Hackaday · Creativity & design

Bike Hack Visualizes Housing Affordability

A new device aims to provide a more tangible understanding of housing affordability issues by altering the resistance on a Citi Bike.

The device, designed by Justin Blinder, uses a GPS module and an ESP32S3 to control a servo that actuates the bike's front brake. As a rider cycles through different New York City neighborhoods, the bike's resistance changes in proportion to the local rent burden.

The goal was to make the resistance changes physically noticeable but not abrupt or unsafe. Rent burden, defined as the percentage of income spent on rent, serves as one indicator of financial strain in an area.

This project connects abstract statistical data to a more experiential understanding of urban disparities.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.