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The Bright Side for Civic Geeks in the HealthCare.gov Mess
President Obama on a call from Air Force One in 2012. Credit: The White House (Pete Souza) The San Francisco-based non-profit Code for America, as we have discussed at length, focuses its work on...
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San Francisco Wants Technologists to Do Technology
Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu A consensus seems to have emerged that the big-name, big-footprint tech companies that call San Francisco home could do more to contribute to the life of that city. Where...
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21 Ways to Make European Cities More Resilient
A proposal to boost renewable energy in Spain is one of 21 finalists in Michael Bloomberg’s Mayor’s Challenge. Photo credit: jbdodane via Flickr Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s...
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Chattanooga’s Slow Growth Approach to Being the City of Breakneck Internet
Chattanooga schools take advantage of the city’s high-speed Gig network for interactive lessons. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) The southeastern Tennessee city of Chattanooga has had blazingly fast...
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What Cities Need to Know About Beating Comcast at the Internet Game
Today’s broadband provider debate may affect our online future. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson, File) At the moment more eyes than usual are focused on high-speed Internet’s uncertain future in the United...
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What the Obama Administration Has Learned About Giving Away Cash Prizes
Federal agencies’ contests are listed on challenge.gov. At the very start of 2011, President Obama signed a reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act that did something special and new: It expanded...
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Twitter vs. Sirens: Urban Disaster Response in the Digital Age
Rescuers help residents affected by flooding near Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) During a 2012 flood, a Filipina woman tweeted to save her trapped mother and grandmother. After the 2011...
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Interactive Earthquake Map Shows Filipinos How Many People Will Die in Their...
Mylene Villegas stands next to a photograph of Mt. Pinatubo, which erupted in 1991 and 847 people in the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. Photo credit: Aurora Almendral Manila is...
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No Sun, No Soil, No Problem: Eat an Indoor Farm Salad
(Photos courtesy of CityFarm) Take the elevator to the fifth floor of MIT’s ultra-modern glass-walled Media Lab, walk to the cafe, and you’ll come upon an eye-catching spectacle: a profusion of...
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How to Raise Money for Your City Chicken Farm: Successful Civic Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding’s not just for Zach Braff. A new study proves city chicken farmers have a good shot at online fundraising, too. (Photo: Fir0002/Flagstaffotos) Just this week and in the company of...
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What Happened When a Designer Watched the Devices That Watch New York
A security camera is mounted on the side of a midtown Manhattan building. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) “Once you start noticing sensors in your city, you’ll see many more,” notes Mayo Nissen. The...
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3 New Apps That Could Save Lives in a Natural Disaster
After Typhoon Haiyan destroyed Philippine cities like Tacloban, the U.S. Embassy in Manila expressed a need for better apps to aid in disaster response. Photo credit: Department of Foreign Affairs via...
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The Busiest Bike in New York (and More Interesting Citi Bike Data)
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) Last night at NYU, there was a celebration and examination of Citi Bike data, the system’s second such event in its short life, and a demonstration of both why data...
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NYC Councilmember: Public Information Shouldn’t Be a Game of Hide-and-Seek
A new bill before New York City Council would make the government’s crime map more useful. On Thursday, a pile of tech-centric legislation was dropped on the New York City Council. When it passed its...
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How to Get City Governments to Sell What They Don’t Even Know They Own
When Cristina Garmendia and her eventual co-founder, Alexander Kapur, began exploring the idea that would become the digital platform for public real estate called OpportunitySpace and went around...
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Philly Uses High-Tech Solution to Keep Kids in Touch With Incarcerated Moms
A Calif. inmate plays with her daughter during a prison visit. A new videoconferencing program in Philadelphia aims to keep incarcerated moms involved in their kids’ lives. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)...
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California Voters Tell Cities That Transparency’s Non-Negotiable
A cover-up involving Bell, Calif., city manager Robert Rizzo, above, inspired what’s being heralded as a major open-government win. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Al Seib, Pool) A fascinating little...
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Adam Greenfield: “Because” Will Be What Drives the Real Smart City
Adam Greenfield (Photo: Esty Stein/Personal Democracy Forum) Studying the market materials for projects such as Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City and Portugal’s PlanIT Valley, Adam Greenfield found that “their...
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An App to Crowd-Source Urban Chaos
A man waits to be rescued from a burning building in Beirut. Photo credit: craigfinlay via Flickr Beirut is one big security risk. Car bombings and assassinations are frequent occurrences. Kidnappings...
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This Country Is Planning Its Entire Transportation System Around Electric...
Tricycles form the bulk of public transportation in the Philippines. Photo credit: DucDigital via Flickr There are 3.5 million tricycles in the Philippines, and they’re mostly ridden by adults....
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