OUR MISSION
New York University’s Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) is an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to the application of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the service of urban communities across the globe. Using New York City as our laboratory and classroom, we strive to develop novel data- and technology-driven solutions for complex urban problems. CUSP’s research and educational initiatives seek to improve city services; optimize decision-making by local governments; create smart urban infrastructures; address challenging urban issues such as crime, environmental pollution and public health issues; and inspire urban citizens to improve their quality of life.
CUSP offers a Master of Science in Applied Urban Science and Informatics, empowering our students with the knowledge and technical expertise to make cities around the world more productive, livable, equitable, and resilient.
WHAT WE DO
The Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) unites two extraordinarily profound developments in human history in order to improve the lives of citizens around the globe:
GLOBAL URBANIZATION
For the first time in history, more than half the world’s population lives in urban areas.
THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION
90% of the world’s data has been created in the last two years alone.
HOW WE DO IT
CUSP instruments New York City and uses existing data from a network of agencies to transform the city into a living laboratory and classroom. It uses the vast amount of data it collects to help cities around the world become more productive, more livable, more equitable, and more resilient.
As CUSP develops new expertise through research and new experts through its educational programs, CUSP is becoming the world’s leading authority in the emerging field of urban informatics — the collection, integration, and analysis of data to understand and improve urban systems and quality of life.
OUR HISTORY
In 2012, New York City challenged top institutions around the world to design an applied science campus that would make the city a world capital of science and technology, as well as dramatically grow its economy. New York University and NYU-Poly, along with a consortium of world-class universities and some of the foremost international tech companies, proposed CUSP, a new kind of academic center that functions in collaboration with the city itself.
The proposal was accepted, and on April 23, 2012 Mayor Bloomberg announced the launch of CUSP.
CUSP simultaneously responds to two important challenges:
The very specific challenge the Bloomberg Administration issued under the banner of Applied Sciences NYC.
The grand technical, intellectual, engineering, academic, and human challenges posed by a rapidly urbanizing world.
For the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas; in just a few more decades, 70 percent will live in cities. Enabling those cities to deliver services effectively, efficiently, and sustainably while keeping their citizens safe, healthy, prosperous, and well‑informed will be among the most important undertakings of this century.