Connecting Communities to Opportunities: A UTC Perspective on Placemaking with Big Data and Smart Cities Technologies

Date: 11/16/2016, 1:00pm to 2:00pm

Speaker: Dr. Lei Zhang, Director of the National Transportation Center

Organization: University of Maryland

OST-R Office: Office of Research, Development and Technology (RDT)

 

 

The “Disconnected Community,” characterized by a lack of adequate physical and virtual access to jobs, food, education, and healthcare which leads to poverty, inequality, and social division, is one of the most challenging problems of our time. The National University Transportation Center at the University of Maryland (UMD) is committed to reducing the cost (monetary and social barriers) of connecting these communities to opportunities through data analytics, innovative mobility, and smart cities solutions. The key is to employ self-sustained, community empowering and context-sensitive technology solutions to significantly reduce and even eliminate the cost of connection, and thereby free community residents from income, time and cultural constraints to pursue economic prosperity. Improved accessibility and placemaking strategies can also attract new jobs to these communities. Specific solutions developed by UMD researchers that will be highlighted include: (1) Big data and data analytics for monitoring accessibility to economic and other vital opportunities, especially those important for underserved populations and vulnerable areas; (2) Development and application of analysis, modeling and simulation tools for assisting transportation decision-making regarding underinvested communities and disadvantaged groups; and (3) The role of sharing economy, innovative mobility, and smart cities technologies in aggressing opportunity gaps and economic development for all.