safe, walkable streets should be at the heart of modern cities

Rising fuel prices, concerns about climate change, congestion, and public health problems are prompting more people to consider using pubic transportation and walking to commute.  CENS has partnered with Livable Places, a nonprofit that advocates for building healthier communities in Southern California,  to help residents and pedestrian advocates in two neighborhoods of Los Angeles make observations and voice their concerns about neighborhood walkablity and connections to public transit. 

During the study, residents and pedestrians used CENS technology and tools such as Campaignr: Configurable mobile sensing and Human-in-the-loop imaging to document problems and suggest improvements for making the neighborhoods pedestrian friendly. Groups of volunteers used their mobile phones to photograph and tag crossings in need of crosswalks, median islands that aid in crossing busy streets, calm traffic by dieting roads, and cracked or broken sidewalks. The phones geo-tagged and uploaded the tagged images, creating an instant map of neighborhood walkability. Organizers presented this map to urban planners and neighborhood councils to help make these neighborhoods safer for pedestrians. 

Feedback from the study helped CENS improve the interface and user-friendliness of the phone-based tools, and helped in the design of a coordinated management system for similar studies,  Campaign Framework.