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Sensing LA: A workshop on scalable,
affordable, and ready-to-use technologies for a sustainable city

Sponsored by the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing
and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science

Date: February 5, 2009
Time: 9:30 am – 3 pm
Location: DeNeve Plaza, UCLA Campus

Photo by Joseph.S via Flickr

Background

In these times of economic uncertainty and environmental change, emerging technologies are creating more economical and efficient ways to observe and measure—and thus, better manage—both the manmade and natural environment. Leading this field is the UCLA Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), a research enterprise initiated by the National Science Foundation. The mission of CENS is to reveal aspects of the world that could never before be seen, by creating and deploying cutting-edge distributed, networked sensing and monitoring systems.

Purpose

There are many facets of local government where visibility into the workings of a system—mechanical or human—are critical. Whether the focus is on energy use, air quality, or civic expression, the more we know about what is happening the better equipped we are to respond. This workshop will:

  • Introduce scalable, affordable, and ready-to-use technologies, such as field-installed sensors and mobile phone-based systems, in the context of creating livable and sustainable cities.
  • Explore specific applications related to sustainable management and development, such as energy and water management; meeting environmental reporting requirements; and engaging an active citizenry in public works projects
  • Explore how technologies can be applied across a range of municipal projects, including capital programs, compliance monitoring, deferred maintenance, and demand-side monitoring.

Outcomes

  • Identify collaborative projects to advance the mission of relevant local government agencies and their partners.
  • Identify prospective funding opportunities associated with recently passed measures (e.g., Measure R and Measure O) and those associated with potential economic stimulus legislation.

Who should attend?

Municipal agency officials concerned with: Energy, Water, Waste, Transportation, Parking, Urban Planning, Public Works, Civil infrastructure, Parks and Rec., and Civic engagement. The workshop will include faculty, research staff, and students from CENS and it’s collaborators. Participation is by invitation.

Technical themes

Continuous monitoring of scarce resources with sensors installed in infrastructure. Such systems are customizable, rapidly deployable, easy to install or retrofit, cost effective, and simple to operate.

Using people’s mobile phones to let them participate in (1) new web applications that give them a unique perspective on their own participation in the city and environment and (2) massive, coordinated sensing of the City of Los Angeles. These personal sensing systems use images, location, motion and sound as data. Because mobile phones are so prevalent it is feasible to achieve large numbers in a cost effective way.

Contact

Jeffrey Goldman, CENS
(310) 825-7665
jgoldman@cens.ucla.edu

Participation is by invitation. Invitees, please RSVP

Workshop Program

Workshop Program
Time Event Related graphic
9:30 Coffee, snacks  
10:00 Welcomes, introductions, and context setting  
10:15

Panel 1. Cost savings, efficiency improvements, and environmental reporting through rapidly deployable, cost-effective infrastructure-based monitoring

Confirmed panelists: Bill Kaiser, UCLA; Magali Delmas, UCLA, Ken Johnson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Jonathan Leung, LA DWP

This panel will explore the application of new technologies and approaches for monitoring of resource use in the context of demand side management, resources and waste inventory reporting, and other factors related to metering and compliance with current and future environmental regulations. Case studies on energy and water metering and traffic monitoring will be presented.
11:15

Presentation. Personal Mobile Sensing for Eco-Responsibility

Deborah Estrin, UCLA

This presentation examines the role of mobile monitoring devices and infrastructure to promote understanding by individuals of their effect on environmental factors related to sustainability. Data collected with by mobile phones, alone or in combination with a variety of existing environmental data sources, can provide an illuminating window on one's own relationship to the environment. Case studies on the Personal Environmental Impact Report and investigations into the sustainability-related resources on the UCLA campus will be presented.
11:30 Lunch  
12:30

Panel 2. Engaging citizenry to inform and contribute to public works projects

Confirmed Panelists: Jeff Burke, UCLA; Carol Armstrong, LA River Revitalization Master Plan; Jeff Brown, California State Parks; Chris Espinosa, Office of the Mayor of LA; Simon Pastucha, Urban Design Studio

Culture, heritage, participation, data, science and engineering, and technology all meet in public works. This panel highlights ways to engage citizens with the City's most significant public works projects, using new technologies that enable participation of a relevance and scale never seen before. This approach can create a new kind of public record of people, places, and resources, by enabling the citizens implicated in development projects to become a resource for themselves and for the City. It can make citizens more effective guides, advocates, historians, storytellers, scientists, researchers, and decision-makers for the work that will reform the landscape of Los Angeles once again over the next 20 years. And it can add to the City's history of constant transformation a legacy of stewardship and participation. Case studies focus on the design of the Los Angeles State Historic Park and documentation of culturallyrelevant aspects of the city.
1:30 Group discussion, agenda refinement for breakout groups, charge to breakout groups  
1:45 Breakout groups meet  
2:30 Breakout group reports; Plan next actions  
3:00 Adjourn  

Location

UCLA's DeNeve Plaza is located at 351 Charles E. Young Dr., West, between Strathmore Dr. and De Neve Dr.

A variety of campus maps are available online, including a printable map of the UCLA Campus [pdf] and an interactive, map focused on De Neve Plaza.

Directions and Parking

Directions to the UCLA campus are available online.

Daily parking permits are available at the Westwood Plaza Parking and Information Kiosk located on Westwood Plaza south of Strathmore Dr. The Dykstra/De Neve (DD) lot is the closest to the meeting facility, followed by Lot 8 (P8). Attendants can provide additional assistance.