How can public servants create impactful policies using human-centred design? Prototyping for Policy brought together designers and leaders to find out.

Startups and age-old mega corporations across the US are clamoring to develop tech solutions that tackle government’s biggest challenges. And for good reason. These ‘govtech’ companies recognize that…

Public space provides a window into the soul of a city. It is where collective urban life plays out — cycling to work, playing in a park, enjoying hot food from a street corner, performing music for a tip, coming together in celebration or resistance. This diversity of activity can make public spaces rich, but it can also make managing public space difficult.

How do you get audience members, much less the journalists presenting a story, to walk a mile in the shoes of a dot? Or a bar chart?

Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper (LQC) is about finding immediate and effective solutions for improving public spaces.

Cultivate the art of noticing — from smell inventories to sonic mapping, getting lost, looking up and more.

As a network that began and has thrived with a small team, we’re pretty happy about the ways we’re able to support our members. One thing that is a constant battle, however, is often having to turn…

Behavioural insights and better service design can help government can build products as habit-forming as Google, Instagram and Facebook.

Unconferences are sites of intense collaboration, creativity, and innovation. Here's how you can run your next internal project like one.

Each card in "Imaginable Guidelines" is illustrated by a local artist and represents one aspect of urban design, ranging from street vendors to sidewalk dimensions, in order to give players a shared vocabulary and base of knowledge with which to talk about their city.

Improvements in infrastructure and programming in public spaces are easy to see: upgraded playgrounds, renovated libraries, and food, music and activities that draw diverse people into a space. Civic…

In the small fishing town of Ísafjörður, Iceland, an exciting development in road safety has just popped up - almost literally. A new pedestrian crossing has been painted that appears to be 3D by way of a cleverly-detailed optical illusion.

This piece was written by Alice Carter, a product manager at the UK’s Ministry of Justice. For more like this, see our government innovation newsfeed. At the end of last year, the UK Ministry of Justice’s User-Centred Policy Design unit (UCPD) were nominated for Apolitical’s Public Service Team of the Year. UCPD is about involving the user at every point of the policymaking cycle

Five‐stages of potential digital divide barriers to inclusive technology access and usage in humanitarian relief and international development programs

Walking makes people fitter, cities cleaner and businesses stronger – yet we're walking less. Planners and developers can play a big part in designing healthier streets.

As word of social impact technologies continues to grow, more and more students are becoming interested in the space between tech and the public sector. This space, commonly known as “civic tech,” encompasses government, nonprofits, universities, and more. As I’ve increased my own engagement with this industry, I’ve been getting questions from my peers on how they can possibly get involved too.

Being able to adapt to a changing coastline is vital for a state’s future sustainability and prosperity for the next century. With our help, Florida’s future is looking brighter and more resilient.

Car-free days, filtered permeability and lower speed limits are just some of the ways that cities around the world are trying to encourage cycling

In order for open data to be integrated within a culture of civic engagement, open data programs need to meet residents where they are. This can be achieved by using human-centered design techniques like developing user personas. In addition to collecting all the user personas we could find in use in the public sector, we came up with some useful tips for those looking to create user personas.

How the arts gets us to turn on, tune in, and help out

The breadth and scope of possible engagement resources outlined by Public Agenda underscored the importance of clarifying the intent, scope, timeline and available resourcing to support a public engagement effort.

As a general rule the school holidays are best avoided when planning community engagement activities because people are generally harder to reach and disengaged from reality during holiday periods.…

Love your Block is a high-impact service strategy that connects city leaders with community residents to help revitalize their neighborhoods one block at a time. Typically, city officials provide small grants that support volunteer-fueled solutions developed by the community. Whether turning vacant lots into community gardens, removing graffiti, or helping elderly neighbors with simple home repairs that allow them to keep their homes, citizen volunteers are making their neighborhoods — and their cities — better places to live.

Facebook live, citizen surveys, virtual meetings, oh my! From the newsroom to YouTube, jurisdictions face a maze of social media when they want to engage with the community. The Institute for Local Government explains that cities and counties are trying to connect with residents through nontraditional methods in order to reach community members where they are.