About me
Anthony Vanky, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and a co-director of the NSF Center for Smart Streetscapes. His research focuses on emerging practices using digital data and pervasive technologies to understand and shape better cities, while centering residents' individual and lived experiences.
Trained as an architect, urban designer, and planner, he has held appointments in urban planning and technology at the University of Michigan and urban design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Vanky has been an innovator within the university, having helped shape Michigan’s first-of-its-kind urban technology degree and, as its first academic program manager, helped develop MIT designX, the first academic accelerator dedicated to advancing innovation and entrepreneurship in design, cities, and the built environment. Additionally, he served as a research lead at the MIT Senseable City Lab, a multidisciplinary research group, where he bridged the lab’s engagement with industry and the public as the lab’s partner and outreach strategist.
In addition to presenting to and consulting with governments and institutions worldwide, Vanky’s work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Dutch Design Week, Detroit Month of Design, New Orleans DesCours, and Gwangju Design Biennial, among others