The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance

The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance

by Stephen Goldsmith, Susan Crawford
Released September 2014
Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9781118910900

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Book description

Leveraging Big Data and 21st century technology to renew cities and citizenship in America

The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance. The Responsive City is a guide to civic engagement and governance in the digital age that will help leaders link important breakthroughs in about technology and big data analytics with age-old lessons of small-group community input to create more agile, competitive, and economically resilient cities. Featuring vivid case-studies highlighting the work of individuals in New York, Boston, Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm, Indiana, and Chicago, the book provides a compelling model for the future of cities and states. The authors demonstrate how digital innovations will drive a virtuous cycle of responsiveness centered on "empowerment" : 1) empowering public employees with tools to both power their performance and to help them connect more personally to those they service, 2) empowering constituents to see and understand problems and opportunities faced by cities so that they can better engage in the life of their communities, and 3) empowering leaders to drive towards their missions and address the grand challenges confronting cities by harnessing the predictive power of cross-government Big Data, the book will help mayors, chief technology officers, city administrators, agency directors, civic groups and nonprofit leaders break out of current paradigms in order to collectively address civic problems. Co-authored by Stephen Goldsmith, former Mayor of Indianapolis, and current Director of the Innovations in Government Program at the Harvard Kennedy School and Susan Crawford, co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

The Responsive City highlights the ways in which leadership, empowered government employees, thoughtful citizens, and 21st century technology can combine to improve government operations and strengthen civic trust. It provides actionable advice while exploring topics like:

  • Visualizing service delivery and predicting improvement

  • Making the work of government employees more meaningful

  • Amplification and coordination of focused citizen engagement

  • Big Data in big cities - stories of surprising successes and enormous potential

    •

    Table of contents

    1. Title Page
    2. Copyright
    3. Foreword
    4. Introduction
      1. Saving Children with Tablets
      2. Coordinated, Precision Crime Fighting
      3. The Renewed Public Employee
      4. The Digital Civic Switchboard
      5. Leadership
      6. Notes
    5. Chapter One: The Return of Retail Governance
      1. Customer Relationship Management Goes Public
      2. Connecting Citizens via App
      3. Connecting City Workers
      4. The Next Step
      5. Notes
    6. Chapter Two: Networked Citizenship
      1. Chicago
      2. Rio de Janeiro
      3. New York City
      4. Austin
      5. Chennai
      6. The Future of Civic Voice
      7. Notes
    7. Chapter Three: The Interactive City
      1. Digitally Enhanced Democracy
      2. Supporting Engagement
      3. Notes
    8. Chapter Four: The City as Digital Platform
      1. Epilogue: A Platform Built from Scratch
      2. Notes
    9. Chapter Five: The Responsive Employee
      1. Retail Government
      2. Working Smarter: Data-Driven Decision Making
      3. Accountable Discretion
      4. Open Source Empowerment
      5. Accountable Discretion by Proxy
      6. The Virtuous Circle of Motivated Workers and Satisfied Constituents
      7. Notes
    10. Chapter Six: The Data-Smart City
      1. Selling an Idea
      2. Identifying and Preventing Mortgage Fraud
      3. A Joint Push from Top City Hall Officials
      4. Preempting the Next Fire with Data
      5. Success Goes Viral
      6. Uncovering Efficiency across Fragmentation
      7. Analytics Meets the Open Data Movement
    11. Chapter Seven: Rethinking Government
      1. The Story of HHS-Connect
      2. Civil Service Obstacles to Empowering Employees
      3. Employee Discretion and Creativity
      4. Procurement as the Barrier to Innovation
      5. Notes
    12. Chapter Eight: Toward Responsive Cities
      1. The Promise of Data Analytics: Indiana
      2. The Promise of 311: New York City
      3. Private Data Publicly Used: The Need for Thoughtful Public Policy
      4. Notes
    13. Acknowledgments
    14. About the Authors
    15. Index
    16. End User License Agreement

    Product information

    • Title: The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance
    • Author(s): Stephen Goldsmith, Susan Crawford
    • Release date: September 2014
    • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
    • ISBN: 9781118910900