Some Boston area parks will be piloting upgraded park benches that charge phones and provide information about the surrounding area, such as air quality and noise level.

The parks have partnered with the MIT Media Lab spin-off firm, Changing Environments, to include "Soofas," solar-powered outdoor charging station that also collects and shares location-based information. The benches will be deployed in green spaces in Boston over the next week, including in Titus Sparrow Park in the South End, the Boston Common and the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

"Your cell phone doesn’t just make phone calls, why should our benches just be seats?" Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said in a statement. "We are fortunate to have talented entrepreneurs and makers in Boston thinking creatively about sustainability and the next generation of amenities for our residents."

The benches will be able to charge two phones at a time, building on the functionality of the first solar-powered seat by Changing Environments, which was successfully piloted in Boston in 2013 in a partnership between the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, the MIT Media Lab and the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

The Soofa debuted last week at the White House Maker Faire in Washington, D.C.