EngagingCities

The company shut down last year, but its user base remained. Now, the Linux Foundation is taking on the project so it can continue to provide an open source alternative to platforms that lock users in.

As it’s Valentine’s Day, let’s think about love. Or more specifically, how do urban forms – if at all – affect and even shape attitudes towards and behaviours surrounding love, sex and romance? I'm not seeking a claim of outright environmental determinism, but I do think it’s interesting to consider possible connections.…

Marcus Westbury of Renew Australia reveals insights on a new model for revitalization that harnesses the creativity of the local community and explains ways that "cheap" place-by-place interventions can create new life for an entire district.

The document gives the city a foundation for evaluating how technology can improve the lives of residents, serve economic development efforts or other civic purposes.

Tuzla draws crowds with its salt lakes and Barcelona’s manmade beach is a hit – but are they a sustainable form of regeneration?

The book, released in November, argues for porous forms that tackle stifling urban density while offering social, environmental, and economic value.

The future belongs to structures with sensor networks that can monitor electricity and water usage in real time, track sustainability performance and interact with other parts of the smart city.

The same students that brought the Civic Digital Fellowship to Washington are now expanding their programming to create a virtual, semester-long accelerator for students interested in creating civic tech or social impact products. It’s called Build. “As students ourselves, we know that it can be difficult to get an idea off the ground,” the web …

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

We’ve all been there. Staring a broken system in the face wondering how others have tried to fix it. You may have even tried to think of a solution to the problem, and in doing so, you might have become a novice civic technologist. Civic technology, or civtech, is the application of technology to improve or influence governance, politics, or — in GlobalHack’s case — societal issues.

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?

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.

How can we build inclusive, people-centered smart cities?

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.

Balancing product mix, funding sources and community engagement in a cutthroat business sector with historically low margins.

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.

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.

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.

Albert Einstein once said “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” Today’s most significant problems are being addressed primarily by governments, using systems and tools designed hundreds of years ago. From climate change to inequality, the status quo is proving inadequate, and time is running out.

The role of our democratic institutions is analogous to breathing – inhaling citizen input and exhaling government action. The civic technology movement is inventing new ways to gather input, make decisions and execute collective action.

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.

This Guide is a valuable contribution to the body of literature on smart urban management and seeks to share best practices on how cities can successfully migrate from traditional management to smart management.

Leeds could become the first ‘self-repairing city’ in the world by 2035 as robotics engineers work on developing drones that can prevent potholes. 

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?