A 'UX designer for the Smart City', Christine is passionate about leading projects that combine digital technologies (real-time data streams, augmented reality and geo-aware computing etc) with design-thinking, to build engaging real-world experiences.
A skilled researcher and writer, Christine also works on digital strategies and research/publications. This includes the forthcoming book The Citizen, The Cloud & The Smart City: why open data and urban prototyping are the secret to civic reinvention. Other recent work includes a 2-month Urban Prototyping Festival in Singapore, working for Rick Smolan on his Human Face of Big Data initiative, and consulting with the United Nations Global Pulse Research Team as a communication and innovation strategist.
In 2010, Christine founded The City Innovation Group, a global network of experts who hold monthly webinars to explore smart cities and the transformation of city design and policy development in the digital age.
Prior to her role at Re:Imagine and City Innovation Group, Christine was a Research Associate at MIT's SENSEable City Lab. Here, amongst other projects, she led a team of mechanical and electrical engineers, data scientists, architects, and interaction designers in the creation of 'The Copenhagen Wheel' - a wheel that turns ordinary bikes into electric hybrids with regeneration and real-time environmental sensing capabilities, and which pushed the boundaries of the 'internet of things'. This work debuted at the COP15 United Nations Climate Conference and has gone on to win several design awards, including the 2010 James Dyson Industrial Design Award in the US.
Christine's work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and in academic and popular press, including: the COP15 Climate Conference, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Google I/O, Maker Fair, Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, and in the New York Times, Scientific American, Wired, The Boston Globe, Fast Code Design, and the Australian Financial Review. In addition, she speaks regularly about cities and innovation, appearing at: South by South West, Screen Media Expo, The Summer of Smart, The Future of Urbanism (University of Michigan), Pervasive 2011, and the American Institute of Architects.
In 2011, Christine was one of eight researchers invited to Chile to help ignite an innovation culture amongst young designers and business school students. That same year she was named one of the top 100 ‘Internet of Things’ thinkers by Postcapes. She has been on the judging panel for the Living Labs Global Awards two years in a row, and has also sat on the program committee for several academic conferences, including the upcoming ‘Where the City Meets the Citizen’ Workshop, sponsored by IBM as part of the 6th International AAAI conference on weblogs and social media.
Christine is currently co-editing a book on using ‘open data’ to promote citizen engagement and entrepreneurship in cities. She has previously written chapters in books published by MIT press, IGI Global, and Harvard University Press. Alongside Peter Hirshberg, she is a also strategic adviser to the United Nations Global Pulse research team, an initiative of the Secretary General’s office that aims to protect vulnerable populations through understanding slow onset crises in real time.
Christine holds two masters degree - a SMArchS Architecture and Urbanism degree from MIT and a Masters of Architecture (Hons 1) from the University of New South Wales. Prior to moving to the US, Christine practiced in both architectural and urban design offices.
