Please join the University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR) for this Brown Bag lunch featuring Grant Ervin, Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Pittsburgh.
Developing “smart cities” is a hot topic in the area of urban development and municipal management, but what is it? City of Pittsburgh was selected in 2016 as a U.S. Department of Transportation finalist for the department’s Smart Cities Challenge. Representatives from the City of Pittsburgh will discuss highlights of the proposal, lessons learned and opportunities for integration of smart city approaches to enhancing the sustainability and delivery of services within the City.
Grant Ervin serves as the Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Pittsburgh where he oversees the integration of sustainability and resilience into City services, programs and policy. Prior to joining the City of Pittsburgh, Grant served as the Regional Director for 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, a statewide smart growth and sustainable development policy organization; and as Public Policy Manager for Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG).
Grant brings fifteen years of experience, intersecting the worlds of environmental, community & economic development and infrastructure policy to create innovative and sustainable solutions for local governments, community development organizations and state agencies. Grant has helped lead the development of a variety of innovative programs including Pittsburgh’s inclusion in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities Initiative; the creation of the Uptown Eco-Innovation District, District Energy Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh and Neighborhood Community Information System and the Pennsylvania Community Transportation Initiative.