EngagingCities is an online magazine that shares creative strategies and new technologies to foster public engagement for livable communities.
Cities are made of people. And cities should be influenced by the needs of the people who live in them, but that doesn’t happen often enough in today’s world. How could cities be improved if they were shaped by citizens with the help of experts, instead of being planned by the experts and handed to citizens as a finished product? EngagingCities is a gathering place for exploring the ideas and tools that are empowering people to become part of the creative process of planning for better communities.
What we do
Our goal is to inspire urban planners, architects, developers, educators, economists, and policy makers to apply new approaches and technologies in ways that make community development more participatory, collaborative, and effective. We highlight new online tools and examine how they can be used in the emerging culture of citizen participation and engagement. We also explore low-tech, high-impact strategies for community involvement. Every day, new projects and developments across the globe demonstrate creative ways for including citizens in the shaping of places -- EngagingCities is where you can follow and become part of this movement. We share the stories of the people, places, and practices that turn engaging ideas into applicable realities.
Why we do it
We want to track how the rise of interactive technologies (Web 2.0) will impact our cities, especially the urban planning process -- what will “Planning 2.0” look like, and how will it be used to create more livable places? We believe open source principles -- collaboration, openness, transparency -- will influence future urban developments, and that planners should have a resource for learning and sharing with each other about their experiences in applying these principles to their work. By observing and experimenting with innovative planning methods, we want to influence the discussion about the future of our field and share insights, resources, and best practices of this new approach to community planning.
Who we are
Behind EngagingCities is a dedicated group of professionals and contributors with a commitment to helping planners, architects, local officials and communities utilize innovative online and mobile tools to spark interaction and engagement within planning processes.
EngagingCities was initially launched by Urban Interactive Studio’s founder, web developer and online engagement practitioner Chris Haller. At UIS, we provide outreach strategies and tools to a variety of clients and projects, each with unique needs. Our expertise? Engaging Web and mobile platforms. Our passion? Livable urban spaces.
As we seek to continue providing cutting-edge tech solutions for the planners and communities who share our vision, we hope EngagingCities can become a think tank with contributors from all across the board dedicated to making urban spaces more relevant and livable for the people within them. Here we combine the research, ideas, experiments, and successes of engaging planning while raising awareness about the essential concepts of citizen involvement and crowd-sourcing within the urban planning space. Get involved!
