top of page
EIGEN_Logo.png

Community-Caring Data: How Boston is Reimagining Urban Solutions

  • Writer: Deepak Sathyanarayan
    Deepak Sathyanarayan
  • Apr 14
  • 6 min read

 The Boston Area Research Initiative's (BARI) Annual Insight-to-Impact Summit brought together community leaders, researchers, and policymakers to use data-driven research to tackle urban challenges in Greater Boston. BARI, a research initiative from Northeastern and Harvard Universities, "pursues civically engaged research that leverages data to advance social, economic, and environmental justice in collaboration with the communities of Greater Boston."

 

Banner image showing community diversity on an urban skyline.

Balancing Urgency with Responsible Solutions

A key theme from the summit was the tension between quick action and thoughtful solutions. "The work we do is fundamentally too late," one participant noted, asking: "Is it possible for our work to ever be real-time?" This concern is especially relevant when looking at Boston's Chinatown, where housing costs rose 43% between 2010 and 2015, followed by a surge in short-term rentals that pushed out residents. As one of Boston's neighborhoods with the greatest wealth gaps, Chinatown shows how quickly housing changes can outpace policy responses.

 

The summit highlighted how housing issues need both urgent action and careful planning. Better data systems could help support more effective community development work.

 

Breaking Down Data Processing and Access Barriers

Several sessions revealed surprising bottlenecks in urban planning processes. "Find ways to make information accessible" was a clear priority in the discussions. Participants stressed that data visualization is "critical" to explaining complex processes like zoning.

 

The National Zoning Atlas (NZA) project, a nationwide team of lawyers, analysts, and computer scientists, faces the huge task of analyzing about 30,000 zoning codes and 700,000 zoning texts, mostly by hand. Similarly, financial review still requires manually searching through thousands of zoning documents. The NZA has gathered these codes into a public atlas where researchers and developers can see where people can build future housing.

 

Despite the NZA's efforts, these labor-intensive methods create bottlenecks that prevent up-to-date data from informing critical decisions. The summit asked: "where can AI or other technologies fill the process or operating gaps?" This points to opportunities where technology could help human analysis—not replace expert judgment but make information more accessible and analysis more timely.

 

BARI has created the "BARI Data Playground," a tool that collects Boston-area data that experts believe "are central to understanding how cities work and shape the lives of the people who live within them."

 

While exploring the Data Playground, we found an interesting dataset from the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS), who work with the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). Part of the MPO's Access and Connectivity goal to "provide transportation options and improve access... to support economic vitality and high quality of life" focuses on fair transportation access. Ranked No. 6 by USA Today's 2024 "10 Best Walkable Cities," Boston's transportation infrastructure is vital not just for tourists but also for local residents.

 

Chart created in the BARI Data Playground showing Boston region transit access across various equity populations.
Chart created in the BARI Data Playground showing Boston region transit access across various equity populations. "LEP" indicates Limited English Proficiency communities. For an interactive graph by the Boston Region MPO, go here.

The Fall 2023 CTPS dataset for equity populations defined "transportation access" as living within one quarter-mile of all transit stops and frequent transit stops, with "frequent" meaning service every 15 minutes or less. Using this data, the MPO can propose initiatives to improve transit accessibility and usage.


In contrast, Orlando, Florida—one of America's least walkable cities—shows the problems of limited public transportation. According to the Orlando Transportation 2030 Report by the Alliance for Regional Transportation, residents who rely on public transit can reach about 99% fewer jobs within a 30-minute commute compared to those with cars (5,600 jobs versus 520,000 jobs). This stark difference shows how important improved public transportation is for economic opportunity.

 

The summit showed how essential it is to transform technical information into formats that different stakeholders can understand. In a "heavily fragmented data access society," creating unified platforms for sharing information is crucial for inclusive decision-making.

 

Addressing Housing Through Zoning and Policy Innovation

Many sessions focused on zoning reform and housing policy, including efforts to increase Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), reduce nonconforming lots, and create more flexible zoning codes. Speakers noted that "99% of residential lots have zoning that doesn't match what's there," and "1 in 3 projects need zoning relief, 90% of which require a variance"—showing how current zoning often blocks appropriate development.

 

Participants discussed various approaches to improving housing access, including:

  • Reducing minimum lot sizes

  • Increasing height limits and density

  • Reducing parking minimums

  • Creating more flexible dimensional standards

  • Expediting permitting processes

 

However, speakers emphasized that reforms must consider financial reality; a blanket "15% affordable housing requirement" may not work across different communities with unique population densities, demographics, and economic characteristics.

 

Embracing Collaborative Data-Driven Solutions

A common challenge discussed was decreasing resources, particularly "the end of federal money" and the subsequent "huge amount of effort to make up for the loss of funding." These resource limitations raise important questions about priorities: how can communities maintain momentum on critical projects like affordable housing when facing financial constraints? The pandemic's effect as "the fastest upward transfer of wealth in human history" further complicates this picture, putting more pressure on already strained community resources.

 

Perhaps the most inspiring insight from the summit was the emphasis on collaboration across sectors. The observation that "conflict and challenges inspire creativity and innovation" highlights how bringing diverse perspectives together—even when they initially clash—creates the conditions for breakthrough solutions.

 

The summit also revealed both enthusiasm for and concerns about technological approaches to urban challenges. Questions about "AI representation and biases" and what would make data-driven approaches "more trustworthy" indicate the importance of transparency and community engagement in developing new systems.

 

Several discussions touched on the need for metrics to evaluate success—from tracking nonconformity decreases to measuring increases in equitable development. This focus on measurable outcomes reflects a commitment to accountability that builds trust with communities.

 

The noted "lack of big umbrella coalition 'get everyone in a room' kind of initiatives" suggests an opportunity for organizations like BARI to create more spaces where technologists, community leaders, policymakers, and residents can collaborate on data-driven solutions to urban challenges.

 

A Call for Tech Infusion: Reimagining Urban Solutions

The BARI summit demonstrated that advancing social, economic, and environmental justice requires bringing together multiple forms of expertise, using data responsibly, fostering innovation, and ensuring that all work remains directly relevant to communities.

 

The discussions pointed toward a future where data and technology serve as tools for more responsive, inclusive, and impactful community development—not replacing human expertise but amplifying it and making it more accessible. By grounding technological innovation in community needs and ensuring multiple voices shape both the questions asked and the solutions developed, the Greater Boston area can serve as an example in developing national approaches to urban challenges that are both more equitable and more effective.

 

The conference featured numerous other sessions beyond just housing and transit, with panels that addressed a broad spectrum of urban and social development challenges. These included:

  • Collaborative civic research models with panels on cross-institutional partnerships and community-driven research

  • Climate sustainability initiatives including textile disposal bans and strategies for cooling urban schools

  • Public sanitation issues ranging from "forever chemicals" and children's health to rodent mitigation in Boston

  • Community stability efforts focused on preventing displacement in neighborhoods like Boston's Chinatown

  • Environmental justice work including geothermal energy networks and heat monitoring in vulnerable communities

  • Education and academic success strategies that create more inclusive spaces for neurodivergent individuals

  • Social mobility pathways examining how immigrants navigate work credentials and the impact of guaranteed basic income programs

  • Public administration innovations using generative AI for civic engagement and addressing language access barriers in courts

 

These diverse panels highlight deeply rooted social and environmental challenges that often exist in the blind spots of technology development. While tech often focuses on disruption and scalability, these sessions highlight the persistent, localized issues that affect quality of life in underserved communities. They serve as a powerful reminder that meaningful progress requires not just technological solutions, but thoughtful integration with community knowledge, lived experiences, and existing social structures.

 

The challenges presented—from rodent control to heat vulnerability in marginalized neighborhoods—represent a call to action that extends beyond Boston, reimagining urban solutions to similar inequities found across American cities and globally.


True innovation must be measured not just by efficiency or profit, but also by its ability to address these fundamental issues of equity, accessibility, and environmental health, and socioeconomic opportunity.

 


Bibliography


Comments

bottom of page