Open Cities: New Media’s Role in Shaping Urban Policy
In the past five years, numerous new media outlets have emerged to occupy a new niche: online urban advocacy. This cohort of advocates — consisting of the people behind editorial websites, blogs, wikis, software applications and young non-profits — has the potential to radically shift the way that the public engages with cities, and the way that local governments tap the power and ideas of their constituents.
Open Cities: New Media’s Role in Shaping Urban Policy is a two-day conference, produced by Next American City and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, that will unite new media and urban policy’s top thinkers and practitioners. Through a series of panel discussions, presentations and networking opportunities, this conference will discuss new media’s strategies for dealing with a variety of challenges — such as how to build an engaged urban citizenry, best utilize municipal data and develop cost-saving technologies or networks to improve cities.
Conversations will address the following questions, among others: How do new media shape the public’s perception of cities? How is open data changing the way the public and government interact? How can ordinary citizens be engaged in the planning and development of their cities?
In answering these questions, the conference’s 75 attendees will develop tactics for linking their common goals and shaping a federal urban policy agenda that includes new media. We hope that one result of the conference is that partipants will create formal and informal partnerships to further their messages and shape cities in the years to come.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Opening Keynote
Adolfo Carrion, Jr., Director, White House Office of Urban Affairs
The Potential of Cities
Moderator: Damon Rich, City of Newark and Center for Urban Pedagogy
Assaf Biderman, SENSEable City MIT; Robin Chase, Meadow Networks; John Tolva, IBM
As local governments open their municipal data, they are opening their cities to transformation. How will open systems, geolocation, hyper local data and other technological innovations change the ways people exist in and perceive their cities.
Keynote and Lunch
Janette Sadik-Khan, NYC Department of Transportation
Informing the Public
Moderator: Bill Buzenberg, Center for Public Integrity
Panelists: Sewell Chan, The New York Times; Aaron Naparstek, Streetsblog; Rhys Thom, EMBARQ; Brian Boyle, Issue Media Group
Urban advocacy blogs have come to challenge online newspapers and magazines’ objectivity and reporting style. What are the most effective ways of informing the public and effecting change? Panelists will discuss how their media models serve the public.
Technology for Participatory Planning and Civic Engagement
Moderator: Rob Lane, Regional Planning Authority
Panelists: Deb Ryan, Ryan Harris; John Geraci, DIY City; Eric Gordon, Hub2; Nick Grossman, The Open Planning Project
New software and wikis are changing the way that citizens can engage with the design of their communities. Each participant will show how this software can revolutionize and improve the way that cities are planned and developed.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Opening Keynote
Shelley Poticha, Senior Advisor for Sustainable Housing and Communities, HUD (invited)
Moving Cities
Moderator: Christian Peralta Madera, Princeton University
Panelists: Mike Mathieu, Front Seat; David Alpert, Greater Greater Washington; Joe Hughes, Google Transit
Websites such as Walkscore and Google Transit, as well as transit advocacy blogs, have the potential to alter the way that citizens perceive their mobility within a city. Can they change the way cities develop or where people move to?
Information, Communication and Governance
Moderator: Lily Liu, Public Stuff
Panelists: Chris Vein, City of San Francisco; Bill Schrier, City of Seattle; Peter Corbett, iStrategyLabs; Daniel Munz, The Collaboration Project
The Internet allows for quick engagement on the civic side — but how is the government currently using the Internet and data collection to reach its constituency? Participants will discuss open data applications, e-government and other methods that cities use to engage their citizens.
Daily Urbanism
Moderator: Morgan Clendaniel, GOOD Magazine
Panelists: Wendy Gordon, Smarter Cities; Dan O’Neill, EveryBlock; Ben Berkowitz, SeeClickFix
A good infographic is worth a thousand words. Data visualization can help bridge the gap between government projects and citizen engagement. Panelists will discuss opportunities to use data to better understand cities and guide regional policies.
Keynote and Lunch
Bruce Katz, Brookings Institution
Charrette and Case Study: Washington, D.C.
Participants: Harriet Tregoning, Chris Willey and others
All participants will join in a conversation with local government about how feasible these new media projects in the D.C. area. The case study will explore opportunities and obstacles for this particular city and invite comparisons to other cities.
Closing Remarks
Diana Lind, Next American City
