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How Cities Are Using Technology to Address Equity
Cities are growing up. Across the country, cities are strategically building, innovating and investing, with the ultimate goal of becoming cutting-edge places to live and work. In many cases, they are succeeding — attracting millennials to move in, gentrifying areas, lowering crime rates and leading to real estate booms. Unfortunately, in some cases not all citizens have benefited from their city’s growth.
Evidenced in everything from housing affordability to the availability of basic public services, when one section of a community is built up it often means that another is being left behind. As cities are presented with new and exciting opportunities, some feel a moral responsibility to make sure investments and benefits are distributed fairly. What can cities do to ensure they are serving all citizens equally?
For many cities, the solution was found in data and technology. Cities have always been rich centers of data, but until recently that data was often difficult-to-understand, mismanaged and siloed. Cities were not using their data to its fullest potential. By effectively cataloguing, visualizing, analyzing and sharing the large quantities of disparate types of data they are already collecting, cities around the country are beginning to better understand their citizens and make more informed decisions.
In Seattle, the first step to addressing this question was to get more of the community participating in the democratic process, and that meant expanding access points. City officials identified obstacles to participation in community meetings — citizens working more than one job, language barriers, family obligations, not enough public knowledge that the meetings were taking place — and worked to eliminate them with technology. By investing in technology and creating a dedicated online platform, the city worked to ensure that voters could participate on their own time, from anywhere, in their language of choice.
Anchorage, Alaska had a similar approach. With a program called AWARE, which stands for Anchorage Welcome and Resilient, city officials are questioning the issue of resiliency by giving all citizens both a chance to be involved in city processes and a stake in their outcomes. In leveraging public space and focusing on two neighborhoods that have traditionally been disadvantaged, the city is making an effort to turning the concept of diversity and equity into a physical place.
A red-hot housing market in Grand Rapids, Michigan has led to new citizens, industries and services moving in. Unfortunately, that success has not been shared by all citizens. With the thriving businesses and growing neighborhoods, there were also significant racial disparities, including double-digit unemployment in the city’s most ethnically-diverse neighborhoods. Through multiple programs, city officials are using the growing economic opportunities as a means to think about the redevelopment of public property differently, in a way that aligns with their goals to encourage equity.
Situated near the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose had a similar question. As today’s technology boom attracts leading companies, startups and engineers to the city, it has experienced housing crisis that has led to soaring rent prices and citizens who do not work in tech being left behind. In an effort to expand access and opportunities, the city is taking a look at public transportation — a big job in a city that was designed for cars.
These practices, new ways of thinking and innovative approaches to data and technology have allowed cities to address systemic issues of inequality, and helped them better ensure that future progress, services and benefits will be shared among the city’s whole population. Cities can’t force their constituents to participate, but with technology they can make participation easier.
For more information on how these cities are using technology to help address equity within their communities, visit here.
This content is made possible by our sponsor. The editorial staff of Route Fifty was not involved in its preparation.
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