To “improve independence for people with impaired vision,” Stanford engineers have designed a prototype called the Augmented Cane, with four sensors and real-time feedback. — Improving accessibility and personal mobility for people who are visually impaired is an ongoing challenge in cities. Infrastructure upgrades to sidewalks, street crossings, and transit systems are often long delayed by funding shortages or policy priorities. Promising tech advances, such as self-driving taxi fleets, remain years away and end at…

A new study estimates that replacing large vehicles with standard ones would have saved more than 8,100 lives since 2000. So what can be done? — Last month, Vox reported on the public health crisis of car deaths in America, noting the alarming rise of pedestrian deaths in particular. From 2009 to 2019, the annual number of pedestrians killed by cars rose at least 51 percent, with some estimates reaching 87 percent. …

A new study puts the rental premium of view access at about 6 percent, guiding commercial developers and city policy alike. — Balancing a desire for density with the need to preserve views and daylight is a common challenge facing urban development (one that Sidewalk’s Delve product recently tackled for the One Portal Way project in West London). On one hand, a cluster of tall buildings can provide enough tenant space to…

A new study found several design tweaks that made suburban residents more likely to accept denser development — to a point. — High-demand metro areas face soaring housing costs largely because there aren’t enough new homes to go around. In response, some local governments are embracing policies that make it easier to build more homes in existing inner-ring suburbs, with California implementing two such laws just last week. …

A new study finds that children who moved away from high-poverty urban areas had far lower hospital rates for asthma and mental health conditions than those who stayed. — The pandemic shined a troubling light on the link between city neighborhoods and individual health outcomes. But block-by-block health disparities didn’t start with Covid-19 — they are firmly rooted in place and hold just as true for chronic conditions as they’ve been for this once-in-a-century plague. …

The historical case of New York City’s Croton Aqueduct reminds us why innovative infrastructure needs innovative policy. — It’s easy to fall for the hero narrative of technology: the brilliant innovation that immediately solves an age-old problem. The real story is always more complicated, especially when it comes to urban technology. City challenges are far too complex to be solved in a snap by any single idea. …

A Sidewalk Talk with Nico CEO and co-founder Max Levine — This Sidewalk Talk Q&A is part of a series of conversations with leaders at Sidewalk Labs incubated and portfolio companies. At a moment of great division around urban development, the startup Nico is trying to build bridges. As a neighborhood investment company (hence the name), Nico offers residents a…

A Sidewalk Talk Q&A with Coord CEO Stephen Smyth. — This Sidewalk Talk Q&A is part of a series of conversations with leaders at Sidewalk Labs incubated and portfolio companies. Some of us accept the need to do a little math when the check comes at a restaurant. Stephen Smyth does his math while he’s still eating. Last summer…

A Sidewalk Talk Q&A with Cavnue CEO Tyler Duvall — Last year, SIP — a company spun out of Sidewalk Labs that’s focused on the future of infrastructure — launched Cavnue, whose mission is to build the world’s most advanced roads. This is the second in a series of three interviews with Cavnue leaders. You can see our interview…