EngagingCities

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…

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

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.

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.

A Q&A with Vancouver councillor and civic tech entrepreneur Colleen Hardwick

From civic innovation to digital service delivery, you can make your case at the organization's annual summit. The event is happening May 29 to 31 in Oakland.

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

How Some Cities Are Restoring Nature and Tapping the Power of Ecosystems to Enhance and Protect Urban Life.

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

Singapore is one of the most innovative governments in the world. Here's how it's teaching its entire civil service innovation tools.

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…

Today, Protect Democracy and the Harry Potter Alliance released a new toolkit for students, educators, and Harry Potter fans to take action to protect democratic values through the words and ideas of Harry Potter, titled “Wizards Protect Democracy.” The toolkit they’ve produced identifies six key areas that have historically signaled the decline of democracy, according to experts. It then provides examples of each area within both Harry Potter and America today.

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.

More open data, better digital services and a govtech marketplace are key to the future of digital government in the US and abroad.

The past year has brought increased clarity around the steps government needs to take in order to deliver better services to the public. Open standards, security, accessibility, and human-centered…