Anthony M. Townsend

Anthony M. Townsend is an American researcher. Townsend specializes in research on the implications of technology on cities and public institutions. Currently Townsend is the director of research and Director of Technology at the Institute for the Future, a Palo Alto, California think tank established in 1968 to help companies plan for the long-term future. His interests span numerous topics including; mobility and urbanization, innovation systems and innovation strategy, science and technology parks and economic development, and sustainability and telework.

In 1996 Townsend received his Bachelor's degree with a major in urban studies and a minor in physics. After attending Rutgers University, he attended New York University where he received master's degree in Urban Planning. Later, Townsend gained his Ph.D. in Urban and Regional planning at MIT in 2003. While attending NYU, Townsend directed research sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security. He received a Fulbright Scholarship in 2004 to study the social impacts of broadband in South Korea. He is currently a visiting professor NYU in the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management.

In 2001, Townsend cofounded NYCwireless, a non-profit organization that advocates and enables the growth of free, public wireless Internet access in New York City and surrounding areas. NYCwireless is an all-volunteer organization and serves thousands of individuals throughout the New York City metro area. Its most notable contributions are Wi-Fi hotspots in Manhattan parks.

Anthony Townsend has been a technology consultant to major information companies including Nortel Networks, Quova and Telegeography, Inc. and has conducted cyber district feasibility studies in Jersey City and Newark, New Jersey in an effort to bring Wi-Fi access to these areas. At his current position at the institute for the future, IFTF, his work focuses on several inter-related topics: pervasive computing, the urban environment, economics and demographics, public and non-profit organizations, and the media industry. He uses his research to help Fortune 500 companies and NGO’s develop collaborative forecasting platforms, futures media and visualization technologies, and web communications tools. By applying emerging practices like agile development, extreme programming and open data infrastructures to the creation of forecasting tools, he seeks to provide platforms to develop rich and wide-reaching forecasting networks.

Anthony believes that prudence can have a major role in shaping public policy, and is involved in policy and planning networks throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. On December 9, 2009 he testified at the United States Senate hearing on “Research Parks and Job Creation.” At the senate hearing, Townsend focused his discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of the “science park model.”

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