T4America Blog

National media applauds T4America and Sidewalk Labs partnership

We recently announced that we’re teaming with Sidewalk Labs to help cities strategically use data and technology to develop better transportation options for all. With USDOT’s Smart Cities challenge wrapping up in the next month with the selection of just one winner, our collaborative will engage the 77 other hopeful cities and provide guidance on ways to proceed thoughtfully and intentionally with their ambitious plans. The announcement of our new partnership was met with approbation and excitement—take a look at some of the excerpts below:

“But what about the dozens of cities who submitted ideas [to USDOT’s Smart Cities contest] but didn’t win? Whose proposals are now collecting dust? Sidewalk’s collaboration with T4A is tailored to that problem…To understand why Sidewalk wants to work with T4A, it helps to know a bit about its history. T4A is actually part of Smart Growth America, a nonprofit that helped popularize a planning idea called “complete streets,” a set of design and policy recommendations that, in a quietly revolutionary way, suggest that streets should be designed not just for cars, but for buses, cyclists, walkers, and more. Sidewalk Labs sees [T4A] as the perfect partner to develop the next generation of recommendations, which are digital: “connected streets.” – Fastco Design

“The collaboration will tap into the superpowers of each entity. Sidewalk Labs has digital technology expertise, while the Transportation of America has experience working with state and local governments to develop transportation and land use policy. Transportation for America, or T4A, is an alliance of elected, business, and civic leaders from across the United States.” – Fortune.com

“Sidewalk Labs will bring the tech, as the group’s already developing platforms for connected cities, like Flow, which lets cities aggregate and analyze data from multiple sources such as sensors, cameras and apps. T4A’s bringing the muscle, as it already has experience working with cities and their governments, experience tech companies don’t necessarily have. T4A will develop a study on the current state of transportation and tech, to help guide cities to answers for transportation issues.” – CNET

“Helping cities tackle transportation problems with emerging technology is the thrust behind a partnership announced Wednesday between Sidewalk Labs and Transportation for America.” ­ – Route Fifty

“Transportation For America has a vision that aligns with the goals of Sidewalk Labs: Both aim to transform urban areas big and small to better serve the needs of its citizens with an emphasis on infrastructure within communities, rather than the highways that connect them.” – Inverse

Check out additional coverage in Next City and Curbed.