Digital City Testbed Center Lands NSF Grant to Study Climate Change Mitigation, Technology and Diverse Communities
Portland State University’s Digital City Testbed Center (DCTC) recently received a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s “Smart and Connected Communities” program to explore why diverse communities — including people with disabilities, people with low income and BIPOC communities — are often hesitant to make use of digital technologies that could better prepare them for negative impacts of climate change.
“The analogy that we've been drawing is with the COVID-19 vaccine, you have this miraculous technology, but it's not able to realize its potential because so many people have concerns about it and are reluctant to use it,” said Jonathan Fink, DCTC director. “We would say there's a similar issue in terms of climate change, particularly in cities where there are technologies that can help mitigate some of the effects.”