The hottest Civic Tech Substack posts right now

Land value is far more concentrated near city centers than most people realize, often by orders of magnitude, and mapping those values makes the true pattern clear. Putting values on a map — especially in 3D — also exposes data errors and outliers that are hard to spot in spreadsheets.
Free open-source tools like CivicMapper and PutItOnAMap let you fetch government GIS endpoints, visualize parcels in 3D, detect surface parking from satellite imagery, and run common appraisal workflows (time adjustments, comp-finding) without heavy GIS software. They include a data fetcher, format converter, and file constructor so you can go from raw public data to presentation-ready maps.
The tools are built to run mostly in your browser so your data stays local and private, and they aim to make GIS tasks simple for urbanists and assessors to produce persuasive visuals quickly. Continued improvement depends on community feedback and financial support to add features, scale, and fix bugs.

Joe Gebbia, the Airbnb co-founder, has moved to Washington to serve as the U.S. Chief Design Officer and launched the National Design Studio.
He’s applying product and design methods to redesign federal websites and services, and has built platforms like TrumpRx and Tech Force to make government tools easier to use and to recruit tech talent.
This design-led push is changing how the government presents policy and programs, updating things like nutrition guidance and retirement information to be more modern and user-focused.

City innovation works best when data, design, and civic experimentation are joined so pilots can be tested, evaluated, and scaled across departments.
Parking is an everyday, retail-like urban problem that affects car owners and non-car users alike, so it needs a clear inventory, better communication, and creative mixes of policy and technology to balance people’s needs.
Genuine public engagement and storytelling should define problems before prescribing solutions, and should be paired with flexible zoning and incremental, well-communicated action to meet climate and mobility goals.

AI is going to keep advancing, so we should focus on shaping it to expand individual freedom rather than trying to stop it.
Training AI on large government spending datasets can give citizens real-time tools to spot waste, fraud, and bad policy and hold officials accountable.
AI’s power in pattern recognition and prediction (as seen in areas like protein mapping) can be applied to public policy to make debate smarter and improve government efficiency.

Human-centered design started in the military during World War II. It focused on understanding how people interacted with equipment to prevent crashes and improve safety.
John Arnold formalized human-centered design processes in the 1950s, laying the groundwork for its use in technology and public services.
In recent years, human-centered design has gained attention in government to enhance services. It's about putting people's needs first to build trust and engagement.

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Civic tech is all about using technology to make government services better for people. It focuses on understanding what the public needs and improving access to those services.
The journey of civic tech teaches us that fixing government issues often requires understanding the root problems rather than focusing just on technology. Change takes time and must involve all levels of the system.
Anyone can get involved in civic tech! There are many ways to help improve local and national government services using technology, whether through volunteering or working in policy-making roles.

Abundance means creating more opportunities and resources for everyone, especially those who struggle. It's about understanding that some systems create artificial scarcity, making life harder for people in need.
State and local governments can improve by focusing on their internal processes to deliver better services. Leaders should prioritize building their capacity from the ground up to meet the community's needs.
The civic tech community should be bold and proactive in improving government services. Instead of just reacting to changes, they should aim to innovate and create solutions that genuinely help people.