State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Data-Driven Insights on Urban Water Systems

Data-Smart City Solutions: Cities are facing a number of environmental, social, and economic challenges regarding the sustainability of their infrastructure systems. When different city stakeholders refer to different sources of information and have different points of view, it is difficult to identify successful solutions to these challenges. Responding to this need, Harvard’s Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure built the Zofnass Information Tool to enable the city of Chelsea, MA to start a shared dialogue on water infrastructure issues. In 2014, the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard Graduate School of Design received a grant on urban water management from the Surdna Foundation under the Sustainable Environments Program. The objective of the grant was to support cities that respond to federal regulatory action regarding stormwater management, to explore green infrastructure solutions, and to inform and build capacity of community stakeholders in the water field.

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