EACH NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORKS PROJECT provides opportunities for a broad public to creatively explore emerging technologies through hands-on activities and collaborate in the design and development of prototypes that demonstrate how these technologies might be used to address community issues.

The Lawrenceville Project (June - July 2007)
The Lawrenceville Project was the first of the Neighborhood Networks programs and focused on the Lawrenceville neighborhood in Pittsburgh. Through the program, approximately 10 residents met one evening a week for seven weeks during the summer of 2007 at the Stephen Foster Community Center to explore how sensing and robotic technologies might be applied to issues and conditions in their neighborhood. The program began with a sensor scavenger hunt, progressed to brainstorming and storyboarding, and ended with public demo-night at which participants presented prototypes of a variety of devices, sculptures and model installations that used sensing and robotic technologies to address issues such as noise pollution and traffic calming.