EngagingCities

It may not be as hard as it appears to figure out how to measure what matters in civic tech.

We now know who was behind the World Record Egg - and what they plan on doing with the account. But what does this tell us about today's attention economy?

While it may seem like a hip, high-tech way to develop projects, more cities are employing crowdsourcing as a modern iteration of good ole public engagement.

What so much of the conversation around civic tech boils down to is the question of public/private partnerships

A muddled agenda of inclusion seems to be a rationale to eviscerate one of the Oregon city's most lauded civic assets.

How a human-centered approach makes a difference for citizens

Last year, China cracked down on recycling imports, forcing cities to get cleaner and more creative with their trash. A look at what's working and what's not in the U.S. recycling market.

Did you hear about the cybersecurity minister who has never touched a computer? Or the government website that will teach you to roll a joint?

 The Data Journalism Handbook 2: Towards a Critical Data Practice explores working with, assembling, experiencing and investigating data, platforms and algorithms, as well as organising data journalism in the newsroom.

On his 90th birthday, a reflection on the late civil rights leader’s commitment to amplifying and working with the young

When the Cities of Service team first set out to create the Engaged Cities Award, we wanted to unearth and lift up the powerful work that cities around the world are doing to solve critical public…

A new study finds that Detroit residents who rejected "free trees" knew the benefits of the urban tree canopy, but distrusted the city's motives and process.

Neil Stoker, Visiting Researcher at St. George’s University of London, found the landmark review of engagement studies by Jude Fransman in the latest issue of Research for All enlightening…

In late September, London made headlines when it stripped popular ride-hailing app Uber of its license to operate in the city. The wall-to-wall coverage that followed the decision was a sign, if any more were needed, that we are on the cusp of an...

Just as important as any technology is the infrastructure in place to sustain it: human, financial, and technical. When approaching this question — “what do we do?” —we need to have clarity on the systems and structures a city needs to have in place (in-house or not) for sustainable, meaningful innovation. Fortunately, over the past few years, we have seen a number of models emerge for governments keen on leveraging modern technology and modern approaches.

We need to invest more in the “civic” in civic tech — prioritizing community leadership in the creation of tech above the tools themselves.

Developers rely on government data to build public-facing apps and services, and a lapse in appropriations can make things complicated.

We asked futurists, tech execs, academics, researchers, and a sci-fi writer to imagine our tech-driven society in 20 years. Take a peek into the future.

Virtual reality in real estate is no longer just an idea – here is what it can look like in practice, says Andrew Pryke of BAM Design.

At a conference I attended a couple of years ago, a professor presented the results of a survey on what motivates scientists to engage with the public. The top reason scientists gave was to defend…

Plus, New York City codifies its office of data analytics, U.S. Congress votes to approve the OPEN Government Data Act, Buffalo, N.Y., wins an award from the New York secretary of state for its local data work, and more.

Technology companies aren't really built to fix society. So maybe think twice about letting them rebuild urban spaces.

Whether it’s an apartment building, shopping center, or a mixed-use project, ostensibly well-intentioned residents regularly cite worsening traffic as the reason to stop new development. However, the most common methods communities push for to alleviate congestion make it worse, while the things that actually help usually face strong pushback.

These 15 people changed how we plan, design, think about, and live in cities.