How AI Sees the City: Urban Visual Intelligence

In an era where extreme amounts of data are produced daily, with the majority being visual content, cities have become vast repositories of dgtl imagery. From surveillance cameras to smartphone photos, satellite imagery to street-level captures, our urban environments are continuously documented through an unprecedented volume of visual data. This groundbreaking book examines how artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing our understanding of cities and presents a comprehensive framework for applying visual AI in urban contexts. The book traces the evolution of visual analysis in urban studies, from early photographic documentation to today's sophisticated AI-powered interpretations. Through detailed case studies from across the United States, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Beijing, Dubai, Singapore, and more, it demonstrates how machine learning is unveiling new insights about urban patterns, human behavior, and social dynamics in cities. Chapters address critical concerns about surveillance, privacy, and algorithmic bias, offering a nuanced perspective on the ethical implications of urban visual intelligence. This book is essential for scholars and postgraduate students in urban planning and landscape architecture, while also appealing to anyone interested in the future of cities and technology's role in understanding them.

About the Author

Fábio Duarte is Principal Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Associate Director, Research and Design, of the MIT Senseable City Lab. Duarte has been a consultant for the World Bank in urban planning and mobility. Duarte's books include Unplugging the City (Routledge, 2018) and Urban Play (MIT Press, 2021).

Martina Mazzarello is Research Scientist at the MIT and Lead of MIT Senseable City Lab global initiatives. Mazzarello has exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale and has published in journals such as Scientific Reports , Nature Computational Science , and Nature Water .

Fan Zhang is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Remote Sensing and GIS, Peking University. Zhang has been awarded as one of the Geospatial World 50 Rising Stars. Zhang has published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Cities , and Nature Climate Change .

Carlo Ratti is Professor of the Practice at the MIT, Founder and Director of the MIT Senseable City Lab, and Distinguished Professor at the Politecnico di Milano. Ratti has been the curator of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale and is the author of the Atlas of the Senseable City Lab (Yale Press, 2023).