Participatory urbanism from built environment to open dataCityCamp NC 2017 keynote

Overview - a keynote in three acts

● Act I - Participatory urbanism in Central Falls, RI● Act II - Open data’s participatory potential, unrealized● Act III - Toward participatory open data

Act I - Participatory urbanism in Central Falls, RI

Central Falls, RI

A department of one (me)

(Central Falls’) Legacy of Planning Problems

● Urban Renewal - top down solutionism● Plans on the shelf - long term vision

with no change on the ground

Jenks Park: plans on shelf

Jenks Park: short term need

Connect/codesign with community members

Jenks Park: short term intervention

Grand plans (on a shelf): Central Falls Landing

Incremental action: Blue Heron pop-up restaurant

Signage Plan / Walk your city

Pawt/CF River corridor signage plan (long term) Walk [Your City] (short term)

Participatory City Making

● Connect with community actors

● Experiment alongside stakeholders

Sharing (Zoning) Information

Sharing (Zoning/Property) Information (cont.)

Participatory City Making - with information

● Connect with community actors (who need information)

● Experiment (with sharing/using data) alongside stakeholders

Act II - Open data’s potential, unrealized

Sunlight / What Works Cities (From 1 city to 100 cities)

Open data misalignment

● City halls want open data used (it often isn’t)

● Local actors want information that is usable (it often isn’t)

Top down open data (open data for experts)

● Connecting with community members isn’t in the job description of most IT departments.

● Open data designed (only) for technologists → top-down urban solutionism of “experts”

Long term (open data on a shelf)

● Many open data programs are risk averse, hesitant to experiment

● Waiting on a budget, staff, complete inventory before releasing data or sharing data in new ways

Why does this matter?

● For open data to have an impact is has to be used.

● For open data to have the right impact it has to be participatory.

From open data to participatory city making

Participatory Open data needs to:● Connect to people who need or are affected by

information○ Who needs info? Why?

● Experiment alongside those who need info to make incremental progress○ What can be done to share that info in ways that work for those people?

What can be done to support that reason why info is needed? Is it working?

Act III - Toward Participatory Open Data

Piloting a new approach in Glendale, AZ

Credit: Flickr

(1) Connect with people who need city information

Records Requests in Glendale, AZ

● Development Services department’s information is highly sought after by community actors

● Document types: permits, violations, certificates of occupancy, and environmental assessments

● ~13 requesters made “frequent” requests to Development Services

● Next step: connect with those looking for development services information

Finding people and information needs

Refining open data use-cases with stakeholder interviews Frequent records requester interviews

● The best way to isolate specific opportunities is to talk to relevant community actors

● We have reached out to frequent requesters in Glendale to find out more about how and why they’re using the city information

Insights from interviews

"Each one these requests is a loan….cities sometimes don’t realize that [by providing this information] they’re helping a project access financing and helping the community in general”

Insights from interviews

“The biggest issue is time. Sometimes there is a delay [in access to records] which can delay the [appraisal] process and could affect the assessed value of the house.”

Insights from interviews

“Access to information is a signal for business friendliness and a critical part of economic development.”

Outcome: Promising use case + impact goal

From our insights with real estate information requesters we found there is a promising use scenario to address this challenge...

Real estate businesses (such as appraisers, zoning consultants, and lenders) use property data to approve loans needed to move forward with real estate development projects and transactions.

...so there is a key opportunity for open data to help real estate projects in Glendale move forward more quickly!

(2) Experiment with alongside people you’ve connected with.

What’s next in Glendale? Open data interventionsWhere to find data guide● Some information sought was already online but was hard to find.● We are working with the city to provide a “where to find x data” guide

Permit data by address● Permit information asked for most ● It’s online (in monthly PDF reports) but not searchable by address● We’re working on a way to get data online and provide search by address

Tactical Data Engagement

Tactical Data Engagement

Why does this matter?

● For open data to have an impact is has to be used.

● For open data to have the right impact it has to be participatory.

Stephen LarrickOpen Cities Director,Sunlight Foundation

slarrick@sunlightfoundation.com | @slarrick

THANK YOU / CONTACT