Cities across the U.S. are increasingly looking to technology to improve the public participation process and increase the ways citizens can engage with the government. Chief technical officers are becoming more common.
"Today if you want to voice your concerns to local officials, you can often do so remotely, from your laptop or cell phone. Websites, social media, call centers, and services that receive and respond to mobile text messages are becoming common means of communicating with the powers that be. With so many new avenues to reach municipal governments, the podium is increasingly irrelevant. In fact, the digitization and dispersion of the public-participation process is in such demand that some cities have created positions for technology chiefs to oversee the systems that connect the government to its people."
From New York to San Francisco to Seattle, cities are employing chief technical officers to help governments hear from citizens. But many are still trying to figure out how best to use technology.
FULL STORY: Tech And The City
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Harvard University Graduate School of Design
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The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association