr. Biloria’s also serves as the Course Director (Smart cities) at the Faculty of Design Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney and was also the Education Manager for the Architectural Engineering and Technology chair Hyperbody, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. He has designed and implemented various inter-disciplinary education and research agendas in the areas of Smart Cities & Urban Informatics, Computational Design, Urban Health and Wellbeing, Social Robotics, and Real-time Interactive Environments. Dr. Biloria firmly believes in the strength of inter-disciplinary collaborations to build knowledge synergies and as such has a track record of work across various sectors such as Design, ICT, Human Psychology and Cognition, Healthcare, Humanities, and Robotics to name a few. He has lectured and published his inter-disciplinary research and design deductions at several prestigious and top-ranking institutes, scientific journals, design and technology conferences, scientific books, and magazines globally.
