Greta Solomon | Interdisciplinarity: Tech & City: Analysis of Tech Companies in Cities

 
In a web essay, this capstone looks into whether technology, specifically text analysis, can identify opportunities for collaboration within sustainable urban problem-solving. To begin answering this question, I will ask if text as data analysis can be used to offer clear aid in communicating between the fields of urban planning and the technology industry, specifically when discussing the subject of technology companies physically moving locations into cities. These two fields are structurally separated by the primarily public sector of government in urban planning and the private tech industry, but as smart cities arise and the two become more involved in similar projects, cross-discipline communication will increase regardless of the societal structure. To test this method of initiating collaboration, I will apply a text analysis to a total of ten journal articles
and conference material papers: five urban studies articles and five technology and business articles discussing various cases of technology companies moving into cities. After an introduction, the literature review combines works on cross-discipline collaboration, collective intelligence, and public and private sector communication. Following the literature review, the method provides the data retrieved using ATLAS.ti for text analysis. Finally, I will include my analysis of that data, future plans, and final conclusions.