LaToya Johnson, a longtime resident of the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods, remembers growing up with pollution from cars, trash on the streets and mice burrowing their way into homes.
While some issues have improved, such as the availability of more options for buying fresh and healthy food, she says the environmental concerns of extreme heat, poor air quality, and pollution persist.
“I hear about seniors sitting in parks, and it’s very hot,” she said. “Kids are running around and they are breathing in things that we don’t even know about.”
Circumstances may be changing for the better thanks to a partnership with Northeastern University, the city of Boston’s Office of Emerging Technology, and a few neighborhood organizations.
Now, Johnson and residents like her will have data to support what they’ve long experienced.
That’s because Northeastern researchers and students have installed more than 70 environmental sensors in the Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods as part of the Common SENSES project, a new community-led research initiative using data to improve the city’s public infrastructure.
The goal of the project is to empower residents with data to back up their lived experiences, explained Dan O’Brien, a Northeastern professor of public policy and urban affairs.
O’Brien is also the director of the Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI), a multi-university collaboration that uses science and technology to help inform the city’s public policy and infrastructure changes.
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