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August 25, 2022

Smart Streetscapes

How are you connected on the street where you live, the street where you do business, the street you share with neighbors? But how could a smarter street improve your life? Could technology help guide disabled pedestrians, eliminate traffic bottlenecks, enhance trash collection and pest control, improve emergency services, protect people from environmental and health threats. "Smart Streetscapes," a new National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, aims to create livable, safe, and inclusive communities. Learn more on NSF's "The Discovery Files."

Credit: National Science Foundation


Smart Streetscapes

This is The Discovery Files, from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Streets connect people and provide access to social and commercial institutions, where sidewalks, public spaces, greenery, and streets weave community into a streetscape.

As smart technology is integrated more and more into our everyday lives, the next evolution of tech could be our streets.

NSF is launching a unique, new Engineering Research Center to develop Smart Streetscapes. A smart streetscape could help guide disabled pedestrians, eliminate traffic bottlenecks, enhance trash collection and pest control, improve emergency services, and protect people from environmental and health threats.

Working with more than 80 non-academic community stakeholders, this Center is committed to fundamental advancements in wireless and optical communications, edge-cloud computing, situational awareness, and privacy and security, balancing the collection of public data with community-defined benefits.

The advancements will be applied across five themes: Road Safety and Traffic Efficiency, Public Safety, Assistive Technologies, the Future of Outdoor Work, and Hyper-Local Environments, where professionals and the community work together to improve urban life.

The NSF Engineering Research Center for Smart Streetscapes! Forging livable, safe, and inclusive communities, with cutting-edge technology.

Discover how the U.S. National Science Foundation is advancing research at nsf.gov. And check out NSF's Discovery Files podcast, available wherever you get podcasts.

"The discovery files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.


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