Your City, Your Map

We are flocking to the city. Great storytellers are using many mediums to surface the evolution of cities from Urbanized (documentary film) to living in Arrival City (book). The Institute of the Future created a Future of Cities, Information, and Inclusion Map (book) / 10-year forecast map (PDF) to demonstrate the evolution of cities and includes Ushahidi examples. People are telling map stories of corruption, urban design, neighbourhoods, city-building, cooperation, traffic, preparedness and more. Giving a visual life to our communities and their issues, strategy and needs, here are some Ushahidi and Crowdmap examples: Fix My Street (Dublin, Ireland) South Dublin County Council is taking reports about road conditions, litter and drainage: Lagos Traffic (Lagos, Nigeria) Lagos (city and state) is the second fastest growing city in Africa. The Lagos Traffic Map hopes to account for the appalling situation that inhabitant and motorists go through everyday; helps to give out early warnings to air, water and road users; and helps emergency managers in coordinating and managing mishaps. It is a two-month pilot project lead by Nigerian volunteers. Follow the hashtag #lagostraffic. By the City/For the City (New York City, USA): By the City / For the City is a project created and executed by the Institute for Urban Design. They worked with the Project for Public Spaces (PPS). digital team to develop the platform using their Ushahidi-based Placemap tool. Using a map to build open government and civic engagement, PPS focuses on digital placemaking by using "integration of social media into Placemaking practices, which are community-centered, encouraging public participation, collaboration, and transparency." While this year's completion is complete, the Institute for Urban Design is planning next year's map. Segnala Livorno (Livorno, Italy) They encourage the community to map their problems every day from potholes in the streets, the beaches are dirty to degradation in the parks. Mapping social problems (Chisinau, Moldova) Community Planning and Design: Connecting professionals with communities (Toronto, Canada) What is your city story? Other City building examples:

Trentino (Italy) -local newspaper

Overlap in Nairobi, Kenya (area) (tracking reckless driving and traffic issues)

Heather L.