With $2M funding, inCitu aims to democratize city planning using augmented reality
Summary
New York City-based inCitu said Tuesday that it has raised $2 million in funding to bring future city developments to life via augmented reality so citizens can visualize what will happen to their neighborhoods and participate more fully in city planning.The company raised $1 million from Schmidt Futures, the philanthropic venture led by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, as well as an additional $1 million from a variety of other investors that included at.inc/, CityBldr, Global Futures Group, H/L Ventures and the WXR Fund, among others.InCitu uses augmented reality on mobile devices to allow anyone to see how the urban landscape is changing around them at large scale, without the head for headsets or in situ, which informs the name of the company. The idea is to turn what is a messy, archaic process into a beautiful, easily visualized process that anyone can access at any time and provide them with a way for them to access it and understand how the skyline of their neighborhood will change in the future.City planning is too slow, obscure and expensive for the pace of development required in cities today, said Dana Chermesh-Reshef, founder and chief executive of inCitu. Facing climate change, severe housing shortage, public health threats, mass urbanization and major geo-political shifts, cities worldwide must adapt fast and effectively, but the obsolete systems prevent equity in the design and decision-making process, leading to a lack of trust, collaboration and inclusivity amongst residents and industry professionals.Augmented reality, or AR, uses existing mobile devices to act as a window that allows them to see what the world looks like now, with other objects overlaid on what the devices camera can see. Sometimes developers will have artists renderings alongside offers, but they often lack a sense of realism or presence, and thats what the immersion of AR delivers.Chermesh-Reshef began his career as an Israeli architect who turned urban data scientist and became obsessed with lowering barriers between citizens and city planning information. All of inCitus content is available on mobile AR, including individual buildings, affordable housing, mixed-use developments, parks and bridges, and complete neighborhood rezoning and regional infrastructure.