SCC-PG: Using a Network of Campus Testbeds and Community Engagement to Accelerate the Mutual Creation, Adoption, and Transfer of Urban Innovation in Cities

该提案强调了限制技术改善城市生活质量能力的两个障碍：(1)社区需求与私营部门和公共部门需求之间的不匹配；(2)社区成员对推动技术变革的公司和市政府的不信任。它探讨了一个假设，即这两个挑战都可以通过基于校园的测试平台网络来克服，在这个网络中，城市居民、政府、公司和学者可以在相对可控的条件下评估新的应用程序，然后再将它们更广泛地分发出去。在俄勒冈州波特兰、华盛顿州西雅图和不列颠哥伦比亚省温哥华（波特兰州立大学、俄勒冈科学与工业博物馆、波特兰国际机场、华盛顿大学和不列颠哥伦比亚大学）使用五个对比测试平台，重点关注三个不同的应用领域(残疾人无障碍、建筑能效和公共卫生的整合、以及保护城市树木的气候改善能力)，该项目将比较利益相关者团体如何使用新技术来增加优先的公民价值。测试平台网络将创建一个城市创新评估管道，包括问题识别、现状数字化评估、校园测试实施、结果评估和扩大规模以创造公民价值，所有这些都与五个核心选区合作：社区利益相关者团体、市政府、大型科技公司、小型初创企业和大学。这里提出的高度跨学科的研究建立在一套独特的企业、学术、市政和非营利投资和合作伙伴关系的基础上，以帮助定义一个更具包容性和响应性的城市创新生态系统。通过与核心城市选区的密切协调，该项目将在五个校区的网络中设计和部署新的技术组合。该项目还将利用社会科学研究的三个方面来研究：(1)在当地测试的创新如何通过更好的协调来增加其对更大的社会技术系统的影响；(2)谈判和妥协如何克服不同选区对实施的反对；(3)在评估过程中尽早让社区参与如何解决问题并帮助解决社区动机与技术成果之间的不匹配。这些研究的建议可以增加技术使用带来更具包容性、生产力和影响力的城市问题解决的机会。衡量成功的标准是：(1)城市更快地找到有效满足社区需求的数字应用新组合；(2)社区团体报告说，他们的城市更能响应他们的优先事项；(3)企业创造性地、有利可图地满足城市居民的需求。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This proposal highlights two barriers limiting the ability of technology to improve the quality of life in cities: (1) a mismatch between the needs of communities and of the private and public sectors, and (2) a distrust among community members of companies and city governments promoting technological change. It explores the hypothesis that both challenges can be overcome using a network of campus-based testbeds where city residents, governments, companies, and academics can assess new applications under relatively controlled conditions before dispatching them more broadly. Using five contrasting testbeds in Portland OR, Seattle WA, and Vancouver BC (Portland State University, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland International Airport, University of Washington, and University of British Columbia), and focusing on three distinct application areas (accessibility for people with disabilities, integration of building energy efficiency and public health, and protection of the climate-ameliorating capacities of urban trees) this project will compare how stakeholder groups use novel technologies to increase prioritized civic values. The testbed network will create an urban innovation evaluation pipeline consisting of problem identification, digital assessment of current conditions, implementation of campus-based testing, and evaluation and scaling of results to create civic value, all in partnership with five core constituencies: community stakeholder groups, city government, large tech firms, small startups, and universities. The highly interdisciplinary research proposed here builds on a unique set of corporate, academic, municipal, and nonprofit investments and partnerships to help define a more inclusive and responsive ecosystem of urban innovation.Through close coordination with core urban constituencies, this project will design and deploy novel combinations of technologies across a five-campus network. This project will also use three strands of social science research to examine: (1) how locally tested innovations can increase their impact on larger socio-technical systems through better coordination, (2) how negotiation and compromise can overcome different constituencies’ objections to implementation, and (3) how engaging communities earlier in the evaluation process can address concerns and help resolve the mismatch between community motives and technological outcomes. Recommendations from these studies can increase the chances that technology use leads to more inclusive, productive, and impactful urban problem-solving. Success will be measured by (1) cities more rapidly finding new combinations of digital applications that effectively address community needs; (2) community groups reporting that their city is more responsive to their priorities; and (3) companies creatively and profitably responding to what urban residents want.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.