Crowd-sourced Planning
Andrew
Nash
GreenCityStreets.com
March
27,
2014
Using interactive city tools to
improve public involvement

Outline
1. Public
involvement
and
planning.
2. What
are
interac(ve
city
tools
anyway?
3. A
structure
for
understanding.
4. Examples.
5. Summary
and
QuesLons.

1.
Public
involvement
and
planning

Big
Problems
+
Limited
Resources
• Climate
change
• Socio-­‐economic
change
• Demographic
change
• Urban
growth
• Financial
crisis
Ci(es
cannot
solve
today’s
difficult
problems
without
help
from
their
residents.

How
does
public
involvement
help?
• Generates
beSer
ideas
Detailed
local
knowledge
&
fresh
perspec5ve
• Provides
poliLcal
support
Especially
important
for
tough
decisions
• Creates
commiSed
residents
People
willing
to
ac5vely
help

CIVITAS
ELAN
Project:
CiLzen
Engagement
in
the
field
of
mobility

CIVITAS
Public
Involvement
–
ThemaLc
Group
To
be
discussed
following
the
webinar.
hSp://www.civitas.eu/content/public-­‐involvement

2.
What
are
interac(ve
city
tools
anyway?

Your
city?

Interac(ve
city
tools
ApplicaLons
and
technologies
that
help
people
work
together
to
increase
city
livability,
economic
well-­‐being
and
sustainability.

Inform
Inform
+
Consult
Inform
+
Consult
+
Collaborate

hBp://in.kahootz.com/blog/bid/293979/Choosing-­‐the-­‐right-­‐digital-­‐stakeholder-­‐engagement-­‐channels

But,
it’s
more
than
words
and
talking.

3.
InteracLve
City
Tool
Structure
Complex
slide
warning!

Open
Data
(by
Government)
Sensor
Data
(by
public)
EducaSonal
Apps
Public
Discussion
Apps
AcSons
AcSviSes
Services
Plans
InformaSon
Status
Updates
BeBer
MeeSng
Apps
CollaboraSon
VisualizaSon
Analysis
AccounSng
Develop
New
Apps
Input
Analysis
CollaboraSon
Output
Public
ReporSng
Apps
Support
Real
RelaSonship
Apps

The
public
role:
A. Provide
input
B. Analyze
data
C. Collaborate
in
planning
D. Support
decision-­‐making
E. Take
acLon
Input
Analysis
CollaboraLon
Output
Support

These
are
the
same
acLviLes
ciLzens
have
always
performed
…
But
today’s
informaLon
technology
has
vastly
expanded
the
ability
of
ciLzens
to
get
involved:
-­‐
more
people
-­‐
more
detail

4.
Examples

• Mainstream
social
media
(TwiBer,
Facebook)
• Service
status
&
reporLng
(agency
websites)
• Survey
applicaLons
(e.g.,
Survey
Monkey)
• Customized
reporLng
applicaLons
• GPS
reporLng
applicaLons
A.
CollecLng
input

Chicago
Transit
Authority
–
TwiSer
Feed

Zurich
Public
Transport
Authority
–
Facebook
Page

Customized
reporLng
applicaLons

SeeClickFix
page
for
San
Francisco
hBp://seeclickfix.com

Traffic
Check
hBp://www.trafficcheck.at/
User
friendly
features
needed
for
mobile
phone
reporLng:
• automaLc
geo
locaLon,
• logical
informaLon
flow,
• check
boxes
for
data
entry.

A
key
part
of
customized
reporLng
apps
are
back-­‐end
analysis
and
tracking
systems.
Verbeterdebuurt,
Netherlands
hBp://www.verbeterdebuurt.nl/

GPS
based
reporLng
applicaLons

Meine
Radspur,
Vienna
hBp://www.meineradspur.at/

Street
Bump,
Boston
hBp://streetbump.org/

• City
data
–
open
data
streams
or
scraped.
• CiLzen
collected
data
–
cheap
sensors.
Government
no
longer
has
a
monopoly
on
data
and
informa(on.
B.
Data
Analysis

CiLzen
developed
applicaLons
and
visualizaLons
from
open
data.
Stumble
Safely,
Washington
D.C.

Now
…
a
word
from
our
sponsors:
Please
open
your
city
data
This
means
providing
easy
access
to
• real
data
(not
PDFs)
• via
applicaSon
programming
interfaces
(APIs)
• using
standard
formats
(e.g.
GTFS).
See:
Open
Knowledge
FoundaSon
for
more
informaSon
about
open
data:
hBp://okfn.org/

CiLzen
collected
data
It’s
easier
then
ever
for
ciSzens
to
collect
data
• Inexpensive
sensors
• Scraping
public
data
sites
Open
your
data
so
ciSzens
do
not
need
to
scrape
your
sites
…
let
them
create
applicaSons
for
you
…
this
will
save
you
money
and
increase
creaSvity!

WayCount
vehicle
counter
and
soiware
www.waycount.com

Smart
CiLzen
sensor
and
soiware
hBp://www.smartciSzen.me/

Air Quality Egg
Air
Quality
Egg
hBp://airqualityegg.com

C.
CollaboraLon
Par(cipate
efficiently
without
a@ending
mee(ngs.

San
Francisco
Mind
Mixer
website
www.improveSF.com

Shareabouts
–
geo
collaboraLon
openplans.org/work/shareabouts/

GreenCityStreets.com
…
Facebook-­‐based
collaboraLon

Loomio
–
public
infrastructure
for
collaboraLve
decision
making
www.loomio.org
-­‐
please
support
their
crowd
funding
effort!

• EducaLon
–
ciSes
are
complex!
• Tools
for
beSer
meeLngs
and
processes
• Increase
engagement
Help
improve
the
collabora(on
process.
D.
Support

“Why
is
everyone’s
valuable
input
so
stupid?”

BusMeister
…
public
transport
learning
hBp://greencitystreets.com

Participatory
Chinatown
Boston
Using
virtual
reality
to
understand
urban
planning.
hBp://www.parScipatorychinatown.org/

hBp://streetmix.net

Improve
Public
Transport
wiki
…
crowd-­‐sourced
informaLon
about
public
transport.
hBp://greencitystreets.com

Community
PlanIT
-­‐
game
based
plans
hBp://communityplanit.org

Grr-­‐Grr-­‐Bike
…
smartphone
game
for
educaLon
+
engagement.
www.grr-­‐grr-­‐bike.com

Designing
Chicago
…
crowd
sourcing
public
transport
applicaLon
development.
hBp://designingchicago.com

Plan
in
A
Box
–
tools
for
planning
hBp://planinabox.org

Simpl
Challenges
hBp://www.simpl.co/howitworks

E.
AcLon
• InformaLon
–
e.g.
transit
informaSon
• Real
acLviLes
– Clean-­‐up
days
– P2P
ridesharing
–
Sharing
Culture
– Casserole
–
shared
meals
and
socializaLon
• Crowd-­‐sourced
civic
works
If
you
don’t
do
it
someone
else
will
…
(not
necessarily
bad).

596acres
–
acLvity
diary
–
acLon
record
&
long
term
knowledge.

Ciclo
Rotas
Centro
project
Rio
de
Janerio,
Brazil

5.
Summary
and
QuesLons
1. We
need
more
and
beSer
involvement
to
solve
today’s
serious
problems.
2. Input
is
more
than
words
and
talk.
3. New
technology
=
more
involvement:
…
in
all
aspects
of
planning.
4. Please
open
your
data.
5. If
you
don’t
do
it
…
someone
else
will.

Andrew
Nash
helps
clients
develop
social
media,
serious
games
and
crowd
sourcing
applicaSons
designed
to
improve
ciSes
and
transport
systems.
His
current
projects
include
Grr-­‐Grr-­‐Bike
(www.grr-­‐grr-­‐bike.com),
a
smart
phone
game
designed
to
encourage
people
to
get
involved
in
urban
bicycle
planning
and
advocacy,
and
www.GreenCityStreets.com,
a
project
that
uses
a
serious
game
and
a
wiki-­‐based
best
pracSces
website
to
educate
people
about
public
transport
operaSons
and
a
Facebook-­‐
based
crowdsourcing
plahorm.
You
can
reach
him
at:
andy@andynash.com

Crowd-­‐sourced
Planning
Using interactive city tools to
improve public involvement
Andrew
Nash
andy@andynash.com
www.andynash.com
+43
676
933-­‐0483
Vienna,
Austria

References
• Nash,
Andrew;
A
Proposed
Structure
for
Understanding
InteracSve
City
Tools;
May
2013,
hBp://andynash.com/publicaSons/
• “InteracSve
City
Tool”
from
Play
the
City
hBp://www.playthecity.nl/
• Code
for
America
(CfA)
hBp://codeforamerica.org/
• OpenPlans
hBp://openplans.org
• Open
Knowledge
FoundaSon
hBp://okfn.org/
• GovLab
Open
Governance
WIKI
hBp://thegovlab.org/wiki/Main_Page
ReporLng
ApplicaLons
• Seeclickfix
hBp://seeclickfix.org
• Fix
My
Transport
hBp://www.fixmytransport.com
• CiSzens
Connect
hBp://www.cityososton.gov/doit/apps/ciSzensconnect.asp
• Traffic
Check
hBp://www.trafficcheck.at/
• Verbeterdebuurt,
Netherlands
hBp://www.verbeterdebuurt.nl/

References
-­‐
2
GPS
Data
ReporLng
ApplicaLons
• CycleTracks,
San
Francisco
–
GPS
data
collecSon
system
for
bicycling:
hBp://www.sfcta.org/modeling-­‐and-­‐travel-­‐forecasSng/
• Meine
Radspur,
Vienna
hBp://www.meineradspur.at/
• StreetBump,
Boston
hBp://streetbump.org
• Waze
roadway
GPS
data
collecSon
www.waze.com
• Moovit
public
transport
GPS
reporSng
app:
www.moovitapp.com
CiLzen
Collected
Data
• WayCount
traffic
counter:
hBp://trafficcom.org
• Air
Quality
Egg:
hBp://airqualityegg.com
• Cosm
sensor
data
sharing
plahorm
hBps://cosm.com/
• Seeplan
–
project
by
Even
Westvang
from
Bengler
–
hBp://bengler.no/seeplan

References
-­‐
3
CollaboraLon
ApplicaLons
• MindMixer
www.mindmixer.com
• Shareabouts
hBp://shareabouts.org
• GreenCityStreets.com
www.greencitystreets.com
• Loomio
–
crowd
sourced
decision
making
www.loomio.org
• Bogotá
–
My
ideal
city
hBp://www.miciudadideal.com/en/ciSzen_sourced
CiLzen
Collected
Data
• WayCount
traffic
counter:
hBp://trafficcom.org
• Air
Quality
Egg:
hBp://airqualityegg.com
• Cosm
sensor
data
sharing
plahorm
hBps://cosm.com/

References
-­‐
4
Support
and
EducaLon
• Community
Planit
hBp://communityplanit.org
• BusMeister
Game
hBp://www.greencitystreets.com
• ParScipatory
Chinatown
hBp://www.parScipatorychinatown.org/
• Streetmix.net
hBp://streetmix.net
• Grr-­‐Grr-­‐Bike
engagement
game
hBp://www.grr-­‐grr-­‐bike.com
• Designing
Chicago
hBp://designingchicago.com/
• Plan
in
a
Box
hBp://planinabox.org/
• Simpl
Challenge
hBp://www.simpl.co/howitworks
Taking
AcLon
• Everyday
Growing
Cultures
hBp://everydaygrowingcultures.org
• 596
Acres
–
New
York
hBp://596acres.org/
• Ciclos
Rotas
Centro
–
Rio
de
Janeiro
hBp://events.gsapp.org/event/ciclo-­‐rotas-­‐centro-­‐0
• Networks
of
Dispossession
–
Turkey
hBp://mulksuzlesSrme.org/index_en.html