A city where all the traffic lights are green? The tech is live in Lakewood and coming soon to other Colorado cities

An ambitious plan for the 69-acre Regent Park neighborhood is disrupting entrenched notions of class, race and religion, at a time when concerns over income inequality and immigration are growing.

Hospitals in the United States spend over $340 billion on health services, but with those funds, they could also help the numerous neighborhoods struggling with poverty. The Democracy Collaborative is a research center that helps hospitals link up with local institutions to encourage job growth, buy regionally produced food, and reinvest into their local economy.

Despite advancements in technology in most sectors of life leading to an increase to access of information about practically anything, little is still known about the ocean and its behavioral patterns. Liquid Robotics – a Silicon Valley-based company – is trying to change that. Engineers here have created the "Wave Glider," which essentially acts as a router within the ocean powered by wave energy and solar panels. This invention can transmit data on tectonic activity that has the potential to predict tsunamis.

In a rapidly gentrifying Mexico City neighborhood, two artists refurbished an icon and set up an altar for Santa Mari La Juaricua, a saint to protect residents from eviction. The saint raises awareness and acts as a reminder about housing issues and the icon has been taken up by the residents and has been used in processions and protests.

To better position services during and after natural disasters, many nonprofits are turning towards mapping technology. Specifically, Facebook’s Disaster Maps share usage data to indicate movement, such as where people evacuated before Hurricane Florence. Humanity Road is another map source that includes data on infrastructure. Putting this information together, nonprofits such as Direct Relief can more accurately target their emergency response services.

U.S. Highway 97 is one of the highest travelled roads through Washington, but it is also one of the most dangerous due to wildlife crossings. Taking note of successful initiatives in other states and countries, Washington is making moves to implement underpasses which will reduce the rate of accidents and cut down on medical and vehicular collision costs.

Police departments across the United States are implementing strategies and reforms in response to the growing number of unsolved criminal cases. With cold cases often linked to declined trust in police and the undermining of wellbeing in, typically urban, neighborhoods, these reforms are seeking to reverse course.

Using data collection and visualization, apps like SafeCity, HarassMap, and #WalkFreely are crowdsourcing locations where individuals have been sexually harassed or assaulted so that others know to take precautions. Some operate on a global scale, others locally, but what they all offer is a platform for people to share their story and hopefully prevent it from happening again. Such apps have led to action from community members, the media, and officials who have taken notice of the high rates in certain places and taken action.

A growing number of governments, companies, and nonprofit organizations are working together with new technology and data to identify fishing vessels that are breaking laws and engaging in human rights violations. Using satellite imagery and tracking signals, for example, a philanthropic company and a nonprofit worked with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to help the Ghanian navy arrest four vessels for illegal fishing practices. Technology by itself won’t stop forced labor and unregulated ships, but it can be helpful for cash-strapped governments looking to increase oversight of their fisheries.

The Kansas City Streetcar provides fare-free transportation for residents, which helps to get them downtown and promote more economic development. The fare-free streetcar also makes transit more equitable by removing barriers for low-income passengers and improving mobility for people with disabilities.