​The Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) at NYU Tandon and Transit Techies welcome you to attend two presentations: Arunav Gupta on "Pedestrian Crossing Distance" and Franklin Tang and Nolan Hicks on "A Better Billion".

Connect with NYU Tandon CUSP and Transit Techies NYC at this talk; attendees are welcome to bring their own food.

The event will be held at 370 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY in Room 1201. We hope to see you there!

​​​About the Talks

​Pedestrian Crossing Distance

​In this talk, ​Arunav Gupta will share a project that used computer vision and OpenStreetMap data to automatically measure the length of 2.7 million pedestrian crossings across the 100 largest U.S. cities. By training a segmentation model on satellite imagery to distinguish roads from sidewalks and pairing that with mapped crosswalks, the team calculated crossing distances with 93% citywide accuracy. The results reveal which corridors are especially hostile to people on foot, with median crossing distances ranging from 32 to 78 feet across cities — and show how newer, more car-centric cities tend to have wider, riskier streets. The findings point to how AI tooling can help planners and advocates quickly identify dangerous crossings and push for safer, more walkable designs at scale.

​A Better Billion

​A Better Billion is NYU Marron Institute Transportation and Land Use Program's latest planning report coupling subway and housing expansion into one comprehensive program. Inspired by the underlying opportunity cost of the Mayor's campaign platform of free buses, A Better Billion explores how subways and housing together tackles the core affordability challenge in New York City using available public data platforms and tools.

​​​About the Speakers

​Arunav Gupta (he/him) is a software engineer at CoreWeave with a Master's in Data Science from NYU, where he worked with urban scientists to understand how street design shapes how we move through cities.

Zhexuan (Franklin) Tang is an Assistant Research Scholar in the Transportation and Land Use program of the NYU Marron Institute. He holds B.A Specialist in Architecture from University of Toronto, and a M.Sc in Applied Urban Science & Informatics at NYU Tandon Center of Urban Science & Progress (CUSP). Franklin is a firm believer of the cross-pollination of ideals, experiences and application-driven mass-mobility development. He is an author of A Better Billion, most recently published housing and subway expansion planning report for New York City. Previously, he participated in editing and writing the Program’s regional rail planning framework, Momentum with Nolan Hicks, and his Masters’ capstone project delivered a subway ridership study for a local transit advocacy non-profit, QueensLink.  

Nolan Hicks is a Research Scholar in the Transportation and Land Use program of the NYU Marron Institute. He’s spent a decade reporting on and writing about New York City government and politics, including authoring investigative pieces that examined how the MTA designs subway stations and why city services frequently fail to reach the needy and mentally ill. His stories across his career have prompted reforms and helped lead to federal prosecutions. At Marron, he led the group’s development of a groundbreaking passenger rail modernization design framework, Momentum, that was released to acclaim in 2025. Nolan’s current projects include further developing the Momentum framework by applying to major transit systems in the US beyond New York. 

​​​Visitor Information

​​​Please visit the NYU Tandon website for directions and a campus map. Advance registration through Luma is required for campus access at NYU for external guests. Attendees who are not current students, faculty, or staff at NYU, including alumni, are asked to register using a personal email address.

​​About CUSP at NYU Tandon

​​​The Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) at NYU Tandon is an interdisciplinary center dedicated to applying science, technology, engineering, math, and social sciences to serve urban communities worldwide.

​​​Founded as a partnership between NYU and the City of New York, CUSP leads research, educational, and entrepreneurial initiatives that advance the science of cities. By applying novel insights to urban issues, we develop data- and technology-driven approaches that drive positive impact. With an additional focus on training future leaders, CUSP offers interdisciplinary academic programs in applied urban science and informatics for graduate students and professionals.

​​​CUSP also engages with stakeholders across city agencies, start-ups, industry players, community-based organizations, and nonprofits to address urgent socioeconomic, environmental, and infrastructural challenges. The center’s ultimate objective is to improve urban quality of life by using data to innovate and refine inclusive, equitable, and sustainable practices for cities everywhere.​

​​About Transit Techies NYC

​​​​Bringing together the technologists who love transit and the transit enthusiasts who hack! We'll have speakers present transit-related projects. Presenters may be household hackers, data scientists, researchers, product developers, or you! All presentations will be technical and awesome. Follow our calendar to stay up-to-date on our future events!

​​Learn more on our website.