The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance

Introduction

Urban government in the United States today is at a critical juncture. Never before over the last century has there been such a need to change the way city hall works. And never has there been such an opportunity to do it. The century-old framework of local government—centralized, compartmentalized bureaucracies that jealously guard information and adhere to strict work rules—is frustrating and disappointing its constituents, whose trust in government is at an all-time low. Residents in many cities despair of getting the services they need from city hall, especially in places where financial stresses are making governments even less responsive than in the past. Yet local government has the means to completely reverse this trend ...