Over the next two weeks, Next City will unroll short profiles of 77 people, places and ideas that have changed cities this year. Together, they make up our 2012 Disruption Index. Forefront subscribers can download the Index in full as a PDF, complete with beautiful designs and graphics by Danni Sinisi. Readers who make a $75 donation to Next City will have a full-color printed copy of the Index mailed to them.

In the 21st century, it wouldn’t be totally inaccurate to think of the city as a combination of people, technology and infrastructure. Increasingly, the technologies that take up our attention and pulse through devices in our pockets are changing the way we experience and operate in cities. Information technology has met the city, and the relationship is developing nicely.

At the forefront of thinking about this relationship is Urbanscale, an urban systems design practice centered on reimagining city infrastructure and improving the way people engage with it. Founded in 2010 by urban technologist Adam Greenfield, Urbanscale has developed an interesting set of urban infrastructure projects that focus on tapping into and sharing city data with people where they need it. From wayfinding to kiosks for 311 services to intuitive transit tickets, Urbanscale is creating new ways for people to connect with infrastructure through technology.

The practice, though, is currently in a holding pattern. Greenfield announced in May that Urbanscale was taking a pause for him to focus on finishing his book, The City is Here for You to Use. By the sound of it, this exploration into the evolving and interactive nature of cities is less a pause of Urbanscale’s work than another example of how Greenfield is working to change the way urbanites engage with and experience the city.

Nate Berg is a writer and journalist covering cities, architecture and urban planning. Nate’s work has been published in a wide variety of publications, including the New York Times, NPR, Wired, Metropolis, Fast Company, Dwell, Architect, the Christian Science Monitor, LA Weekly and many others. He is a former staff writer at The Atlantic Cities and was previously an assistant editor at Planetizen.