Public Participation

This essay from Places offers five simple ways to make the world a better place -- and they're all related to the built environment.

November 23, 2009 - Places

David Villano takes an in-depth survey of the state of public engagement practices in the U.S., and the positive effects of the processes that work.

November 2, 2009 - Miller-McCune

Paul Shigley reports that Duany spoke to planners at an event in Sacramento, and has a new issue: the broken process for getting things built.

November 2, 2009 - California Planning & Development Report

Planning students from New York-area universities are being integrated into the city's community boards through an innovative new fellowship program.

October 24, 2009 - The Architect's Newspaper

New communication and interaction technologies are dramatically changing the way the public understands and participates in government. The emerging openness of data and information at the city level is broadening the urban policy conversation, but challenges and questions lie ahead as the open city develops.

October 15, 2009 - Nate Berg

Residents of the city of Penjaringan in North Jakarta brought a proposal to the government to convert the area underneath a toll road into a public space.

October 7, 2009 - The Jakarta Post

The Municipal Art Society of New York talks with four young people who are actively involved in addressing the planning challenges facing their communities.

October 3, 2009 - Municipal Art Society

A third-grader in Missoula, Montana has successfully rallied her city to build a new bike lane near her busy street.

September 29, 2009 - The Missoulian

The health care reform town halls are just the latest evidence that traditional forms of public engagement are no longer effective and in fact can be counterproductive, writes Sandy Heierbacher.

August 30, 2009 - Yes! Magazine

Transportation officials in Chicago are enlisting the ideas of area residents as they attempt to draft a plan that will guide development and transportation in the region through 2040.

August 21, 2009 - Chicago Tribune

GOOD Magazine follows planner James Rojas as he engages a community in the act of planning in his own particular fashion, using everyday objects and building blocks.

August 17, 2009 - GOOD Magazine

Changing technologies and erratic political schedules are altering the way the public interacts with elected officials. For some politicians, the new form of public participation can get them into trouble.

August 14, 2009 - The New York Times

Urban planning is one of those things people don't realize they can relate to. Everybody understands cities, so why can't they understand how they are planned? Well, there's really no reason. Urban planners -- steeped in the inner workings of the urban world -- probably aren't the best to try to communicate this idea. So bring in the artists.

August 5, 2009 - Nate Berg

A new application for iPhones seeks to make it easier for Boston residents to report minor nuisances like potholes and busted street lights.

July 8, 2009 - The Boston Globe

I had the opportuntity, at the 2009 national planning conference in Minneapolis, to present (together with my colleague Christian Peralta Madera) ten free web applications that can be used to support planning. Approximately 350 participants attended the session. Since the presentation, I've received over 100 emails congratulating us on the practical nature of the presentation, and requesting links to the websites we presented. Since our presentation was a hands-on demonstration, this blog entry outlines the ten technologies, and provides links to examples of the technology in practice and resources so you can experiment with the technologies.

May 27, 2009 - Chris Steins

Neal Peirce looks at a broad citizen outreach program in Montgomery County, Maryland, engages its growing immigrant population by actually interacting with them face-to-face.

May 18, 2009 - Citiwire

Beth Noveck, deputy director for Open Government in the Obama Administration, talks about dealing with the noise of online collaboration and how to make social networks functional for civic participation.

May 16, 2009 - Government Techonlogy

Linden Labs, creator of Second Life, has awarded a Linden Prize to Studio Wikitecture for their WikiTree project. The online collaboration uses the virtual world "to harness a groups collective intelligence in designing architecture."

April 28, 2009 - Linden Lab

Portland's Metro authority is mapping out the region's transit plans for the next 30 years, and the public is getting involved.

April 3, 2009 - The Oregonian

With severe budget shortfalls, Philadelphia has turned to its citizens to see where the city should make cuts and what citizens are willing to pay to save.

March 5, 2009 - Reuters