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Dr. Federico Cugurullo

Dr. Federico Cugurullo

Associate Professor, Geography

3531896 4915

Biography

Federico Cugurullo is Associate Professor in Smart and Sustainable Urbanism at Trinity College Dublin. His research is positioned at the intersection of urban geography, political philosophy and experimental urbanism, and explores how ideas of sustainability and modernity are cultivated and implemented, with a focus on projects for smart, eco and autonomous cities. He is currently researching how artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting on urban governance and planning, thereby influencing the sustainability of cities. Federico has done extensive empirical research in the Middle East and Southeast Asia where he has investigated the sustainability performance of supposedly experimental cities such as Masdar City in Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong. His work has been used by the United Nations and the United Kingdom's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to foresee future urban challenges and develop preventive policies. Theoretically, Federico is interested in unpacking the notion of AI from an urbanistic perspective, and in fleshing out the conceptual implications of AI-mediated urban spaces, such as the "end of the city" hypothesis introduced in his monograph Frankenstein Urbanism (Routledge 2021). Other theoretical contributions include the concept of urban eco-modernisation, the notion of urban artificial intelligence, and the development of urban equations. Before joining Trinity College Dublin, Federico held positions at the University of Manchester, King's College London and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Federico Cugurullo, Urban eco-modernisation and the policy context of new eco-city projects: where Masdar City fails and why, Urban Studies, 53 , (11 ), 2015, p2417 - 2433Journal Article, 2015, URL
  • Federico Cugurullo, How to Build a Sandcastle: An Analysis of the Genesis and Development of Masdar City, Journal of Urban Technology , 20, (1), 2013, p23 - 37Journal Article, 2013, URL
  • Federico Cugurullo, The Business of Utopia: Estidama and the road to the Sustainable City, Utopian Studies, 24, (1), 2013, p66 - 88Journal Article, 2013, URL
  • The story does not remain the same: multi-scalar perspectives on sustainable urban development in Asia and Hong Kong in, editor(s)Caprotti F. and Yu L. , Sustainable Cities in Asia, London, Routledge, 2017, pp[1-9] , [Federico Cugurullo]Book Chapter, 2017, URL
  • Speed kills: fast urbanism and endangered sustainability in the Masdar City project in, editor(s)Datta A. and Shaban A. , Mega-Urbanization in the Global South: Fast Cities and New Urban Utopias of the Postcolonial State, London, Routledge, 2016, [Federico Cugurullo]Book Chapter, 2016
  • Frankenstein cities: (de)composed urbanism and experimental eco-cities in, editor(s)Evans J., Karvonen A. and Raven R. , The Experimental City, London, Routledge, 2016, [Federico Cugurullo]Book Chapter, 2016
  • Andrew Karvonen, Federico Cugurullo, Federico Caprotti, Inside Smart Cities: Place, Politics and Urban Innovation, Paperback, London, Routledge, 2018Book, 2018
  • Federico Cugurullo, Exposing smart cities and eco-cities: Frankenstein urbanism and the sustainability challenges of the experimental city, Environmental and Planning A, 50, (1), 2018, p73 - 92Journal Article, 2018, URL
  • The Smart City imaginary: from the dawn of modernity to the eclipse of reason in, editor(s)Lindner C. and Meissner M , The Routledge Companion to Urban Imaginaries, London, Routledge, 2018, [Federico Cugurullo]Book Chapter, 2018
  • Acheampong, R. A., & Cugurullo, F., Capturing the behavioural determinants behind the adoption of autonomous vehicles: Conceptual frameworks and measurement models to predict public transport, sharing and ownership trends of self-driving cars, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 62, 2019, p349 - 375Journal Article, 2019, URL
  • Gueriau, Maxime and Cugurullo, Federico and Acheampong, Ransford A. and Dusparic, Ivana, Shared Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand: Learning-based approach and its performance in the presence of traffic congestion, IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine, 2020Journal Article, 2020, TARA - Full Text
  • Federico Cugurullo, Ransford Acheampong, Maxime Gueriau, Ivana Dusparic, The transition to autonomous cars, the redesign of cities and the future of urban sustainability, Urban Geography, 2020Journal Article, 2020, DOI
  • Cugurullo Federico, Urban artificial intelligence: From automation to autonomy in the smart city, Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 2, 2020, p1 - 14Journal Article, 2020, URL
  • Yigitcanlar Tan and Federico Cugurullo, The sustainability of artificial intelligence: An urbanistic viewpoint from the lens of smart and sustainable cities, Sustainability, 12, (20), 2020, p8548-Journal Article, 2020, URL
  • Acheampong, R. A., Cugurullo, F., Gueriau, M., & Dusparic, I. , Can autonomous vehicles enable sustainable mobility in future cities? Insights and policy challenges from user preferences over different urban transport options, Cities, 112, 2021Journal Article, 2021, DOI , URL
  • Federico Cugurullo, Frankenstein Urbanism: Eco, Smart and Autonomous Cities, Artificial Intelligence and the End of the City, London, Routledge, 2021Book, 2021, URL
  • McCarroll Cian, Cugurullo Federico, Social implications of autonomous vehicles: a focus on time, AI & Society, (37), 2022, p791 - 800Journal Article, 2022, DOI
  • Gaio, Alexander, and Federico Cugurullo, Cyclists and autonomous vehicles at odds: Can the Transport Oppression Cycle be Broken in the Era of Artificial Intelligence?, AI & Society, 2022Journal Article, 2022, URL
  • Palmini O., Cugurullo F., Design culture for Sustainable urban artificial intelligence: Bruno Latour and the search for a different AI urbanism, Ethics and Information Technology, 26, (1), 2024Journal Article, 2024, DOI
  • Xu Y., Cugurullo F., Zhang H., Gaio A., Zhang W., The Emergence of Artificial Intelligence in Anticipatory Urban Governance: Multi-Scalar Evidence of China"s Transition to City Brains, Journal of Urban Technology, 2024Journal Article, 2024, DOI
  • Cugurullo F., Acheampong R.A., Fear of AI: an inquiry into the adoption of autonomous cars in spite of fear, and a theoretical framework for the study of artificial intelligence technology acceptance, AI and Society, 39, (4), 2024, p1569 - 1584, p1569-1584Journal Article, 2024, DOI
  • Cugurullo F., Xu Y., When AIs become oracles: generative artificial intelligence, anticipatory urban governance, and the future of cities, Policy and Society, 2025Journal Article, 2025, DOI
  • Reconsidering Utopia and Dystopia: a matter of perception in, editor(s)Blaim A. and Gruszewska Blaim , Spectres of Utopia. Theory, Practice, Conventions, Oxford, Peter Lang, 2012, [Federico Cugurullo]Book Chapter
  • Federico Cugurullo, Everyday Utopias: The Conceptual Life of Promising Spaces, Review of Everyday Utopias: The Conceptual Life of Promising Spaces, by Davina Cooper , Area, 46, (4), 2014, p448Review, URL

Research Expertise

Federico's latest strand of research investigates, empirically and theoretically, how the development of artificial intelligence is changing the development of cities. He is currently the Principal Investigator of Surpass, a project funded by the Irish Research Council, to study the urban sustainability potential of self-driving cars operated by AI: http://research.ie/what-we-do/loveirishresearch/blog/autonomous-cars-are-driving-fast-towards-us/

Philosophy, Ethics and Religion, Politics, Transportation, logistics and supply chains, Social and economic geography,

Recognition

  • The Syllabus Book of the Week: Frankenstein Urbanism June 2021
  • IRC Laureate Award September 2022
  • Recognizing and Rewarding Exceptional Performance (RREP) - University of Manchester June 2016
  • Provost's PhD Project Award January 2020
  • New Horizons Interdisciplinary Research Award, Irish Research Council (220,000 euro), Principal Investigator, project title: Surpass - How shared autonomous cars will transform cities. December 2016
  • European Union's Master and Back Postgraduate Scholarship (76,640 euro) October 2009
  • Plenary at the international winter conference of the Regional Studies Association November 2016
  • Italy Made Me Award (Social Sciences and Humanities Category), Best Italian early-stage academic working in the UK, Italian Embassy July 2015
  • Global associate, Circles of sustainability (UN Global Compact Cities Programme; Metropolis) present
  • Fellow, Royal Geographical Society present
  • Fellow, American Association of Geographers present
  • Fellow, International Eco-Cities Initiative present
  • Research analyst, Cities Programme (United Nations) 2013-2014
  • Member of the editorial board of Geotema 2018 - present
  • Associate Editor of Frontiers in Sustainable Cities 2019 - present
  • Horizon scanner, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), United Kingdom Government 2014-2016
  • Reviewer for the European Commission of ERC Starting Grants and Advance Grants. 2020 - present