We build tools and services that rewire communities’ relationships with data, sensors, and AI

We believe the design of cities and places -- including the often-invisible technologies within them -- should be easy for all to use and understand.

The Path to Helpful Places was paved with DTPR

In 2019, Digital Trust for Places and Routines (DTPR) began as an open collaborative design project that involved more than 150 technology experts and members of the public. The project was a response to community and stakeholder concerns about data privacy, surveillance, and the opaque nature of smart technologies that were spotlighted during the planning of a technologically advanced community in Toronto by Sidewalk Labs, which was an Alphabet-funded urban innovation company.

In 2020, Sidewalk Labs, the original organizer behind DTPR, announced that going forward, the DTPR project was independent of Sidewalk Labs and would be stewarded by Helpful Places. Helpful Places was originally founded expressly as a vehicle to support the increasing interest from cities in piloting the open-source standard.

Helpful Places is the current steward of the open-source project while offering products and services to organizations interested in adopting DTPR and other open source standards that advance technology governance and transparency.

We believe that creating more public legibility for data, sensors and AI is a foundational first step to enable accountability and foster community trust in the use of emerging technology in the places we live, work and play.

Illustration of two people sitting on a bench under a lamp post with various sensors and QR codes, next to a building with a surveillance camera and hexagonal icons.

Leadership

Black and white image of a woman with square glasses, and shoulder length hair

Jacqueline Lu

CEO and Founder

Helpful Places is led by Jacqueline Lu, a leader in smart cities and digital transformation with more than two decades of public service and technology implementation experience across public, private and non-profit sectors.

As Director of Digital Integration at Sidewalk Labs, Jacqueline led the delivery of the Digital Innovation Appendix, a technical document outlining the company’s approach to technology that was cited by GovTech as “one of the most extensive efforts ever for a private company to be transparent about smart cities tech and associated data.”

As the inaugural Director of Data Analytics at the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, she developed the agency’s data strategy, developed the open data program and founded its first data science team.

NYC Parks’ 2016 smart-bench project was one of the first pilots of New York City’s groundbreaking Guidelines for the Internet of Things, developed to ensure the responsible and equitable deployment of smart city tech.Jacqueline also spearheaded the largest participatory street tree mapping project in U.S. history, culminating in the NYC Tree Map, a digital platform for the collaborative management of NYC’s urban forest.

In addition to leading Helpful Places, Jacqueline serves as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Data Equity, Council for the Connected World and a working group member and contributor to the G20 Smart Cities Alliance, and is a Board member at Superbloom Design.