The SmartPGH Community Census
Sensing Our Citizens
Pittsburgh has a rich history of innovation in urban data gathering. In fact, The Pittsburgh Survey of 1907 set the 20th Century standard for urban sociological studies. SmartPGH will work with Jackson/Clark Partners, a leading engagement, civic participation, and research firm, to gather quantitative and qualitative data to measure the performance of SmartPGH strategies and their impact on Pittsburgh’s residents. Jackson/Clark Partners Community Census process builds community through community participation. Residents will be hired from the community to gather data from their peers.
The Community Census is the SmartPGH mechanism that gives people a participatory voice in the design process to share the experiences, aspirations, and visions for the Smart City they want.
The SmartPGH Community Census will gather data from residents in neighborhoods near planned smart transportation infrastructure projects. Target communities include:
- Public housing and senior citizen housing residents
- Public school and community college students
- Formerly incarcerated residents
- People with disabilities
- Veterans (leveraging data from a 2015 Veterans Administration regional needs assessment)
- New American immigrants (leveraging survey data gathered as part of the 2015 Welcoming Pittsburgh Plan)
Information is more than just data when people come first, so we will also document our SmartPGH process working with partners, to capture the bigger picture of the human stories and technological innovations of SmartPGH to better support replication in other cities. We will leverage community media resources to provide residents with a direct public voice to tell their story throughout the SmartPGH process.