Tech (Em)Powered Park

Meg Daly is the visionary powerhouse behind The Underline, an innovative initiative to transform the underutilized land below Miami’s Metrorail into a 120-acre linear park, urban trail and public art destination.  A full-time volunteer acting as Founder and President of Friends of The Underline, she developed a synergistic partnership with Miami-Dade County and other public and government entities to build the transformative $120 M project. 

A 30-year marketing veteran and entrepreneur, Meg owned a multi-million target marketing company serving the US television industry and was co-founder of Contractroom.com. Meg has a BA in English from Vanderbilt University and received numerous awards for her volunteerism. Her 30+ year marriage, two children and two grandchildren are her greatest achievement. She created a YouTube cooking channel for her kids in 2006, bought a used car on Ebay in 2000 and today continues to be a vanguard agent of change and early adopter.

Parks are vital to human health and wellbeing, yet are too often underfunded, poorly maintained, or inequitable in their community reach. Technology can provide cost-effective and easily replicated open source solutions for park accessibility, maintenance, and improved user experiences. Tech solutions can guide school groups or community organizations on tours of native flora and fauna or local history. A pedestrian can find out how she is increasing her life expectancy with her steps on The Underline.  Accurate user data can guide responsive park services and provide evidence-based support for increased park funding.

The Underline’s proposed Tech (Em)powered Park will offer free WiFi and innovative interactive tech tools that will entice residents outdoors and provide a unique one-stop public resource for physical health, mental wellbeing, social connection, education, cultural exchange, and family fun. The technological blueprint and baseline data will be available for global deployment to elevate humanity worldwide.

People need parks. Countless studies have confirmed the positive impact of parks and green space on physical and mental health and overall quality of life. Despite these benefits, parks remain chronically underfunded for maintenance and management and are not equally accessible to all members of the community.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed just how vital parks and open spaces are to public health, especially in densely populated urban areas. As traditional gathering spots and transportation systems shut down, the world witnessed makeshift bike lanes, pocket parks, and pedestrian-only streets pop up in cities from New York to Paris. For those with no internet access, (one in every six households in Miami), parks and other green spaces are the only opportunity for human connection and safe social interaction during this crisis.

Although proven to be essential to wellbeing and community vitality, parks consistently rank low in budget priorities, starved of the resources necessary for proper infrastructure and maintenance. Given the right tools, parks can serve as a central, relevant, and equitable community asset – the soul of a city. Technology offers a cost-effective, innovative solution to bolster the quality and accessibility of our world’s parks and The Underline will prove it.

The Underline’s Tech (Em)powered Park provides shared public spaces that are more accessible, inclusive, and responsive to visitor needs. The use of technology in parks will engage, educate, and entertain park users, enable real-time maintenance, and provide data for evidence-based support to drive more public and private investment into parks across the country/world.   

The proposed Tech (Em)powered Park will be incorporated into The Underline, a 10-mile, 120-acre linear park and urban trail under construction on the underutilized land below Miami’s elevated rail system. Through a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a first-of-its-kind tech master plan will be developed to pioneer the use of advanced diagnostic technology in parks, driven by community collaboration and input.  

The Elevate Prize will provide the funding necessary to design, develop, and implement this tech master plan, delivering open source technology solutions that can be scaled, tailored and adopted in other cities around the globe. This park will help bridge Miami’s digital divide with free Wi-Fi for all. Innovative tech tools will enhance visitor data collection, security, maintenance, education, cultural exchange, health, and wellness along The Underline—creating a model for all our world’s parks.

The proposed Tech (Em)powered Park will serve all visitors of The Underline. The first phase opens in the Fall of 2020, therefore, visitor counts are not yet verifiable. However, based on Metrorail usage and projected patterns in the first phase (1/2 mile of 10 miles), at minimum, nearly 2 million people will pass through the park due to The Underline’s direct connection to mass transit and Downtown Miami. Technology will be used as a force for good to promote health, wellness and improved quality of life while providing a multicultural fabric for human learning, outdoor immersion and virtual connection. 

Once completed, the 10-mile Underline will serve as a connector to businesses, residents and neighborhoods. The project's full 10-mile impact zone will serve over 9 million transit users annually, 250,000 residents (30% of households > $35,000 household income), 106,000 jobs, 14,000 businesses, and over 50,000 students at more than 24 schools. Moreover, The Underline will also serve as a cultural connector bridging the varied and diverse multi-ethnic Miami-Dade community.  Multilingual and multicultural programming will be implemented to ensure that all Miami residents and visitors are engaged, welcomed and positively impacted. 

The Underline embraces inclusiveness and welcomes everyone.  Its direct impact zone of a ½ mile from the park serves working-class families, many of whom are Hispanic. When extending the impact zone out 1 mile, an even richer diversity is served from descendants of early Bahamian settlers to generations of Hispanic immigrants. The Underline will provide direct access to WiFi for the many individuals that cannot afford these services at home.  Moreover, through its many local partnerships, visitors will have connectivity with important community resources, such as healthcare screenings, social service programming and local employment opportunities.

The seed for The Underline originated from a bike accident.  About eight years ago, founder Meg Daly had a bike accident and broke both of her arms. Unable to drive, she rode Metrorail to get to physical therapy.  While walking there and back, she noticed the incredible potential of the unused land below the elevated track and  envisioned a beautiful park and trail.  Fast forward to today, Meg and her non-profit have helped secure over $100 Million for Miami-Dade County to build the 10-mile park and trail.  As construction is completed by phase, the non-profit will assume operations, management and programming. 

The idea for the Tech (Em)powered Park began in early discussions with Alberto Ibarguen, president of the  John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as an innovative concept to create a seamless technology experience as part of the fabric of the park.  The visitor experience would be enhanced by connecting and engaging guests while making the park more sustainable with maintenance reporting, security features and revenue opportunities.  The final state-of-the-art Tech Master Plan will provide a playbook for enhancing users’ quality of life while expanding park utilization. It will be informed and enhanced by significant community input.

A decade ago I served on the board of a foundation that funds free tennis programs in underserved communities. This program revealed the disparity in park facilities by neighborhood. This disparity remains true. Miami is a community divided by the haves and the have nots.  Parks should be equitable … one of the few places where we can meet, gather and connect in a shared public green space without barriers for entry.     

The COVID crisis has amplified the need for safe places to walk, bike and connect with families and friends- regardless of income or geography.  When I started this project, I envisioned rebuilding our city so kids could walk or bike to school, like I did as a child.  Further, with a severely disabled brother, my dream was to create a place for people of all abilities to interact with nature. Plus, parks are the soul of the community, so my goal was to restore our urban environment with plants, pollinators and trees.

Now, our vision is to rebuild Miami so everyone has equal access to parks, programming and transformative experiences that enrich a community, without a car, which is why our tagline is The Underline, together. 

The Underline is supported by a small but mighty, visionary group of a relentless staff and dedicated board of directors comprised of activists, businesspeople, artists, philanthropists, healthcare professionals and more, all volunteering to ensure the many layers of The Underline are delivered. 

Miami-Dade County has one of the lowest parkspace to resident ratios: 3.9 acres/1,000 residents and is one of the most dangerous places to walk and bike in the country.  Buoyed by a vocal and energized grassroots movement to create a public green space and trail to reverse these poor statistics, public officials galvanized to address the call to action and assisted in securing $100M + for construction in less than 5 years. From idea to completion, the project is scheduled to take 12 years to complete making The Underline the fastest moving infrastructure project of its scope in the country.

The tech initiative will be led by our Chief Technology Officer previously from the experiential Museum of Ice Cream and Community Outreach Manager from a children’s advocacy non-profit. Over 6 months, through a variety of outreach methods, input will be sought from residents and business owners to field their priorities for the use of technology on The Underline. Advising the team is a Tech Council of community leaders from Microsoft, Dell, Emerge Americas, plus municipal and nonprofit technology experts. Community listening sessions and experiences will take place concurrently with the public providing input during the design phase, occurring within the 2nd of the 3 construction phases. 

Having someone believe in you is one of the most empowering things I have experienced.  

When I had the idea for The Underline, I shared it with my dad, a legendary 1st amendment attorney and community activist.  He said the idea of The Underline wasn’t crazy, it was brilliant.  

My dad and I made a powerful team. He, the legal mastermind with deep relationships and trust with elected officials and community leaders. Me, the marketer and “little train that could.”

Two and half years ago, a fluke mistake with an everyday heart procedure caused my dad’s untimely death.  I was racked with grief and alone in my mission. All I could think was that to replace Parker Thomson, you needed 7 people.  

So I created a council of 7.  Instead of getting advice from one phone call I had to make 7 calls. That small group of 7 has blossomed to a diverse army of volunteers from all over the community, who go to bat for this project morning, noon and night. I still grieve my dad every day, but I know I am surrounded by a team of many who believe in our bold mission. 

Go big or go home.  That’s our mantra.  Big ideas solve big problems.  Big ideas demand attention.  

The Underline is a big idea. The Underline’s technology plan is a big idea.  But the problem with big out of the box ideas, is there is not a big out of the box funding source.  

Take our successful BUILD grant application last year.  Our project was awarded $22.3 Million from a Federal infrastructure grant in an administration that was simply not funding trails as infrastructure.  

We applied for the grant unsuccessfully in 2018.  Our unprofessional grant writing team (me included) worked tirelessly to complete the grant with an ask of $9 Million.  We felt good about the grant when we pressed submit. But we didn’t get it. 

In 2019, we had the opportunity again to apply.  Rather than think our ask was too big, we increased our ask by 200%.  We changed our strategy and storytelling focusing on public safety.  It was a Hail Mary.  But this Hail Mary won the game.  

With this grant, we have completed construction funding and must wrap up construction by 2025, half the time we projected.  Somehow, we will find out how to get that done! 

As we have noted throughout this grant application, public spaces are underfunded for both capital and maintenance and operations, giving little financial room for investment in disruptive and innovative methods to maintain and manage.  As believers in the transformational power of parks and open spaces we believe that the next iteration of today’s Smart Parks is Smart Spaces – the Tech (Em)Powered Park.

Conversely, there has been substantial investment in Smart Cities and  Smart Cities little brother “Smart Parks”, using technology to monitor when light bulbs need to be replaced, plants need to be watered and when garbage has to be taken out.  

The Tech (Em)Powered Park (TEP) is unique for many reasons: 
1.  The entire open space is viewed as the “enterprise” (usually used to define a business ecosystem).  
2.  TEP is not an app trying to solve or disrupting just one challenge or problem. 
3.  TEP is community-based and designed to meet the needs and demands of unique communities. 
4. TEP will be community driven not profit driven.  The goal is to get the product in the hands of park manager to deploy and ensure the sustainability of parks around the world. 

By transforming 120 acres of neglected land into an active, engaging and creative space for all to enjoy, we are demonstrating that change is possible when you listen to your stakeholders. The master plan for The Underline is a manifestation of 5 years of outreach about residents’ and business owners’ priorities for open space.

Through the completion of a technology master plan for our 10-mile linear park, we will empower and connect community, create a long-term solution to operations of the park and elevate the role of open spaces in rapidly growing cities. We will shift the existing minimum maintenance model of open spaces to a value-added model where users are elevated to invested caretakers who enhance the park’s utility and operations through technology. 

To reach a point where The Underline is a global model for park engagement and park stewardship, staff and our partners will continue robust outreach to ensure all voices are heard to guide the creation of the ultimate technology infrastructure.  Based on a recently conducted survey, we learned that people want to connect with nature by learning more about the native plants that are growing within The Underline.  Additionally, they want to be educated about The Underline’s history and how it has impacted community and culture.  The AARP tells us that older adults feel isolated and view open spaces as an opportunity to safely venture outside.  The Arts community tells us that The Underline can be a venue for an expression of the times through murals and installations. The biking and walking community wants more safe places to recreate and commute.  Our health partners say these challenging times are emphasizing the mental and physical health benefits of exercising outdoors.  Through our extensive outreach, we will challenge and validate these concepts to understand exactly how to shape the Technology Master Plan.  

Activities
Outreach       
Complete Tech Plan
Drafting and refinement 
Testing/Validating of action items
Evaluation

Output
Information that drives the Tech Plan
Connected Community
Improved plan that serves the community and the open space

Outcomes
Engaged Stakeholders
Equitable access to our open space amenities
Optimized operations for our public space
Cities worldwide adopt technology model

Years 1-2: The proposed Tech (Em)powered Park will serve all visitors of The Underline. The first phase opens in the Fall of 2020, therefore, visitor counts are not yet verifiable. However, based on Metrorail usage and projected patterns in the first phase (1/2 mile of 10 miles), at minimum, nearly 2 million people will pass through the park due to The Underline’s direct connection to mass transit and Downtown Miami. Plus, over 85,000 residents live within a 10 minute walk and one elementary school with 800 students directly abut the park. 

Year 5: The primary community served by The Underline are those living in the direct impact zone of ½ mile from the park:  250,000 residents and 14,000 businesses, 30,000 students and staff at the University of Miami and 50,000 students at 24 K-12 schools. Thirty percent of this population served has less than $35,000/year household income and is predominantly Hispanic.  Additionally, 9 million transit users representing every occupation imaginable, as well as, many of the 23 million tourists that visit Miami each year, will pass through The Underline annually. 

The Underline is rooted in community input with ongoing listening sessions, surveys (on & offline) and outreach to community-based organizations. Thousands of hours of listening informed and framed its very formation. The implementation of the Tech (Em)Powered Park would follow this proud tradition through ongoing listening sessions, walks, bike rides and surveys to garner insights, input and synergy from a broad cross section of community members. 

The Underline and the Tech (Em)Powered Park (TEP) have many project goals: 
Yr. 1 
● Seek community input and complete Tech (Em)Powered Park master plan.
● Improve equity by providing free internet access to those without WiFi or internet, bridging the digital divide.

Yr. 1-5 
● Catalyze additional projects throughout Miami and the world that support bike/ped infrastructure. TEP will provide accurate pedestrian and cyclist counts. As usership increases,  investment in bike/ped infrastructure will be supported.
● Improve public health by providing a safe place to walk, bike, run and exercise as part of their daily activity. TEP will allow people to monitor their activity and direct relationship with improved health and wellness.
● TEP will provide an interactive curriculum to educate and inform about climate change. This education will help visitors understand their relationship to their personal imprint on earth and the importance of plants and nature to sustain the planet. 
● Built on ADA-universal design principles, The Underline will increase awareness of quality, safe infrastructure and open spaces for people of all abilities. TEP will allow reporting by users of any areas that need maintenance to ensure safe accessibility. 
● The Underline and TEP will connect communities with multi-lingual communication and outreach and an increased sense of belonging.
● Finally, our goal is to create a product that will be developed and piloted on The Underline, then shared with other park projects to ensure that TEP, and its benefits, are scaled throughout the world. 

In addition to the obvious barrier of opening a park in a pandemic, The Underline expects to face some financial obstacles in the implementation of our Tech (Em)Powered Park (TEP). After raising more than $100 million for the park’s construction, we now must secure commitments toward operations.  Even our primary funder for our first year of operations, Miami-Dade County with its multi-billion dollar budget, has a massive budget shortfall due to COVID and has been unable to deposit the funds we need to open this Fall.  

Furthermore, with the opening of our park, we will have to adapt our original programming plan to take social distancing and other COVID precautions into consideration.  Post vaccine, 2022, we are eager to make our free programming available to all with classes, tours, performances, basketball games, bike rides and other opportunities to gather, learn, exchange ideas and yes, interact.

For TEP, we have funds for the creation of the master plan but not for the implementation. We need funding for development and testing in a pilot environment.  Since COVID, both public and private dollars around the world have been greatly impacted.  The Elevate grant would be a boost to our fundraising efforts and would demonstrate the visionary investment of the grantor. Similarly, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has provided catalytic investment in The Underline and TEP. The Knight Foundation continues to invest in The Underline because of the return on investment, they claim at 10:1 ROI.

Financial:  Remarkably, the hunger for programming and public art has translated into numerous inquiries from funders who are betting on the future of The Underline now.  We have launched a $500,000 fundraising campaign to complete an art matching grant and to support opening our park in the fall of this year.  

Programming:  The mother of necessity is invention. We have pivoted a lot and have adapted in this challenging time of social distancing and isolation. For example, we have pivoted from in-person events and have implemented virtual yoga and meditation. We have also had numerous virtual community discussions about leveraging this moment in time to ensure the community of the future prioritizes bicyclists and pedestrians or just residents who want to connect with the outdoors and nature.  

Furthermore, we believe art installations may be a way to encourage people to come enjoy the park, but in a socially distanced format. We are in talks with several black artists regarding a large-scale installation that could commemorate our period of civil unrest.

By pivoting to these virtual opportunities supported by technology, we can identify ways to incrementally implement our technology master plan. We have already begun work with a pro bono augmented reality partner who will develop a pilot project for our new users to experience our park when we open to the public.

As a result of our passionate partners, The Underline has realized an aggressive timeline to open our first phase within seven years of concept.  From the beginning, the Knight Foundation has been an empowering partner encouraging us to set audacious goals.  Due to their commitment to outreach, The Health Foundation of South Florida is funding our Community Outreach Manager.  Baptist Health of South Florida has funded years of in-person, and now virtual, health and wellness programs to elevate awareness about what The Underline will be providing to the community.  Microsoft has helped us apply for technology grants and work through the Technology Master Plan outline.  University of Miami, Miami Dade College and Florida International University have conducted numerous studies to help demonstrate the value of The Underline.  Miami-Dade College’s MAGIC center is launching an augmented reality beta in our first phase. Additionally, we have been working closely with groups like AARP, the Miami-Dade Parks Department, Vizcaya Museum, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, neighborhood associations, schools, and fellow-nonprofits to build a park that meets the needs of the entire community.

Finally, we are a part of the High Line Network, a group of 30+ open adaptive reuse projects throughout the country. This group has been a huge support as we prepare to open. These experts have been able to offer valuable insights on how to ensure we deliver a park that everyone embraces and views as their amenity to enjoy throughout their entire life cycle.

We are designing the Tech (Em)Powered Park (TEP) based on community input so we know what they want, and will build what they want. Our business model is to develop a product (technology infrastructure) that reflects the demands of our key beneficiaries-- the community who will prioritize their interests based on the following questions:

Equitable Access:  How can we leverage technology to improve physical and virtual access to The Underline and to each other?
Art: How do we tie technology into The Underline art master plan? What type of art/tech will they respond to?
Education: How can education be embedded in the user experience and what partners will need to be engaged to support it? 
Public Health: How else can sensors and new/emerging technology be leveraged for the health of users on The Underline? 
Maintenance & Sustainability: How can technology be used to improve reporting for maintenance? How do we integrate technology into the long-term maintenance and operations plan of The Underline? 
Visitor Metrics for Engagement & Programming: How can we leverage technology to track the number of attendees at an event? Or to alert staff that there is overflow which needs more staffing, etc.? 
Security & Safety: Can we leverage technology to alert bicyclists/pedestrians about traffic within a crosswalk? How can we leverage technology to support the safety of Underline users? 
Advertising/Donations/Sponsorship: Can technology be leveraged to recognize sponsors in micro and macro ways? Provide virtual advertising? Build a case for support and solicit donations? 

As a non-profit, our funding model is based on public and private grants for product development.  We will also target private tech companies to support Tech (Em)Powered Parks as part of their global philanthropy.  As the product is scaled, our goal is to provide the product for free, but we will likely need to be compensated for consulting, implementation and any customization and training. 

We have received three grants toward the Tech (Em)Powered Parks initiative: 

1. The John S. and James L Knight Foundation for master planning $550,000 2019-21. 

2. The Health Foundation of South Florida for community outreach including a community outreach manager $150,000. 

3. We have secured over $100,000 in kind (Company name embargoed until it is publicly announced) for WiFi infrastructure and service for phase 1.

We seek to raise $1,000,000 for design and implementation of the Tech (Em)Powered Park pilot on The Underline.  Our goal is to have this funding in place by 2021-22 once the master plan is completed.

For the implementation of the Master Plan in 2020, our expenses will be:

Staffing:  $150,000 including our Chief Technology Officer and our Community Outreach Manager
Outreach:  $15,000 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion consultant, survey deployment, virtual meeting facilitation, research of stakeholder priorities.
Technology:  Installation of AR pilot (in-kind)
Evaluation:  Installation of sensors and data collection from our partners (in-kind from Microsoft)

Moving forward, our budget will grow with the implementation of the Master Plan.
The budget for design, development and implementation of the pilot. Marketing, distribution and project scaling would be additional. 
Software design and testing $350,000
Hardware, security $150,000
Marketing, distribution and project scaling one year $500,000 

We previously mentioned that securing our financial support and realizing a robust programming plan would be barriers in our first year.  Should we win The Elevate Prize, The Underline's Tech (Em)Powered Park plan would receive global attention which would boost fundraising efforts.  Furthermore, we would ask experts from the MIT Solve team to help us translate some of the feedback we receive into reality.  We understand your team has faced huge hurdles that you have overcome. Thus, we want to work with you to develop strategies that would help launch and mobilize our efforts.

Specifically, Joe Deitch and Carolina Garcia Jayaram have experience securing large investments and building the foundations for ambitious endeavors.  Their insights in our fundraising plans would be an invaluable asset to the long-term viability of our plan. 

Finally, based on our feedback and evaluation, we would look to The Elevate team to help drive the completion of final Technology Master Plan.  This plan will be the first of its kind for an open space. Thus, with your guidance we could make sure that it serves as a model for parks to adopt worldwide.

The Elevate grant will help us deploy the Technology Master Plan, implement the proposed outcomes and evaluate their social impact.  We would be honored to partner with your Chief Marketing Officer Ruth Gaviria on a comprehensive media plan that elevates both of our organizations and ensures that all of our partners are aware of our efforts and our outcomes. We have been fortunate to secure free WiFi for our park and would love to receive Ruth’s guidance on how to maximize this investment not only for our users, but to help with the marketing of our park. In order to elevate humanity, we will need to create a playbook from our efforts for the benefit of future users. Through mentoring from your incredibly talented team and fellow winners, we believe we will accomplish these ambitious goals.

Over the last seven years, The Underline has formed strong partnerships with transformational foundations that have helped catapult our concept to market. We fully appreciate how much they have helped accelerate our efforts. However, after reviewing the missions of several key foundations, we know that these additional organizations could help us continue to build momentum and delivery of our goals. These partners would elevate our efforts, which in turn would allow us to elevate humanity.

Bloomberg Philanthropies could help us grow our resilience efforts. For all future phases we will be incorporating bioswales in our design, but we need technical expertise to evaluate their impact.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation could help us translate our Health Impact Assessment into our technology master plan and help develop an evaluation tool to ensure we are tracking the impact of our efforts.

The Rockefeller Foundation could expand its 100 Resilient Cities initiative to help track the impact of our new green space on the Miami community.

The Kresge Foundation could help us expand our community development impact so that the Tech Master Plan ensures a stronger Miami and a more vested population living near our 10-mile linear park.