A new working paper from Khahlil Louisy examines whether AI-based urban infrastructure monitoring can address equity gaps in public health surveillance, using evidence from Boston’s 311 complaint system and AI-detected pavement data. The paper shows that complaint-based systems reflect socioeconomic patterns of civic participation, and argues that AI can complement but not replace participatory surveillance without rigorous validation and equity safeguards.

An analysis of roughly 187,000 citizen reports and nearly 5,000 computer vision detections in Jamaica Plain, MA shows why cities need both perspectives and raises critical questions about who gets heard.

Along the 215 miles connecting Boston and New York City runs one of the world's most concentrated pathways of intellectual capital, research infrastructure, and innovation capacity. Yet this corridor has largely functioned as a collection of distinct regional ecosystems rather than as an integrated system. The question is no longer whether these cities can innovate independently—they demonstrably can, but by how much can their collective impact on society’s most pressing chal