Urenio Watch Watch: Digital Cities / Cyber Cities

City Planning e-Government

E-Government is a new report that provides an overview of technology tools and products for local e-government, such as online permitting, e-maill listservevs, delivery of electronic planning documents, and web-based mapping. It is written by Jennifer Evans-Cowley, AICP, and Maria Manta Conroy, assistant professors of City and Regional Planning at Ohio State University, and it is based on a comprehensive evaluation of 240 city planning websites conducted by the authors during 2004.

Among the findings of this research, the vast majority of cities, 74 percent, provide their zoning ordinance online, while 65 percent provide their comprehensive or other types of plans online. Approximately 10 percent of the planning departments observed provided streaming audio or video of public meetings, and 25 percent of cities are providing some level of web-based access to the city’s GIS. Nineteen percent of planning department use listservs or e-maill notification services for citizens, but only a few cities are using discussion forums.

Table of Contents

1. What is E-Governance?

2. Types of electronic communication tools and products

3. Steps for creating on-line citizen participation tools

4. Special considerations for developing on-line citizen participation tools

5. Case Studies

Source: Journal of the American Planning Association
http://www.planning.org/egov/2005/jan.htm