This leads me to wonder how a city or municipality might build the technical capacity to experiment with new local digital service ideas this. I’m attracted by the model of beta.gouv in France that supports “startups d’état”, giving digital support to civil servants with innovative ideas. They build a prototype in 6 months, test its viability, then either integrate the project into the ministry, or disband it.

What if Eindhoven employed a small team of digital product experts that could prototype ideas like Roomsel Noord, test for viability, financial and technical sustainability, and integrate the tool into the appropriate agency, or kill it. Could a city have built Uber itself? It would need some sort of team like this.

Passionate urbanist, skeptical technologist • Building the future of planning at NYC Planning

Passionate urbanist, skeptical technologist • Building the future of planning at NYC Planning