Steven Johnson examines how officials in New York and other cities can leverage information collected from public call centers to build better cities.
With over 100 million calls to 311 logged in New York, the city has a rich source of data on problems ranging from potholes to graffiti to noise complaints, writes Johnson. While New York has used this data to rapidly respond to incidents like food-borne illness at restaurants or 2009's Maple Syrup Mystery, Johnson argues that making more 311 data available to the public would allow for further analysis and efficiency in problem solving. Projects like Open311 are already fostering similar innovations in cities like San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
However, there are limits to power of the ‘crowdsourced metropolis,' writes Johnson:
"Startups can build applications far more quickly and cheaply than a public agency can, but the city still needs to think fast enough to ask for them-and to integrate them into the way municipalities run While any enterprising developer can build an app for reporting potholes, even the most well-funded company can't go out and repair them."
Read the full story: What a Hundred Million Calls to 311 Reveal About New York
NYC’s ‘Rare and Comprehensive’ Public Data Reveals Congestion Pricing's Success
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s analytics and data team maintains over 180 regularly updated datasets about the city’s transportation system.
Looking for Gentrification? Follow the Rat Complaints
A surprising number of puns get squeezed into an article rat complaints as a better harbinger of gentrification than...rats.
Promised Data-Driven Infrastructure On Hold at Hudson Yards
When the Manhattan megadevelopment got its start, big data was a major part of Hudson Yards' marketing pitch. Now it's "probably the last thing we'll get to."
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Study reveals best places in the U.S. for cycling, walking
New research from Streetlight Data examines bicycle and pedestrian miles per capita in the 100 largest U.S. cities by population.
DSA members accuse Mamdani of 'abandoning values' over housing redevelopment
New York City's mayor plans to replace about 2,000 units of public housing with private, mixed-income housing.
All sides of BRT debate unhappy with CDOT’s most recent move
The Colorado Department of Transportation is no longer considering center-running bus lanes for Colorado Boulevard.
Massachusetts bogs generate both power, and cranberries
Putting solar panels above farmland is one way Massachusetts is advancing toward its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello