Anthony Vanky

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. He has also served in national leadership roles at the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, and the American Institute of Architecture Students. Additionally, he founded two non-profit youth advocacy organizations, which are still active today in his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

tl;dr: Anthony Vanky is an urbanist and researcher in data-centric processes and sensing technologies. He is currently teaching at Columbia University GSAPP, and previously affiliated with the University of Michigan – Taubman College, MIT Urban Studies and Planning, MIT designX, and the MIT Senseable City Lab. Anthony looks at data, design, and cities and keeps busy otherwise.