Institute for Smart & Healthy Cities
Transforming Urban Environments
Jefferson’s Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities was created to support the research, innovation and education that is happening across the university focusing on transforming urban environments into smart and healthy cities. The institute is conceived as an aggregator and facilitator of transdisciplinary research and education across multiple disciplines driving the future of our cities and communities. Supported by data and smart technologies, Smart Cities is an emerging paradigm in the development of urban environments in an attempt to build more efficient, healthier and livable cities.
We’re changing the way we live, work, travel and learn for a healthier future.
- Understanding the entire city as a system and solving tomorrow’s most pressing problems: urbanization, public health, energy and transportation
- Making a direct impact at the community and city scale by researching the intersection of environmental conditions, housing, workplace, transit, public infrastructure and health
- Finding opportunities to further link the institute to our increasingly connected clinical systems
- Partnering with technology incubators to provide students access and support through the co-invention process
The Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities is a collaborative effort between the College of Architecture and the Built Environment, College of Population Health, and the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce.
Venice Exhibit 2023: Cities under Climate Threat: Venice – Philadelphia
In a joint effort, students from Thomas Jefferson University and Università Iuav di Venezia showcase their projects at the Palazzo Badoer in Venice during the Venice Biennale 2023.
- Opening on 18th May, 4:00 PM onwards
International Smart & Healthy Cities Symposium
Jefferson’s annual International Smart & Healthy Cities Symposium offers a platform for industry experts — academics, scientists, entrepreneurs and leaders in architecture, engineering, population health and city government — to discuss important topics within the built environment.
Grants & Proposals
Student Research & Travel Award
The Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities is pleased to announce the Smart & Healthy Cities Student Research and Travel Award.
These grants provide funding to support graduate student research with a focus on the quality of life in urban settings.
Internal Submission Deadline: Friday, November 18, 2022, at 5:00 PM
ERASMUS+ KA171
Thomas Jefferson University in partnership with Università Iuav di Venezia, Italy, has been the recipient of an Erasmus+ for Higher Education grant funded by the European Union Program (ERASMUS+ KA 171). The grant supports student mobility for training and education, as well as staff mobility for training and teaching between the Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities at Thomas Jefferson University and Università Iuav di Venezia.
Application Deadline: May 31, 2023, for the academic Year 2023/24
- All activities must be completed by July 31, 2025
News & Events
Research Areas
Urban Scale
- Characterize the interrelationship of urbanization, transportation and energy on population health.
- Analyze human behavior changes and the drivers for change though data-driven analysis, modeling, and simulation and visualization.
- Evaluate the research outcomes in statistical models to plan and predict future changes in the domains health, energy and transportation.
Building Scale
- Predict the effects of daylighting and natural ventilation on health outcomes in work, life and healing spaces.
- Develop new concepts for sustainability and net zero energy buildings and predict health benefits.
- Understand human behavior in relationship to building systems, space and environment.
Device Scale
- Characterize the connectivities and interfaces between the built environment and humans.
- Develop human centric building controls and management technology.
- Understand the interconnectivity between health data and environmental data, micro climate and air pollution.
Current News & Student Research Projects
Institute for Smart & Healthy Cities Connects Three Colleges in Cross Disciplinary Effort
Jefferson's College of Architecture & The Built Environment, the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering & Commerce and the College of Population Health come together to develop cities in the face of climate change, social inequity, rapid urbanization and health disparities.
Related Academic Programs
Spanning across multiple disciplines and scales, this knowledge domain investigates the intersection of the built environment, population health and technology across a range of issues. Integrated in buildings and city systems, sensors and controls monitor all aspects of life and are set to transform the urban landscape.
This transformation will affect the entire city as a system and spans from buildings, transportation, environment, and infrastructure, to utilities impacting how we live, work and play in cities. The increased emphasis on multiple aspects of smart cities responds to current socio-economic and ecologic pressures such as climate change and air pollution.
The Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities is conceived as an aggregator and facilitator of transdisciplinary research and education that will drive the future of our cities using Philadelphia as a living laboratory.