City of Seattle
At a Glance
Industry
Government/Public Administration
Project Types
Climate Justice/Energy Equity, Data Analysis, Engagement and Behavior Change, Sustainability and Energy Management Strategy
Year
2023
Location
Seattle, WA
Summary
Lauren Hogrewe developed designs, proposed metrics, and created a framework for expansion of Seattle’s Climate Portal and supported the initiation of the Clean and Healthy Air Project.
Goals
The City of Seattle is working to advance policies that address climate change in equitable, community-driven, and sustainable ways. With guidance from the City’s Green New Deal, the Office of Sustainability and Environment is prioritizing collection of high-quality, hyperlocal data, especially climate pollution and air quality data, by working directly with impacted communities.
Lauren Hogrewe was tasked with conducting research and supporting the development of partnerships with community groups for the Clean and Healthy Air Project and with designing elements and analysis for future dashboards on the public-facing Climate Portal.
Solutions
In collaboration with the Office of Sustainability and Environment, Lauren’s work included:
For the Clean and Healthy Air Project:
- Researching and assessing air quality sensors, modeling, and potential tools and indicators for collecting and mapping local air quality data.
- Interviewing and working with experts at partner organizations on best practices.
- Assisting with development of contracts with local community organizations to support and fund air quality monitoring and asthma prevention in local communities.
- Compiling plans for community goal-tailored and neighborhood-specific air quality monitoring and data collection.
- Began construction of a framework to emphasize cohesion and story of Portal by conducting internal stakeholder engagement on priority areas and expanding dashboards to include community climate stories, Green New Deal investment and impact tracking, climate and workforce development, and resilience hubs.
- Analyzing citywide emissions data from gas usage in buildings and the Race and Social Equity Index to create a use case from data sourced from the Climate Portal.
- Evaluating data sources, creating new datasets, and recommending next steps.
Potential Impact
The Clean and Healthy Air Project will promote community-led air quality data collection efforts that support the goal to gather high-quality data at the hyperlocal level and provide information to advocate for necessary policy interventions to improve local public health and air quality.
The Climate Portal’s new dashboards will allow the City to more effectively track progress towards its climate commitments, highlight community voices, and remain communicative and accountable. The expansion will also provide insights and critical tools for the City and community members to use in proposing programs that prioritize overburdened communities and achieve the City’s climate goals.