“The streets are now alive with data, invisible but all
pervasive.” —Dan Hill Meaningful community input in urban
development is a common rallying cry, but is rarely achieved.
Power, and more importantly, information, remains tightly
controlled by cities and there agencies. It is usually only
shared in controlled public meetings and charrettes. Recent
advances in technology and social networks offer an opportunity
to change this. Open source urbanism works to develop
intersections where a cities urban form connects with
information to directly inform and shape our urban environment.
In doing so it is changing the way we think of our communities
and city life in general. It is rooted in the idea of open
source, most commonly associated with free computer programs
that can be shared, adapted, and further developed by anyone
with the ability to contribute. Cities are a logical extension
of the open source movement. The city is both a product and a
generator of immense amounts of data. Much of this
information—in