Project Sidewalk + Community Science

Project Description

Despite decades of effort, pedestrian infrastructure in cities continues to be unsafe or inaccessible to people with disabilities. In this project, we examine the potential of community-driven digital civics to assess sidewalk accessibility through an open-source crowdsourcing tool called Project Sidewalk. We explore Project Sidewalk's potential as a platform for civic learning and service, including its effectiveness as a tool for community members to learn about human mobility, urban planning, and accessibility advocacy. Our findings demonstrate that community-driven digital civics can support accessibility advocacy and education, raise community awareness, and drive pro-social behavioral change. We also outline key considerations for deploying digital civic tools in future community-led accessibility initiatives.

Publications

“I never realized sidewalks were a big deal”: A Case Study of a Community-Driven Sidewalk Audit Using Project Sidewalk

Chu Li, Katrina Ma, Mikey Saugstad, Kie Fujii, Molly Delany, Yochai Eisenberg, Delphine Labbé, Judy L. Shanley, Devon Snyder, Florian P. Thomas, Jon E. Froehlich

CHI 2024 To Appear | Acceptance Rate: 26.3% (1060 / 4028)

keywords: urban accessibility, sidewalk assessment, disability advocacy, service learning, community science, project sidewalk

PDF | Citation | Project Sidewalk + Community Science • Project Sidewalk

Videos

"I never realized sidewalks were a big deal": Project Sidewalk as Community Science

"I never realized sidewalks were a big deal": Project Sidewalk as Community Science

Talks

Project Sidewalk: Crowd+AI Techniques to Map & Assess the World's Sidewalks

Feb. 29, 2024 | NSF Smart and Connected Communities Panel on “Pathways to Transitioning Project Outcomes"

Nashville, Tennessee

PDF | PPTX | Project Sidewalk + Community Science | Project Sidewalk | Deep Learning for Sidewalk Assessment

We design, build, and evaluate new interactive tools and techniques to address pressing societal challenges. Makeability refers both to how our technological innovations make new abilities possible for humans as well as our educational mission to help students gain new abilities as they learn and grow through research, invention, and human-centered design.