With crowdsourcing sites, agencies want your input on sustainability and security

Two local agencies have recently launched crowdsourcing websites to collect public input on important issues of the day. The DC government seeking ideas for building a more sustainable city, and NCPC wants input on security leading up to a panel discussion tonight.

With “Start in September,” the Gray admini­stration has turned to crowdsourcing to develop a comprehensive sustainability strategy for the District. With this initiative, the Office of Planning and the Department of the Environment are able to share their own goals while drawing local residents in to the discussion.

Meanwhile, the National Capital Planning Commission has created a page to hear from residents about which security measures work well and which don’t. This will help shape the discussion at tonight’s panel discussion on how federal agencies can meet their security needs while also creating an attractive and usable landscape.

Crowdsourcing has evolved into one of many tools in an urban planner’s toolkit to seek input on a specific issue that impacts the region. It eliminates much of the legwork associated with gathering public opinion and often reaches a much wider audience than just attending a handful of ANC meetings or holding a public forum could.

The website for “Start in September” features inviting pin-up bulletin board graphics for its visitors, who are entreated upon to describe what would create a “greener, healthier, more livable District.” DC, which has already been recognized nationally for boasting the most expansive LEED green building pipeline and the highest bike share participation, could likely gain much from the ideas of its residents who have supported these efforts.

In its current form, “Start in September” resembles a much larger, similar initiative that recently took place in New York City. Prior to the Institute for Urban Design’s annual Urban Design Week, the organization launched “By the City / For the City,” a crowd sourced initiative to “improve the city’s public spaces, systems, and social fabric.”

Between June 1st and July 31st of this year, “By the City / For the City” collected more than 500 ideas on topics as wide ranging as urban community gardens to the re-use of highway underpasses and the creation of “graffiti parks” intended purely for urban artists to tag their work freely.

Perusing the list of ideas on the website feels a lot like looking at the ideal metropolis: Combine every contributor’s good idea, and you’ve got a Sim City of sustainable, smart growth perfection.

“Start in September” hasn’t yet quite picked up the momentum that the Institute of Urban Design’s effort achieved by summer’s end, but the District is off to a good start. Already the website has drawn 51 new suggestions, filed under the somewhat vague categories of “Define It” and “Do It,” which feature ideas like creating a District Conservation Corps, making city-wide recycling bins larger while making trash cans smaller, and disconnecting all gutters from drains that lead into sewer systems.

Whether because the effort of posting a photograph exceeds just sharing an idea, or because of lower publicity thus far, the NCPC site has only 4 comments thus far. They criticize ugly Jersey barriers at the US Department of Transportation, and praise more artistic bollards in New York’s financial district.

Online participation is just one component of public involvement, and both initiatives couple it with other more traditional ways to be involved. NCPC’s panel discussion will run from 6:30-8 pm tonight at the US Department of Commerce Auditorium. Enter from 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania. RSVP here.

As for DC’s sustainability initiative, “Start in September” is intended to be the first stage in a months-long planning process, and is also intended to spark community discussions on the topic. The site aims to draw the crowdsourcing off of the Internet and into single member district, tenant’s association, and other local meetings.

If you’re planning on leading, or attending, a community meeting this month, grab a discussion guide from sustainable.dc.gov and crowd source your neighbors. You may be surprised with what you hear.