Civic tech can be a civic improvement multiplier if it is built for the people who know where the issues are and simply need better processes for solving them, argues Matt Hall, from Neighborland, in an article in Code for America blog.

The City of Palo Alto (California) is exploring and building new ways of delivering services and engaging civic participation. Their vision is to build and enable a leading digital city. Deeply embedded within this strategy is the need to innovate across all local government functions while engaging the community and private sector in a partnership.

Arup published a series of Thoughts, “From sustainable to evolvable”, which explores the idea of ecology, as a metaphor and technology that underpins the practice of complexity, to create a qualitatively different experience of the city ‘“ one that can change and adapt to altering circumstances.

A new report written by Microsoft, presents the concept of the Anywhere Working City, a city which is a highly livable, polycentric megapolis driven by societal expectation of a different way of working, shopping and living, and enabled by new architectures of building, technology and transport.

Last Thursday, May 24th 2012, in an overcrowded room Prof. Carlo Ratti, hosted by the Lord Mayor of Thessaloniki and invited by the Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry, made a remarkable presentation of “Thessaloniki in Future’.

“Smart cities’ is the urban buzz phrase of the last few years, and fans often turn to European cities for inspiration. From Amsterdam’ s bike lanes to Copenhagen’ s wind power, from Barcelona’ s 22@ innovation district to Berlin’ s dramatic redevelopment,