Current Projects

Project Sidewalk has made a significant impact in communities across various cities, including Chicago, Seattle, Mexico City, and Amsterdam. The implementation of this sidewalk auditing tool has revolutionized the process, substantially reducing the time, money, and resources traditionally associated with sidewalk audits. For example, Seattle conducted its first and last sidewalk audit in 2017, a year-long endeavor that consumed over $400,000 in resources. Thanks to Project Sidewalk, such labor-intensive and costly processes are no longer needed. The virtual sidewalk audits facilitated by the tool have proven to be highly efficient, enabling communities to address accessibility issues in a more streamlined and cost-effective manner.

The data from Project Sidewalk can be used to assist in writing an ADA Transition plan, create a sidewalk improvement plan, or identify areas in need of the most investment.

Click this link find out how to conduct your own virtual sidewalk audit with Project Sidewalk and read about how other communities are using Project Sidewalk for implementation.

Project Sidewalk offers a unique opportunity for individuals of all age groups to acquire valuable skills and accumulate community service hours. The initiative has established partnerships with organizations across the region, engaging middle school through college educators to integrate the Service Learning curriculum into their classrooms. Our team has developed a 6-module Service Learning Curriculum that teaches students about disability rights, accessible cities, using the project sidewalk tool, analyzing data, and using data to advocate for infrastructure improvements that help make communities safer to walk and wheel.

Educators

Educators can contact Project Sidewalk to learn more about the Service Learning curriculum of six modules that can take approximately 1-6 weeks based on the pace set by the educator.

Students

Any student can utilize Project Sidewalk, with or without their educator to obtain service hours through a virtual environment and contribute to a Sidewalk audit of their community. If their community of interest is not yet available on Project Sidewalk, they can contact the Project Sidewalk team to see about opening it up.

Click this link to learn more about how our service learning program was being utilized in schools from K-12 and even with the Girl Scouts

We are currently recruiting educators to be involved in piloting the Service Learning curriculum. Please reach out to Yochai Eisenberg, [email protected]

The Project Sidewalk Workforce Development Program is an online curriculum of six-modules aimed at building youth knowledge and skills that can build capacity of youth to:

1. We are currently recruiting educators to participate in the Workforce Development curriculum. Interested in learning more? contact Judy Shanley, [email protected].

Multiple-Stakeholder Perspectives on Accessibility Data and the Use of Socio-Technical Tools to Improve Sidewalk Accessibility

Purpose

The purpose of the workshops was to engage a diverse group of participants in meaningful discussions about sidewalk accessibility data and data collection tools. Throughout the series, we utilized Project Sidewalk as a socio-technological example to illustrate concepts.

Participants

51 participants from the Chicago area: (1) people with mobility limitations, (2) people with visual limitations, (3) caregivers, and (4) ADA coordinators and urban planners

Main Findings

Participants in this study reached a consensus that the data collected through Project Sidewalk needed contextualization to ensure the reliability of the information and align it with the expected use by local stakeholders. They believed that the data held significant potential as a powerful tool for advocacy when engaging with decision-makers.

These workshops played a crucial role in ongoing efforts to enhance the Project Sidewalk website and comprehend the practical applications of the collected data.

We also held workshops with local government staff through the Mayors and Managers Caucus in spring 2023. We learned about some of the critical legal, political, and resources challenges of utilizing Project Sidewalk in Chicago area communities

We will be holding workshops with MMC in Spring 2024

As users actively utilize the Project Sidewalk labeling tool within their communities, the data generated is harnessed to train machine learning algorithms. Our mission for the future is to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to support communities in streamlining their sidewalk auditing processes.