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Citizens of West Baltimore speak up in Smart Cities report

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Citizens of West Baltimore speak up in Smart Cities report

A team of researchers, smart city technology providers, local government leaders, and community-based organizations collaborated to understand how investments in smart cities technology could improve the lives of residents in low-income neighborhoods. The study was led by NCSG and the College of Information Studies (iSchool) at the University of Maryland and included researchers from the University of Maryland-College Park (UMD), the University of Baltimore, John Hopkins University, and Morgan State University.
Citizens of West Baltimore offered their perspectives on smart city technologies in multiple meetings with the research team. Together they created a strategic plan for smart city investment that would meet the community’s needs.
This study was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), with additional funding from Enterprise Community Resources.
More information and great drawings in the study: “Smart Cities, Connected Communities“
Find out more about Smart Cities at NCSG
Drawing by Lucinda Levine
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Nick FinioNov 16No Comments

County Executive transition team includes NCSG Director and Senior Research Scientist

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County Executive transition team includes NCSG Director and Senior Research Scientist

NCSG director Gerrit Knaap and senior research scientist Fred Ducca are included in the transition team for Montgomery County Executive-Elect Marc Elrich. They are among “180 strong – a diverse array of politicians, operatives, civic leaders, community activists, small business owners, and lawyers.”

“I don’t want to surround myself with mirrors,” Elrich said, regarding his transition team, “Mirrors tend to lie. You see what you want to see.”
Knaap and Ducca will focus on “Easier Commutes” for county residents and workers.

More information and the full transition team can be found at Maryland Matters.

Photo by Aimee Custis for Coalition for Smarter Growth.  
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Nick FinioNov 14No Comments

NCSG Researchers Examine How Diverse Housing May Benefit a Community

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NCSG Researchers Examine How Diverse Housing May Benefit a Community

Arnab Chakraborty and Andrew McMillan published a study in the Journal of Planning Education and Research for their work examining housing diversity. Arnab Chakraborty is an NCSG affiliate based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Andrew McMillan is a Post-Doctoral Researcher based at the University of Maryland, College Park. The authors explore how diverse housing affected foreclosure rates within a community during the great recession when national home foreclosure rates peaked. They further compare this rate to home foreclosure trends after the peak and conclude that zoning communities for diversity may lead to greater stability.
This project was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
More information and full text of the study may be found at the Journal of Planning Education and Research.
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Nick FinioNov 06No Comments