Content about Tools

Tax day has come and gone. You’ve paid your dues. And you probably have very little say over how those federal dollars are going to be spent. But at the local level, an increasing number of cities and towns are turning to their residents to propose projects and make important budget decisions.

Whether you’re new to a city or a long time resident, you almost certainly have knowledge and perspectives you can share with and learn from your neighbors. If cities had one spot where they could collect and capture the spirit of a thriving area, they might just increase collaboration and knowledge dissemination across an entire region.

What comes to mind when you think of the term “Main Street”, especially when you hear it from politicians or the media? Was it an actual street in your small town in Colorado? How about in a large urban center in Hawaii or New England? What should that term even mean? Does it actually evoke one location and population?

The web is chock-full of community planning tools, resources, websites, and guides. The biggest challenge sometimes seems to be sorting through them all to find the resources that are truly valuable. Here are our picks for three comprehensive guides and toolkits that every community ought to bookmark. They’ll take you through the whole process of building stronger, more engaged communities, from communicating with the public to making sound decisions and then taking action.

New apps are coming out every day, but how does a local government find out about the latest technology?  How do they gain access to the newest, most innovative ways to improve the lives of their citizens? Civic Commons has recently launched the Civic Commons Marketplace. The marketplace is a database of civic software brought together to help government personnel find the online engagement tech tools to best fit their city’s needs. 

For our friends at MobileActive.org, the idea of using mobile technology to support social change among people and organizations around the world is nothing new. MobileActive.org has long been on a mission of connecting citizens; providing resources to NGOs that will enable them to enrich and serve their communities. Many may be surprised to learn that in today’s technologically advanced world, there are still roughly 5 billion global citizens without reliable internet access. However, as mobile phone usage continues to rise, resources like the MobileActive.org’s new Mobile Media Toolkit, may just be the answer these offline communities need to activate their public engagement efforts. 

Last month, you may remember that we highlighted our favorite civic engagement apps and tools from a list published by Next American City. Among our top picks from the list was a crowd sourcing website, AllOurIdeas.org - a survey platform enabling groups to collect and prioritize ideas in a transparent and democratic fashion. AllOurIdeas.org is gaining momentum, recently reporting more than a million votes being cast since inception, as groups such as the Junior League, Catholic Relief Services, the city of New York, and other big projects have begun utilizing this tool to collect valuable data and feedback from local citizens from around the globe.

Architects’ models and line drawings used to be the only tools we had to help us visualize a proposed building or major streetscaping project. These days, a host of high-tech tools can help us see the changes in 3-D, compare scenarios, fly or walk through a mock-up of the new design, and even interact with a model through an avatar.

It’s generally agreed that walkable streets, neighbourhoods and cities are a good thing.  Walkable areas produce a whole range of benefits that include less obesity and healthier residents, boosting property values and the economy, fewer traffic accidents, reduced CO2 emissions and maybe even more people walking!