SCC-PG: Park WiFi as a BRIDGE to Community Resilience

城市绿地是改善基础设施和减轻灾害的未开发资产。通过宽带基础设施增强的绿地可以发挥三个关键功能，从而提高个人、基础设施和社区的弹性：(1)促进公园整体使用的便利设施；(2)正常情况下的信息和安全工具，自然灾害时的缓解工具；(3)作为将WiFi接入传播到相邻居民区的桥梁，即将WiFi接入到没有接入的家庭。该项目提出了一种通过互联网和数字绿色空间暴露（BRIDGE）建立弹性的新模式，利用现成的WiFi技术、新算法、社区资产和当地合作伙伴关系来降低绿色空间WiFi的成本，并确保长期治理。BRIDGE通过从地理上邻近的社区捐助者（如学校、教堂、社区中心）直接捐赠互联网带宽，改造了一个可持续的WiFi基础设施。BRIDGE将通过利益相关者的参与以及共享基础设施的协作设计和管理，在社区恢复力方面带来可衡量的、富有成效的转变。在这项提案中，马里兰州国家首都公园和规划委员会，公园和娱乐部门，乔治王子县（M-NCPPC），与马里兰大学合作，共同设计，部署和评估绿色空间WiFi基础设施系统试点。BRIDGE的可扩展、可复制和协作流程将成为一个可行的解决方案，绿色空间将成为宽带基础设施的利益相关者，为其他社区合作伙伴作为带宽捐助者和长期合作者加入提供所需的治理稳定性。该项目实现了几个社会技术贡献：(1)通过社区共同设计、管理和长期支持，为绿色空间WiFi基础设施的融资、维护和扩展提供了一种新颖的、可扩展的方法；(2)评估和扩展韧性指标，包括：(a)通过参与式设计和治理过程支持的社区资本；(b)将绿色空间作为新的社区支柱，实现教育和数字访问公平；(c)健康，有WiFi绿色空间接入。BRIDGE率先针对社区、基础设施和个人恢复力进行可操作的研究，并为现实世界的条件创造了一个可行的解决方案，可以成为全国社区恢复力的典范。此外，它将通过积极参与社区青年来推进国家K-12和专业教育的优先事项；大学生;相关的技术和专业发展计划；以及从事多学科研究的利益相关者，包括公共安全官员。公园的更广泛利益包括：(a)公共安全干预；(b)被动计数器，通知保安巡逻队；(c)用数字组件补充教育节目。在试点成功之前，预计将在M-NCPPC所有绿地中全面推出WiFi。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。

Urban greenspaces are untapped assets in infrastructure improvement and disaster mitigation. Greenspace augmented with broadband infrastructure can serve three crucial functions resulting in individual, infrastructure, and community resilience: (1) an amenity to boost overall park use; (2) an information and safety tool during normal times and mitigator during natural disasters; and (3) as a bridge to propagate WiFi access into contiguous residential neighborhoods - i.e., WiFi to homes without access. The project proposes a new model to Build Resilience through the Internet and Digital Greenspace Exposure (BRIDGE), leveraging off-the-shelf WiFi technology, novel algorithms, community assets, and local partnerships to lower the cost of greenspace WiFi and ensure long-term governance. BRIDGE adapts a sustainable WiFi infrastructure through direct donations of internet bandwidth from geographically proximate community donors (e.g., schools, churches, community centers). BRIDGE will lead to measurable, productive shifts in community resilience through stakeholder engagement and collaborative design and management of shared infrastructure. In this proposal, Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, Department of Parks and Recreation, Prince George’s County (M-NCPPC), partners with the University of Maryland to co-design, deploy, and evaluate a pilot a greenspace WiFi infrastructure system. BRIDGE’s scalable, replicable, and collaborative process will serve as a viable solution where greenspaces become broadband infrastructure stakeholders, providing governance stability needed for other community partners to join as bandwidth donors and long-term collaborators.This project enables several socio-technical contributions: (1) a novel, scalable methodology for financing, maintaining, and expanding greenspace WiFi infrastructure via community co-design, management, and long-term support; (2) assessing and expanding resilience indicators including: (a) community capital supported through participatory design and governance processes; (b) education and digital access equity with greenspaces as a new community anchor; and (c) wellness, bolstered by WiFi greenspace access. BRIDGE spearheads actionable research for the community, infrastructure, and individual resilience and creates a viable solution for real-world conditions that can be a model for community resilience across the country. Moreover, it will advance national K-12 and professional education priorities by actively involving community youth; university students; related technical and professional development programs; and stakeholders who engage in multi-disciplinary research including public safety officers. Broader benefits for Parks include the potential for: (a) public safety interventions; (b) passive counters to inform security patrols; and (c) supplementing educational programming with digital components. Pending a successful pilot, a systemwide rollout of WiFi in all M-NCPPC greenspaces is envisioned.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.