Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at Canada’s first Civic Design Camp held at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto.   The purpose of the day  was to bring designers, public servants and innovators together to learn a process of design while working on real problems.

Reinventing civic society by design is gaining traction globally, but it was surprising to hear how far along some cities are.  The mayor’s office of Boston has an innovation lab where new ideas to improve citizen experience are prototyped and tested with room for failure built right in.  Clever ideas are improving citizen experience.   As  Nigel Jacobs said, “Good design makes people like you.”  Spothole (a tool for getting potholes filled quickly), “Where’s My School Bus?” and City Hall to Go are some of the interesting solutions that have Continue Reading