City Science Exibitions

How can exhibitions bring complex urban futures to broader, non-expert communities?

City Science exhibitions translate research into rich public experiences—inviting global audiences to explore possible urban futures through interactive storytelling and immersive environments.

In addition to publishing papers, launching startups, and building a global network of City Science Labs, the MIT City Science Center develops public exhibitions to broaden the impact of its research. These exhibitions serve as platforms for engagement, storytelling, and speculation—translating complex urban systems into immersive, tangible experiences. They invite the public to imagine alternative futures and reflect on the consequences of technological and policy choices in cities.

Research Focus

City Science exhibitions are hosted at leading institutions worldwide, where research is translated into speculative visual narratives, interactive simulations, and participatory experiences. Each project invites visitors to explore possible urban futures. Recent exhibitions include:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (New York City, USA)
In The Road Ahead exhibition, City Science presented the Persuasive Electric Vehicle (PEV) and the CityScope platform. CityScope enabled visitors to collaboratively explore two contrasting mobility futures: one dominated by private autonomous cars and another shaped by lightweight, shared-use mobility systems. These scenarios offered a provocative look at how mobility choices impact urban density, street life, equity, and livability.

Venice Biennale – 17th International Architecture Exhibition (Venice, Italy)
In response to curator Hashim Sarkis’s call for a “new spatial contract,” City Science created With(in), an immersive installation exploring the lived experiences of three women from rapidly urbanizing settlements in Mexico, Egypt, and Nigeria. Through projection mapping, sound, and a physical city model, the piece foregrounds the everyday realities of urban inequality, resilience, and identity—blending speculative design with documentary storytelling.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Bilbao, Spain)
As part of Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture—curated by Norman Foster—City Science developed Two Mobility Futures 0∞, an immersive installation and decision-making platform. The project invites participants to engage with competing visions of 21st-century mobility, highlighting the societal, environmental, and spatial implications of future transportation systems.

Museum of Science (Boston, USA)
The Community Carbon Impact exhibit translates urban decarbonization into an engaging public experience. Using a simulation of Cambridge’s Kendall Square, visitors explore how collective decisions—on transit, buildings, and land use—can reduce neighborhood-level carbon emissions. A colorful interactive interface visualizes real-time environmental impact, turning abstract data into a shared civic challenge.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao