“The way how the city is planned, managed and lived has become inseparable from data science and artificial intelligence”, starts the article in Smart Cities – Cidades Sustentáveis – magazine begins, in which NOVA Cidade – Urban Analytics Lab, from NOVA IMS, is highlighted.

Resorting to analytical models, both descriptive and predictive, NOVA Cidade has been contributing with solutions for the planning of the city of Lisbon, selecting the best actions to carry out and anticipating future needs, and thus establishing itself as a leading partner in the implementation of innovative projects in the City Council.

According to the statements of Miguel de Castro Neto, Dean of NOVA IMS and Coordinator of NOVA Cidade - Urban Analytics Lab, "the projects we have been creating aim to use analytics to provide the necessary information to those who need to intervene in the city. This way, it becomes possible to understand the best intervention, in terms of space and time, allowing the achievement of a specific objective."

The article highlights three of the projects for which NOVA Cidade developed analytical models, namely: in the area of micro-mobility, a project dedicated to the Lisbon shared bicycle service - GIRA; in the scope of traffic, a model dedicated to the management of traffic accidents in the city was developed, allowing for the identification of the risk of accidents in several road segments; and also a walkability indicator, applied in a pilot-area defined for the study – Parque das Nações-Marvila-Beato, intended to test the characteristics and variables that impact the decision to walk.

In another article in the same magazine, focusing on Smart Public Spaces, Miguel de Castro Neto once again highlights the importance of technology and data analysis for the management of cities, spaces, and various daily issues. According to NOVA IMS’ Dean, data analysis "allows us to build scenarios and then validate them, in order to understand the impact of different options, ensuring that a specific intervention is the best for one location, knowing that it can be completely different for another location just 500 meters away."

Thus, it is concluded that the use of technology plays an increasingly determinant role in improving the quality of life and welfare of the population, allowing a more efficient and sustainable management of spaces and cities.