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Over 50% of the world's population now lives in cities, so the conditions are ripe for improving, adjusting and rethinking the urban landscape and city life.
TAKE THIS QUIZ: What's Your Perfect City?
The web flourishes with digital platforms for community discussion, since now it’s city dwellers - rather than governing executives - that actively take part in city-related decision-making.
Check out the following seven websites that harness the power, wisdom and knowledge of the crowds to cultivate smarter future cities.
1. GIVE A MINUTE
WHAT: A digital outlet to share ideas and engage in dialogue about urban improvement.
IN DETAIL: The public dialogue platform states that it takes a mere minute to come up with an idea to improve your city, but small speaks volumes: your ideas can go a long way. Post them online.
WHERE: Chicago, Memphis, New York and San Jose.
2. NEIGHBORLAND
WHAT: A collaborative platform for sharing ideas about urban development.
IN DETAIL: A digital platform where city residents can express their needs, share their ideas and discuss others' suggestions, Neighborland connects between community members in an effort to generate change in their neighborhoods based on the ideas posted online.
WHERE: Various cities Stateside, including Austin, Chicago, San Francisco and New York City
3. SPACEHIVE
WHAT: A crowdfunding platform for neighborhood improvement projects.
IN DETAIL: Spacehive gives community members the chance to beautify their public spaces. Users can pitch their own ideas, receiving fundraising and technical assistance from Spacehive, or use the platform to donate to projects that interest them.
WHERE: London, UK
4. THE CITY 2.0
WHAT: A collaborative platform for sharing ideas and stories about urban transformation.
IN DETAIL: The winner of the TEDx annual prize for 2012, The City 2.0 gives a voice to the masses, allowing anyone to share their ideas and stories about urban experience and cultivating a better future city.
WHERE: Worldwide
5. WALKONOMICS
WHAT: Crowdsourcing pedestrian-friendliness ratings of streets.
IN DETAIL: Aiming to rate the walkability of every street in the world, Walkonomics invites each and every one of us to take part and contribute information. Over 600,000 streets have been rated so far, with a strong presence of London, San Francisco and New York drags. You can add any street in the world and rate it - no login information required.
WHERE: Cities worldwide
6. WALK YOUR CITY
WHAT: An open-source platform to create accurate wayfinding signs that will then be installed around town.
IN DETAIL: Aiming to get more people out of their cars and onto the streets - on foot, Walk Your City harnesses the knowledge of city dwellers to self create wayfinding signs.
WHERE: Anywhere
7. POPULARISE
WHAT: A crowdsourcing platform focused on local development.
IN DETAIL: Popularise facilitates open discussion among community members and builders, giving city dwellers the power to engage in local development projects.
WHERE: Currently in Washington DC, Baltimore, Seattle and Oklahoma City.
