The Responsive City - by Stephen Goldsmith & Susan Crawford (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Leveraging Big Data and 21st century technology to renew cities and citizenship in AmericaThe 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 "--

Book Synopsis

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

The Responsive City is a guide to civic engagement and governance in the digital age that will help leaders link important breakthroughs in technology and 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 pioneers in New York, Boston, Chicago and more, the book provides a compelling model for the future of governance. The book will help mayors, chief technology officers, city administrators, agency directors, civic groups and nonprofit leaders break out of current paradigms to collectively address civic problems. The Responsive City is the culmination of research originating from the Data-Smart City Solutions initiative, an ongoing project at Harvard Kennedy School working to catalyze adoption of data projects on the city level. The book is co-authored by Professor Stephen Goldsmith, director of Data-Smart City Solutions at Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor Susan Crawford, co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg penned the book's foreword.

Based on the authors' experiences and extensive research, The Responsive City explores topics including:

• Building trust in the public sector and fostering a sustained, collective voice among communities;
• Using data-smart governance to preempt and predict problems while improving quality of life;
• Creating efficiencies and saving taxpayer money with digital tools; and
• Spearheading these new approaches to government with innovative leadership.

From the Back Cover

THE RESPONSIVE CITY

"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." - From the Introduction

Local and state governments are increasingly called on to solve real problems for their constituents and deliver critical services using limited resources. Yet the way in which local governments typically operate has created a wide gap between citizens' expectations and results. The emergence and widespread adoption of new technologies among citizens and government has created a sea change as these new tools empower municipal leadership to explore new opportunities to help the public sector break out of its hierarchical and rule-driven structures and reinvent itself.

The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance highlights the promising intersection of government and data through vivid case studies featuring municipal pioneers and big data success stories from Boston, Chicago, New York, and more. This is the ultimate resource for public officials, government staff, and civic leaders to understand how to leverage new technologies and data platforms to fulfill the promise of effective and efficient local government.

About the Author

Stephen Goldsmith is the Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government and director of the Innovations in Government Program at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is a nationally recognized expert on government management, reform, and innovation. Goldsmith currently directs Data-Smart City Solutions, a project working to catalyze the use of data at the local government level by serving as a central resource for cities interested in this emerging field.

Susan Crawford is the John A. Reilly Visiting Professor in Intellectual Property at Harvard Law School and co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center. She is the author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age and a contributor to Bloomberg View. She served as Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy and co-led the FCC transition team between the Bush and Obama administrations.