Daniels alumnus and former Director of the Information Technology Design Centre Lab, Robert Ouellette, has created a collaborative website, Mesh Cities, with a mission to “help distribute the methods and technologies that will shape the design of tomorrow's responsive, sustainable cities.” The term MESH City can be defined as “the effect communications networks have on the use and design of cities.”
 
The visually stunning site promotes the “smart city” which upholds the MESH acronym: M=Mobile E=Efficient S=Subtle H=Heuristics:
 
Mobile addresses the ubiquity of mobile devices providing real-time information and feedback about a city. 
 
Efficient looks at the sustainable and efficient use of resources and information within a city.
 
Subtle refers to the importance of non-intrusive systems within a city that don’t overwhelm city users. For example, the many complex processes behind a transit system that functions efficiently and reliably are almost invisible to the everyday user. 
 
Heuristics is an intuitive, experience-based technique for solving problems. Examples of this method include common sense, trial and error and an intuitive judgment.
 
Collaboration is at the forefront of the MESH Cities website with submissions from around the globe about how to responsibly and innovatively design the cities of the future. The site includes articles such as “How Could New York Have Remained Online?” by JP Norair (Haystack Technologies, San Francisco) and “Western Canadians Go Green by Going Smart” by Gillian Steward (Calgary), as well as an interactive map where anyone can highlight “smart city solutions from around the globe”.
 
To see more, and to contribute, check out the website: meshcities.com