It's a new year and I have been spending a lot of time on some more robust ideas than the ones I started with. For several years I have been exploring work at the intersection between art and civic life. It has finally taken some shape in the form of a collaboration with two urban planners, whose work is heavily data driven, and another artist, with whom I regularly collaborate. We are making our way toward a long term vision in which we use population data, data visualizations, and mapping to inform a public engagement process. What does that mean? Well, organizations and governmental bodies often use data about their constituents to drive the way development is planned. We feel that this process is missing a component of humanity, that engages in a meaningful way with the public that stands to be affected by these decisions. We want to make the public process component of urban planning more exciting and attractive to participate in, and therefor more meaningful to planners.

This one has been a long time coming and it is such a big idea that it needed time to crystalize. Now that we are more clear about what we are building I'm excited to say that I anticipate more and frequent news on this idea soon. Stay tuned.