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

该提案突出了限制技术改善城市生活质量能力的两个障碍：(1)社区以及私营和公共部门的需求之间的不匹配，(2)推动技术变革的公司和城市政府的社区成员之间的不信任。它探索了这样一种假设，即这两个挑战都可以通过使用基于校园的试验床网络来克服，在此网络中，城市居民、政府、公司和学者可以在相对受控的条件下评估新的申请，然后再将其发送到更广泛的范围。该项目使用波特兰州立大学、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五个不同的试验床(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)，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城市树木气候改善能力的保护)，该项目将比较利益相关者团体如何使用新技术来提高优先公民价值。试验床网络将创建一个城市创新评估管道，包括识别问题、对现状进行数字评估、实施基于校园的测试，以及评估和衡量结果以创造公民价值，所有这些都与五个核心群体合作：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。通过与核心城市选民的密切协调，该项目将在一个由五个园区组成的网络中设计和部署新的技术组合。该项目还将使用社会科学研究的三个方面来审查：(1)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支持者对实施的反对，以及(3)让社区更早参与评估进程如何能够解决关切并帮助解决社区动机与技术成果之间的不匹配问题。来自这些研究的建议可以增加使用技术导致更具包容性、更具生产力和更有影响力的城市问题解决方案的机会。成功的衡量标准是：(1)城市更快地找到新的数字应用组合，有效地满足社区需求；(2)社区团体报告说，他们的城市对他们的优先事项做出了更好的反应；(3)公司创造性地和有利可图地响应了城市居民的需求。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.