I have begun developing a research collaboration with Katie Lorah from the civic crowdfunding organization ioby. We’ve decided to “think out loud,” and share some of our early thoughts about civic crowdfunding in an article published yesterday on Planetizen titled “More Than Money: Civic Crowdfunding for Participatory Community Development.” In the article we discuss three possible […]
New U-M Course in Sustainability and Social Change
In the Winter 2016 term, I’ll be offering a new course at Michigan titled “How To Change the World: Sustainability and Social Change.” After developing a shared theoretical perspective about social structure, the course considers and critiques several popular change paradigms including the adoption of disruptive innovations, social entrepreneurship, and tactical urbanism. The aim of the course […]
New Journal Article: ‘Sketching and Learning: A Planning Support System Field Study’
An article containing findings from my research on social learning and GIS-based planning tools has been published by the journal Environment and Planning B, the leading journal for research on IT and analytical methods applied to urban problems. The article is titled “Sketching and learning: a planning support system field study,” and the abstract is […]
Register Now for 9/26 Urban Informatics Ann Arbor Unconference
I’m pleased to announce an unconference planned for 9:30 am – 4:00 pm on Saturday, Sept. 26th, in the Art & Architecture Building at the University of Michigan North Campus. Urban informatics is an interdisciplinary field of researchers and practitioners interested in using information technology for the analysis, management, and planning of cities. It encompasses […]
Applying Geospatial Crowdsourcing to Cities
Later this month I’ll be traveling to the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario to participate in the GeoThink Summer Institute. The event will focus on crowdsourcing, and I will be joined by Daren Brabham (University of Southern California), Monica Stephens (SUNY Buffalo), and Renee Sieber (McGill) to provide an overview of geospatial crowdsourcing, present some of […]
Edited Volume on Planning Support Systems and Smart Cities
My new edited volume, titled Planning Support Systems and Smart Cities, is now available online through Springer. The book features peer-reviewed papers which will be presented at the 14th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM 2015), a conference to be held at MIT in Boston on July 7-10, 2015. The book is co-edited by […]
On Studying Planning in the Detroit Region
The building of cities is one of man’s greatest achievements. The form of his city always has been and always will be a pitiless indicator of the state of his civilization. — Edmund Bacon, Design of Cities (p. 13) This quotation, by the famous Philadelphia architect and planner Edmund Bacon, has always been one of […]