Urban Tensions Hackathon: Visualizing stories of cities and conflict

From gentrification and increased evictions to trucks in the bike lane, Boston, like many cities, is filled with stories of urban tensions. But are there data to illustrate these conflicts? Can you find, merge and visualize data and other layers of information that can help reveal new, original insights about the city’s urban tensions?   On Saturday, April 8, from 9am to 3pm, Northeastern University will be hosting "Urban Tensions," a hackathon where participants will explore urban data – from crime to housing to transportation to energy – to tell compelling stories of cities and conflict.   Who can sign up and who will be there? The event is open to both students and professionals from any field. It will be kicked off with lightning talks on urban data, evictions and gentrification by: Ben Green, Boston’s Open Data ProjectChristine Dixon, deputy director of Project HopeWenfei Xu, research associate at MIT’s Civic Data Design Lab. What kind of stories are we looking for? - From the innovation district to East Boston, what does the push-and-pull between affordable housing and commercial real estate development look like? - Is Boston violent? Highlight the waxing and waning of crime across the city. - Quantify Boston’s aging infrastructure to pinpoint where it might fail first as well as where it's being updated. - How many bike lanes are overrun by 18-wheelers? Is there another way?   How will projects be judged? A panel of Northeastern professors from across the College of Arts, Media and Design will judge the submissions. Projects will be judged on their originality, the rigor of their data sourcing and analysis, and the accuracy and appeal of their visual storytelling. What are the prizes? Annual Hubway bike-sharing memberships. What kind of datasets are we talking about? Housing Boston approved building permits here or here Zillow Boston Median Listing Price per sq. ft. here Boston Airbnb listings, reviews data Boston neighborhood blight and building data here 2015 Greater Boston Housing Report Card here Housing a Changing City Boston 2030 here Housing data 1950-2010 here City of Boston-owned property here Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council housing data here Freddie Mac fixed-rate mortgage dataset from 1999-2015 here Transportation Boston Hubway bicycle trip data here Bicycle collisions in Boston (2009-2012) here Boston existing bicycle network here Boston taxi data May 2012 – Nov 2012 here Cambridge daily traffic counts 1972-2017 here Massachusetts real-time roadway travel feed here Crime and complaints Boston homicides data here Commonwealth Connect data (2009-2015) here Boston FIO (field interviews and observation) data here Boston crime incident reports (2015-now) here Boston Police Dept. license plate scanner data here Boston precincts data here Other Boston food pantry data here Boston schools public here and non-public here Boston census data in JSON here Boston 2010 census tracts hereGeographical data layers for Boston here