Omar Asensio of the School of Public Policy will work with the city of Savannah to build a data hub and analytics platform to help guide more equitable development in the city. The project is one of four Georgia Institute of Communities Smart Communities Challenge winners.

The Savannah project marks the second time in three years Asensio, an assistant professor, has partnered with a Georgia city for a winning challenge. His earlier project was with the city of Albany.

“I'm excited to help lead this important civic data project, which will help give city leaders in Savannah actionable insights on housing and sustainability issues by activating neighborhood service data in new and interesting ways,” Asensio said.

The Savannah project will leverage work done by Asensio’s research team in Albany in the 2018 round of the Smart Cities Challenge. There, they worked with community leaders to build an automated data analytics and visualization tool to better manage housing and energy issues in the city.

Asensio will work with Clio Andris, an assistant professor in the School of City & Regional Planning, to help build a data hub and analytics platform to be used in making decisions about vacant and blighted properties in the city.

“This project will push in new directions to show how deep record linkages can further drive innovations in policy analysis and impact evaluation on federal housing policies,” Asensio said.

Asensio and Andris will work the city of Savannah, the Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition, Chatham County/City of Savannah Land Bank Authority Inc., Community Housing Services Agency Inc., the Center for Community Progress, and Tolemi, a civic data technology company

Georgia Tech’s Georgia Smart Communities Challenge is an award-winning program that empowers smart local development within the State of Georgia. Cities receive grant funding of up to $100,000, technical assistance and funding for a Georgia Tech researcher, access to a network of peer governments to share best practices, and access to a network of experts for advice on piloting a smart community.

The School of Public Policy is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.