The story of I-Neighbors.org is important to anyone hoping to use technology to complement traditional forms of urban community. The website was created by Keith Hampton, a scholar interested in “the relationship between new information and communication technologies, social networks, and the urban environment.” A trained sociologist, as a newly minted PhD Hampton taught at […]
White House Launches ‘Open Government Initiative’
On January 21st, President Barack Obama issued the first memorandum of his presidency on “Transparency and Open Government,” charging the Chief Technology Officer, Directory of the Office of Management and Budget, and Administrator of General Services to coordinate the creation of an Open Government Directive. The memo articulated a tripartite analysis of the topic, discussing […]
Opening the Archive of ‘Fake Omaha’
The online magazine Triple Canopy has published an article by my friend Neil Greenberg about his “Fake Omaha” project. Illustrated with photos of some of the street maps of the fictional city, the article includes “transit schedules, redevelopment reports, internal memoranda, intra-office communications, and remarks prepared for public officials … in order to provide a […]
Planetizen Post: Why is it so hard to build a train?
I consider how our regulatory process affects transit planning in my latest Planetizen post.
National Journal Asks: Gas Tax $ For Bike Trails?
Here’s my answer to the question “Should the next surface transportation bill allow states and municipalities to use a greater share of scarce Trust Fund dollars on non-highway projects such as bike lanes and pedestrian walkways?” on the National Journal’s Transportation “Expert” Blog. For more background, see my post “Fixing America’s Federal Transportation Policy.”
E-Government Software, Part Two
At the American Planning Association conference in Minneapolis last week, I was struck by the number of e-government software vendors who had rented booths. Although there’s hundreds of vendors selling government software on the web, I thought it might be useful to post a list of those present at the conference. I can’t locate any […]
Highlights From Princeton Planning and the Internet Summit
I recently returned from a conference on “City Planning, Civic Engagement and the Internet” held in Princeton, New Jersey co-sponsored by Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Center for Information Technology Policy. The conference was planned largely by Christian Peralta, the former editor of Planetizen, who did a great job assembling […]