NYCx Co-Labs: Safe and Thriving Nighttime Corridors
NYCx Co-Labs: Safe and Thriving Nighttime Corridors
The NYCx Co-Labs: Safe and Thriving Nighttime Corridors is part of the inclusive innovation efforts of the City of New York to connect the NYC tech ecosystem, government agencies, local communities, and global innovators to address the following challenge:
How might we encourage more people to enjoy, navigate, and use Brownsville’s public spaces at night?
Executive Summary
In spring 2017 NYCx Co-Labs, formerly known as Neighborhood Innovation Labs, inaugurated the Brownsville Community Technology Board with the participation of 25 community members representing 18 organizations. Throughout the spring and summer the board gathered to identify community needs. After eight community workshops and three public forums, two issues were selected as the priority challenges: Waste management and Safety at Night.
In October 2017, The NYC Department of Transportation, The NYC Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (MOCTO) launched the NYCx Co-Labs Safe and Thriving Nighttime Corridors Challenge. The team received 35 applications, including from startups in the Urban Tech NYC network, large corporations (AT&T, Intel, G&E), teams at leading academic institutions (MIT, Harvard, Columbia), local orgs/technologists, and foreign companies.
The goal of the challenge was to address the following outcomes:
- enhance the experience and use of public spaces at night
- increase nighttime activity in neighborhood corridors
- help to unlock Brownsville’s nighttime activity and cultural life
The Brownsville Community Justice Center (BCJC) in partnership with Peoples Culture presented the project Ville-luminate the Block, and Anyways Here’s the Thing presented Nightlight. Both initiatives were selected as the two winners of the competition to increase safety in public spaces at night through education, multimedia storytelling, and cultural activations at night leveraging different types of technology from Augmented and Virtual Reality to massive projections, and smart lighting.
In December 2019 the agency partners installed the equipment of the two winners of the Safe and Thriving Night Time Corridors Challenge on seven poles in Belmont Av. 7 GFCI receptacles were installed. 2 of the poles have projectors and 5 of the poles have LED light strips. The Brownsville Community Justice Center inaugurated the safe and thriving nighttime corridor pilots at their Open House.
Role:
PARTNERS:
NYC Mayor's Office of the CTO; NYC Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice; NYC Department Transportation; NYC Economic Development Corporation.
INITIATIVE:
Open Innovation Challenge