While free outdoor Wi-Fi can give people a convenient place to get online, using the internet outdoors can be difficult in bad weather, and experts warn climate change could make that problem worse.
Louisville’s plan to connect all its public parks to Wi-Fi is underway, and 15 parks across the city are now online. The city is trying to get two parks online each week.
Chris Seidt, the city’s IT director, said he’s encouraged by how many people are using Wi-Fi in parks, especially Alberta O. Jones park in the California neighborhood.
“I think, for the size of the park, it really overperforms in the number of people that have connected to the network,” he said.
Earlier this year, Alberta O. Jones became the first park to go online. Seidt said the city is focused on low-income neighborhoods where residents may lack internet access, and plans on branching out.
“We felt like we could get the access points in, get a quick service up there for folks that needed it. And then we kind of expanded our scope to make sure that we're getting in at least one in every council district by the end of the calendar year,” he said.
There have been a few obstacles, he said, like coordinating electricians and technicians, and adding infrastructure to support installing Wi-Fi.
“And of course, weather can cause delays. If we have bad weather, it's difficult to get crews out if it snows or if there's a thunderstorm or any of those things,” he said.
Seidt said many parks don’t have electrical plugs or utility poles to mount equipment. When they begin work in parks like Seneca, Chickasaw and Shawnee that have more acreage, there could be more challenges to consider.
“They have requirements around what type of pole you can use in the space. We might have to custom order those. So those are the things that we're kind of seeing as potential barriers,” he said. Seidt said they’re planning on getting close to 40 parks online by the end of this year.
Pros and cons of outdoor Wi-Fi
Several cities in the U.S. are building and bolstering their public Wi-Fi networks: Chicago and Detroit have invested in bringing public Wi-Fi to their park systems and public facilities, and Baltimore has citywide public Wi-Fi available indoors and outdoors
But in times of extreme weather, it can be hard for public Wi-Fi users to go online at parks. And as climate change worsens, not having internet access options in tough weather conditions can especially hurt people in marginalized communities that do not have reliable broadband connectivity. For unhoused people who benefit from the service, it can create more obstacles to finding a job or applying for and tracking housing.
Monica Sanders is the founder of the Undivide Project, a nonprofit advocating for digital and climate equity. She also teaches at Georgetown University’s Law Center.
She said it’s important to factor in climate change when developing solutions to improve internet access, including broadband. It’s also vital for city agencies to keep marginalized communities in mind when finding different approaches.
She recommended “just thinking through the lived experiences of people who are using your services and how you can adapt that availability to meet their needs.”
In Washington D.C., where she’s based, Sanders said extreme heat is a concern.
“The nice thing about having strong Wi-Fi in the park is that you can run automated cooling stations to make it easier for people to be there in the heat,” she said.
Sanders acknowledged it would be difficult in extreme cold – it’s expensive and a possible public safety risk to offer heated spaces in the park.
The better solution is to find ways to get people in-home access to broadband, she said.
In April, the federal government’s one-time $14.2 billion Affordable Connectivity Program, which provided a direct subsidy to help pay for internet access for low income and other eligible households, ended due to lack of funding from Congress. It hit low-income and marginalized households, particularly in west Louisville, who could not afford full-priced internet plans.
Kentucky received $1.1 billion from the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program to improve high-speed internet access earlier this year. But even with more funding for expanding broadband and other internet access options, Sanders said it’s important to have interim measures while waiting for bigger infrastructure to be laid.
It takes years to dig and lay fiber, and people who rely on outdoor public Wi-Fi may lose access in bad weather, Sanders said, adding that officials should be aware that public Wi-Fi doesn’t replace the need to provide reliable in-home internet.
“The other thing that cities need to think about is, what do services look like during extreme weather events? Anything from upgrading our alert systems to be available in different formats, investing in emergency shelters and field hospitals to roll out Wi-Fi and taking care of people during extreme weather,” she said.
Sanders said it’s also important for cities to think of sustainable measures at the intersection of the digital divide and climate risk.
“And particularly in redlined neighborhoods, going out and making sure that the power poles where a lot of ‘90s era and early 2000s era internet infrastructures are attached to are in good condition, and going through and reinforcing towers with rubber so they're less likely to go out,” she said.
Seidt, the city’s IT manager, said he’s had some discussions with Mayor Craig Greenberg’s administration about potentially stepping in to bring Wi-Fi connectivity to the upcoming Community Care Campus, which will have a shelter and transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness, and is set to open in late 2027.
In the case of inclement weather, Seidt said Metro Parks’ many community centers and public libraries are good options. The city is also looking at different ways to make sure there’s power at the parks, he said.
“We are exploring some solar options for a few of these to test out the capabilities that may provide,” he said.
Here are the Louisville parks offering free public Wi-Fi, every day from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
- Alberta O. Jones Park, 717 South 23rd St.
- Algonquin Park, 1614 Cypress St.
- Waterfront Park, 129 River Rd.
- Ben Washer Park, 519 W Kentucky St.
- Boone Square Park, 1935 Rowan St.
- Fern Creek Park, 8703 Ferndale Rd.
- GG Moore Park, 626 M St.
- Iroquois Park, 5216 New Cut Rd.
- Lannan Park, 901 North 26th St.
- Medora Park, 6211 Pendleton Rd.
- Petersburg Park, 5008 E. Indian Trail
- Riverview Park, 8202 Greenwood Rd.
- St. Louis Park, 2023 St. Louis Ave.
- Victory Park, 1051 S. 23rd St.
- Watterson Lake Park, 1714 S. Wheatmore Dr.
