Last spring, I heard about an interesting dataset about Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I lived for four years as an undergraduate student. Busy with the flurry of activity leading up to my completion of graduate school, I stored it away to look at later. After all, real-time information on cities is hard enough to come […]
Obama-Biden Transition Website Accepting Questions and Comments
Although overshadowed in the media, two recent initiatives by President-Elect Obama demonstrates his unprecedented commitment to Internet transparency and citizen engagement. The first concept, announced by transition head John Podesta last weekend, is called simply “Your Seat at the Table.” Obama-Biden Transition team will meet with hundreds of private organizations. Anyone they meet with must […]
Urban Planning on the Web and Usability
In my master’s final paper I described how to adapt five basic criteria for public participation in urban planning to the Internet. The fifth criteria was information, defined as “provide more information in a clearly understood form, free of distortion and technical jargon.” For providing information over the Internet, the most important concept is usability. […]
Searching for Philadelphia’s Trinities
When I visited Philadelphia in April 2007, I stayed with my friend Emily in an improbably tiny house. She had explained that it was off a pedestrian alley off an alley – itself an unusual description – but when I entered I discovered the house had, apparently, just one room. A tiny, twisting staircase led […]
Tools for e-Democracy in Urban Planning
My master’s final paper covers the history of public participation in American urban planning, participation theory, and the general approach that should guide using the Internet for urban planning, among other topics. However, it deliberately avoids the subject of what specific Internet tools could be used. This was intentional, as the technology is rapidly evolving. […]
Public Involvement in U. of Maryland East Campus Planning
Tonight at an event at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning I met Harry Mattison, the author of a blog about the
Learning From George
The circulation of currency has long intrigued humankind. From ancient times, people have no doubt wondered about the history of the coins and bills found in their possession. Where have they traveled? What stories could they tell? From an economic point of view, money is something of an enigma. Its buying power varies according to […]