- Free Public Wifi
- Public festivals (i.e food or music)/events/markets) all organized into a social app with information about each event. This could be connected to advertisement on social media and would likely help with community involvement in said events. It seems as if an incredible amount of effort goes into planning and acquiring the right permissions/permits for these types of large public events (especially if they require part of the city to shut down for the day like the annual Marathon or the Veteran’s Day Parade) from what I read in the minutes of the city council meeting from September 15th, 2014[1], therefore it also seems only fair if the public events are also well advertised and the most people are aware and able to participate. A social event app would also improve community integration an involvement.
- Improvements in Public Transportation – an application that shows schedules and updates on delays or changes due to weather. Moreover, for improvements to summertime transportation/new innovative ways to explore the city could be explored by installing public rental bicycles (i.e like they did in Washington, DC and many other cities – (http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/how-it-works )). These programs also create very large data sets about where people travel by showing where people pick up and drop off bikes, and therefore the program data would be pretty interesting and relevant for improving tourism and other aspects of infrastructure and public space in Portland. Moreover, we all definitely found the geographical divides within the city quite surprising and relevant because the divides definitely affect each resident’s sense of place. If it were easier to navigate the city with improved transportation, then residents and tourists would likely be more aware of the different divides and possibly make more of an effort to transport them (while stimulating the economy and having a fantastic time on a bike!).
- Improved public seating/awareness for the homeless – this website (http://www.fastcoexist.com/3032631/these-park-benches-welcome-the-homeless-instead-of-rejecting-them) is really cool and has information on a bench that can transform into a shelter at night for anyone in need (and is therefore seasonal because it would only work in the warmer months). Moreover it would help promote improvements in social, and more importantly economic justice to those that do not have access to shelter or support. These benches would furthermore improve awareness and education about homelessness within Portland.
- A campaign promoting the investments and improvements that the Portland city council is in the process of executing or plan to execute in the future. Portland could potentially model the campaign off of the campaign in Newcastle, England that aims to improve the community involvement and city housing/infrastructure by involving local artists and engineers to renovate empty or abandoned buildings: http://renewnewcastle.org/about Moreover, this idea connects back to Greenfield: “ as Deluze defines it, any-space whatever is never important for any quality of its own but only for the connections it facilitates of brings into being. In the Particular case of the smart cities, the important linkages are not physical but those made between ideas, technical systems and practices” (21)[2]. I think that if residents are more aware of the effort that goes into city planning or improvements in infrastructure, they will be more appreciative and more likely to benefit from the changes that they may not even know are happening.
Free Public Wi-Fi: Access to free public Wi-Fi would be huge for Portland – it would help with not only with navigation for both locals and tourists, but it would also immensely help with anyone trying to find out information about job applications, events, and even advertising. Free public Wi-Fi also connects back to the postcolonial theory of knowledge being the “coin of the realm” and the idea that everyone could have access to unlimited information. People who do not like coffee (how?) would be able to use free Wi-Fi without having to go to a coffee shop! It would be anarchy.
Though public Wi-Fi would be incredibly helpful, it still bars a significant portion of the population from using the public service – i.e. people with dumbphones (not smartphones) or people without laptops. One could also argue that even if everyone had access to free public Wi-Fi, they would still not necessarily utilize it. Moreover, I do think that it is still incredibly important to have areas where people can still get away from technology (like parks or on the waterfront) because sometimes people want to be off the grid for a few minutes (or an afternoon) and get away from their jobs or the city while still being in a park in the city (momentarily). Greenfield writes “every technological intervention that is made with the intention of smoothing out urban experience also deprives us of an opportunity to encounter something external to our own will, and doing so robs us of a moment in which we might reflect on the contingency of our own values, choices and beliefs. Though by no means can this be said of every daily hassle, in other words, some things that appear to be sources of friction actually wind up doing meaningful work for us, as individuals and communities both” (51)[3].
That all being said, there are plenty of ways to escape technology within a city (turning your phone off) and there are plenty of areas to do that in Portland. Having free public Wi-Fi would encourage both tourists and residents to congregate in and use currently ignored public space outside while also making accessing all of the other services that Portland provides (any kind of update, news, or app) to be more accessible also. Consequentially, free public Wi-Fi could improve all aspects of information dissemination and public involvement/awareness within a small city like Portland.
[1] Brennan, Michael, Donoghue, Kevin, Marshal, David, Suslovic, Edward, Leeman, Cheryl. “Agenda Regular City Council Meeting September 15, 2014.” edited by Portland City Council. Portland. Me, 2014.
[2] Greenfield, Adam. Against the Smart City. 2013.
[3] Greenfield, Adam. Against the Smart City. 2013.
I really liked author’s idea about improving public transportation system. I wrote in my blogpost on this topic too that public transportation will greatly increase the number of tourists because it will make getting around easier. Public transportation also inspires more people to leave their cars at home and walk to public spaces and hang out there.
All of the recommendations provided in this post will need to be implemented together; in this way they will all benefit each other. All of this can be united in a universal city app that will act as a city guide to tourists and residents alike.
Much like Kote, I love your idea of improving public transportation! Rental bikes seem like the perfect way for people to get around Portland. When I was getting maps from Portland residents yesterday, two of them told me how much they love to bike around the city. Although I initially thought the city would need more bike paths before implementing a bike rental system, now that I have spent more time in the city, I realize that Portland is already very bikable. Because of the small size of the city and the relative lack of traffic, there is no need to have a major bus or subway system.
I also really like the idea of a public Wi-Fi network in Portland. I hadn’t considered that some people may not have access to devices with Internet capabilities. Perhaps in addition to public Wi-Fi connections, there could be some sort of computer borrowing service or public computer terminal. Part of the reason that the Portland library is so helpful for people looking for jobs is that there are computers there for anyone to use. Maybe something like this could be implemented on a larger scale in Portland.
As you know from our GIS class last year, I did my project on the Capital Bikeshare program in Washington DC. I think a bike share program in Portland would be an effective method of improving the transportation system, especially given the relatively small size. I didn’t notice how biker friendly the roads were, but I think that could be incorporated in the layout of Portland. Though a bike share program would be great in the summer, biking becomes much more difficult in the winter when there is snow. The bikes are more likely to be damaged in these cold months and they probably will not be put to much use. However, I also had this idea and I know Portland has considered a bike share program.
I love the idea of public festivals. They seem like a perfect way not only to bring tourists into the city from everywhere (including other place in Maine) but a way to promote interaction within the city. Depending on what type of festival it is and what time of year, it should be possible to design the event to cater to locals rather than people coming in from out of state. I do not feel as though there are that many opportunities for people from Portland to interact without a bunch of outsiders getting involved. A festival seems like a really good way to deal with that problem.
Ah, so everyone loved a different one of your ideas! And which way will you go? Your idea for the festivals may not seem “smart” but it is profound and sorely needed. It could easily help recuperate public space and a sense of Portland that often gets relegates solely to art walks.
Hrm…but given your love of all things disaster response modeling, why not see how an app or website can help Portlanders better respond to flooding? The flood zone data has arrived. :)