Milwaukee is leading on environmental health and childhood opportunity:
🎧 Mayor Cavalier Johnson on #DataSmartCityPod datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/childhood-opportunity-en...
📖 Our mini case study datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/crisis-leadership-collab...
As temperatures climb, cities across the country are preparing for another extreme heat season. If you're a city leader, public health official, or community advocate, you need to read these lessons from Phoenix: datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/phoenix-reduced-heat-mor...
Milwaukee turned a shocking discovery—lead poisoning from inside a school—into a citywide effort to protect kids.
This mini case study shows why cross-agency collaboration is critical in a crisis: datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/crisis-leadership-collab...
Children’s early years shape their lifetime opportunities. Are you considering all the factors that impact them?
Hear how Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is working to eliminate hazards like lead pipes that have life-long effects on health and learning.
https://ow.ly/i4AJ50YGJW1
The @cityofphoenixaz.bsky.social reduced heat deaths by 30% in 2 years. As summer approaches, cities need to study what actually works: targeted interventions for the most vulnerable, 24/7 cooling centers, & rapid response protocols.
Learn from the best → datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/phoenix-redu...
cc: @milwaukeemps.bsky.social!
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Our mini case study walks through the decisions, relationships, and structures that enabled effective crisis leadership across institutions.
Read the case study and let us know...how do you think you your city would respond to a similar emergency?
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Instead, Mayor @cavalierjohnson.bsky.social, the city of Milwaukee Health Department, and Milwaukee Public Schools treated it as a shared mandate, and built a cross-agency response that made schools lead-safe in record time. datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/crisis-leade...
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A crisis can be very revealing: is your government ready to collaborate and tackle the issue, or will you be stuck in jurisdictional disputes and out-of-date protocols?
In the @cityofmilwaukee.bsky.social, a school-based lead emergency could have been mired in jurisdictional limits.
"You don't have to choose one or the other." @cityofmilwaukee.bsky.social Mayor @cavalierjohnson.bsky.social
Enviro & pub health goals are not only aligned w/ other mayoral priorities, they're often critical to success.
🎧datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/childhood-opportunity-en...
Breaking down silos, one map at a time 🗺️
Fort Worth's new approach to transportation planning is bringing together local counties, multiple agencies, and the community. datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/how-fort-worth-moves-mil...
What would you change about your city's transportation?
Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths & hits hardest on communities that already face the most challenges. The good news: #CommunityDataHealthInitiative has spent 3 years working directly w/ cities & learned what leads to real progress: https://datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/heat-action-hub
Get started protecting residents here and let us know what you're doing to mitigate extreme heat.
Many thanks to our #CommunityDataHealthInitiative partners the African American Mayors Association, @envdefensefund.bsky.social & @meharrymed.bsky.social & our funders @rwjf.org & @kresge.org.
Our new Heat Action Hub gives city leaders everything they need to act:
✅ Step-by-step guides
✅ Real tools and templates cities are already using
✅ Funding and partnership resources
✅ Case studies from Los Angeles, Miami, and Tucson
Extreme heat is a health crisis, and especially dangerous for communities already facing the most challenges.
Over the last 3 years, we've worked with cities to find solutions that actually work. And protecting people from extreme heat means targeting resources to neighborhoods that need them most.
Imagine being able to combine infrastructure intelligence w/ resident reporting to best plan a Public Works budget.
Mike Dennehy (Boston DPW, Cyvl), discusses how he'd capture unreported issues, manage infra decisions & allocate budget w/ AI tech: https://datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/ai-public-works
3/🧵 Take a listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts, to hear more about the technology, the opportunity for preventative maintenance, and the bench-marking necessary to develop equitable standards: datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/ai-public-wo...
2/🧵 @khahlil.bsky.social, who explored this topic in his analysis of computer-generated and AI-assisted infrastructure monitoring compared with resident 311 requests (datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/residents-al...) is on the latest episode of the #DataSmartCityPod to discuss this further.
Khahlil headshot with quote: We found that communities or neighborhoods that are highly engaged with government, had a higher reporting rate with 311. Governments typically allocated greater resources, a greater share of resources, to those neighborhood vs. neighborhoods that were lower income...
1/🧵 If we know that resident-generated reports don't tell the whole picture, then how can we adjust what data is used for decision-making to prevent inequities?
This is a big question, and many cities are actively working to correct or mitigate gaps that exist in things like 311 reporting.
Daniel quote: Someone with natural language could say, ‘Show me the dangerous intersections, based on our prior data that's in our dataset, with faded pavement markings and high traffic.’
If you could talk to your infrastructure, what would you ask?
On the #DataSmartCityPod, Daniel Pelaez and @goldsmithongov.bsky.social talk about using #AI to create an infra index that allows anyone to query the physical world through digital means.
datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/ai-public-wo...
For cities exploring GenAI, this is a moment to think boldly about the future of government.
Want to know more? Listen to the full episode 🎧 https://datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/agentic-ai-city-hall
Cities are leading on air pollution prevention & mitigation, & we're here for it! datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/local-tools-...
Through our Air Quality Learning Cohort, we gathered cities to share how they are:
🚚 Toughening local ordinances
💲 Creating durable funding
📱 Turning data into health alerts
Fort Worth's population is booming. Thanks to #GIS, the city now has an easy-to-use transportation hub that shows where the city is heading!
Want to addresses how people move, while eliminating silos? See how #maps #dataviz can help: datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/how-fort-worth-moves-mil...
On the #DataSmartCityPod, we explore the gap between what the data says & what residents perceive - & how to close it. Steve Goldsmith talks with Eyal Feder-Levy about how cities can build trust by measuring perception & responding to residents. https://ow.ly/nc6Z50YpJnf
Public health goals aren't separate from other urban priorities; they're a crucial part of helping your cities thrive.
Read how public health can support & inform infra work, boosted by AI-enabled monitoring, to ensure safer environments: datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/ai-infra-public-health
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We encourage new and old readers to explore this updated paper and learn more about the balance of accountability and discretion in the age of AI! datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/ai-and-trans...
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Written by @goldsmithongov.bsky.social, @harvardkennedy.bsky.social and Bloomberg Center for Cities at @harvard.edu and Juncheng "Tony" Yang, @gsd.harvard.edu, this paper explores how AI can reshape gov't bureaucracy and increase employee discretion while maintaining strong accountability.
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Originally published in 2024 as a white paper of the same name, we're sharing our updated and revised "AI and the Transformation of Accountability and Discretion in Urban Governance" paper, out now in Urban Governance journal. datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/ai-and-trans...
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Over the last few years, the Data-Smart team has been researching how different types of artificial intelligence could improve both the essential work of government and its internal functions.
Can #AI help provide better experiences for both residents and city employees?
Big events usually mean temporary transit fixes.
LA Metro is using the 2028 Olympics as a catalyst for permanent, people-first changes—mapping demand, rethinking bus stops, and partnering with communities.
https://datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/gis-la-metro-2028
