Week picks #3

CANNING TOWN CARAVANSERAI

Canning Town Caravanserai is a welcoming oasis hosted by locals, open to all visitors. It is a locally-driven public space bringing together trade, training, performance, a community garden, and a place to eat, drink and play. Mixing a café with art workshops, food stalls with performance spaces, and enterprise units with allotments, it will be hosted by locals and open to all. In short, a community space run by the community.
Currently an empty site opposite Canning Town Station, the Caravanserai is a winning proposal by Ash Sakula Architects in the Meanwhile London Competition, organised by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Mayor of Newham Sir Robin Wales in conjunction with Property Week. Inspired by the meeting points along the ancient Silk Road, the Caravanserai is a place of exchange for ideas, culture and knowledge. Situated opposite Canning Town Station.
The Caravanserai is a new kind of public space, a hive of activity, enterprise and learning for all. But key to its success is that it is a ground-up project; it will grow and be driven by the local community and supported by local organisations. It is a change-maker, a place for people to meet and exchange expertise, activating informal connections between those with skills and those who wish to learn, providing training in construction, planting and the opportunity to work and trade within enterprise units. A place where young people can trial a business, skilled people can teach, and where everyone can visit.

UP SINGAPORE

UP Singapore is a ground-up innovation platform which makes creative use of technology and data to improve our urban environments. The first UP Singapore event was held in June 2012, with about 1,000 people from all walks of life taking part over the course of our events and World Cities Summit exhibition.
UP Singapore seeks to achieve high levels of diverse and active community participation and foster strong collaboration between different community, government, corporate and NGO groups. It is managed by Newton Circus.
As part of UP Singapore, organisations from both the public and private sector contributed to a unique and unprecedented data sandbox, providing opportunities to learn, create value and discover possibilities for new open-data ecosystems and economies.
At the UP Singapore 2012 hackathon, over 200 of the country’s most engaged citizens formed 30 teams and collaborated for an intensive 48-hour event to respond to challenges posted online in advance by engaged citizens, corporates, non-profits and government agencies.

CODE FOR AMERICA

Code for America is a new non-profit, and a new kind of organization. Our team is made up of web geeks, city experts, and technology industry leaders. We are building a network of civic leaders and organizations who believe there is a better way of doing things and want to make a difference. Code for America helps governments become more connected, lean, and participatory through new opportunities for public service -- both inside and outside government -- so we're not only making a direct impact everyday, but also creating the relationships and network for lasting change. Code for America isn’t just a way to offer city governments technical talent at less than market rates. Beyond just the projects our fellows build, the program is designed to:

• Cultivate the next generation of public sector technology leaders. Up to 60% of the municipal workforce in many cities will retire in the next five years. This represents not only a crisis of talent, but also a huge opportunity. Think how much can change if we fill those positions with people who have a native understanding of how technology can work in modern urban life.
• Inject a culture virus into city government. We recruit fellows who demonstrate a networked, web-centric and open approach to problem-solving. Attaching the fellows to the city for the year and helping them build relationships with a wide variety of city workers is an effective way to introduce this kind of thinking and help it spread
• Encourage experimentation. The fellows will be available for side projects in the city that would be difficult to move forward through standard channels. The city leadership and the fellows can function as an ad hoc innovation team, collaborating on a series of interesting experiments throughout the year, all of which will be shared with the other cities.
• Change the tool set. Part of the job of the fellows will be to help introduce lightweight, simple technology that can help with internal functions. These small changes can have large lasting effects.
• Facilitate collaboration with other cities. Code for America is building a network of city leaders who believe there is a better way of doing things, and the program involves both formal and informal channels to share ideas and lessons learned. We’re also working more robust channels for sharing applications and setting technology standards across cities.

SF BETTER STREETS

San Francisco’s policies encourage the design and development of ‘Better Streets,’ sometimes referred to as ‘Complete Streets,’ that work for all users. The San Francisco Better Streets Plan, adopted in December 2010, states:
Better Streets are designed and built to strike a balance between all users regardless of physical abilities or mode of travel. A Better Street attends to the needs of people first, considering pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, street trees, stormwater management, utilities, and livability as well as vehicular circulation and parking.
Designing Better Streets means considering the street’s role in the overall transportation network, and including facilities appropriate to that role. Is the street on a bike or transit route?Are there specific pedestrian needs or conditions that must be addressed?
Designing Better Streets also means maximizing features for the comfort, usability, and aesthetics of people walking. Does the street include greening features, lighting, and sidewalk furnishings? Does the plan take advantage of opportunity to create public spaces in the right-of-way? Are sidewalk features safe and accessible for all users?
Better Streets should also consider the street’s ecological role. Does the street take advantage of opportunities to slow down stormwater runoff or allow it to filter to the soil below? Are there street trees to improve conditions for people while providing other ecological be
This website is provided by the City and County of San Francisco to assist San Franciscans to make street improvements in their neighborhoods, shopping districts, and workplaces. The site provides information on street improvement project types, the City’s permitting process, maintenance responsibilities, and applicable codes and guidelines.


Week pick series features every Friday some initiatives and projects I found or want to highlight on this blog. It will help me to track new findings from community groups, startups or local governments working and delivering solutions relevant to the issues of this blog. I often bookmark them or save them on Tumblr while I wait to use them. Maybe this a good way.