Conscious city

A conscious city is a large built environment that is aware of the needs and activities of its inhabitants and responds to them. Research in conscious cities explores how architecture and urban design can better consider and respond to human needs through data analysis, artificial intelligence, and the application of cognitive sciences in design.

While a smart city focuses on improving efficiency of services, a conscious city applies new technology and behavioral insight into improving an experience and its mental and physiological effects. It is believed that conscious cities could alleviate ailments such as stress, anxiety and boredom by being sensitive to the pervading moods and personalities of people in different parts of the city.

The term was coined by architect Itai Palti and neuroscientist Moshe Bar in their Manifesto for Conscious Cities, published in The Guardian in 2015. Palti went on to establish the conscious cities movement, stating, "The challenge is twofold and symbiotic: to empower and facilitate designers to use [conscious design], and to convince policy-makers, and through them, also market-players that a new set of priorities is essential." The movement launched the Conscious Cities journal in November 2016.

The first conscious cities conference, called "Conscious Cities - Architecture and Neuroscience", was held in 2016.