Community Base Neighborhood Mapping

As you can probably tell from the name of my blog, I am very interested in urban development and city planning. My family has lived in Boston for over a hundred years, so I am more than a little invested in the city. I feel a responsibility to participate in the governance of my community. I feel particularly lucky to live here now, in this period of rapid innovation. New technology has opened many opportunities to improve city life on every level, and I want to help.

So, when @raulspeaks tweeted about neighborhood mapping today, I was understandably intrigued. The tweet linked to an article entitled Mapping Neighborhoods To Create Neighborhood Opportunities. The article describes a community based initiative to map neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky. The initiative was launched by the Network Center for Community Change in November 2010. The Network launched the initiative in the hope that better information about the conditions of a neighborhood would allow the community a stronger voice in the development process. With this goal in mind, Network volunteers mobilized into the neighborhoods to map the vacancy rates in a way that community members could use.

I think this concept is a great idea. It reminds me of the Citizens Connect app that the City of Boston launched in 2009. That app creates an easy avenue for residents to notify the City about their service needs. Basically, users can take geo-tagged pictures anywhere in Boston and send them as a request for maintenance to the City. From everything I know, the Citizens Connect app has greatly improved the quality of city services by engaging the active participation of city residents.

I hope that someone in Boston launches a mapping project like the one in Louisville. While the Boston Redevelopment Authority already has good data, I think this sort of community based mapping would be a valuable supplement. It would directly support Mayor Menino’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program as well.

More importantly, I expect that the project would enhance the experience of living in Boston. One of the defining characteristics of Boston is that every neighborhood has its own identity. Each neighborhood has its own character and history that provide a different experience to the resident. (I am partial to West Roxbury, the quiet neighborhood of my childhood, and Allston, a lively neighborhood of diverse residents and businesses.) I believe that the City ought to exploit this diversity in economic planning. By encouraging each neighborhood to develop its own identity, Boston could offer every resident a place to fit their lifestyle. This approach would require strong partnerships between the BRA and community organizations. From my admittedly brief experience attending the Brighton Allston Improvement Association, it seems that many community activists feel that the BRA does include them substantively in the planning process. A community based mapping project would empower residents to take a more active role in the planning process. The resulting relationship between engaged residents and planning professionals would do wonders for this city.