Zachary Spicer - Böcker

Over the past decade, cities have come into closer contact and conflict with new technologies. From reactive policymaking in response to platform economy firms to proactive policymaking in an effort to develop into smart cities, urban governance is transforming at an unprecedented speed and scale.Innovative technologies promise a brave new world of convenience and cost effectiveness – powered by cameras that monitor our movements, sensors that line our streets, and algorithms that determine our resource allocation – but at what cost? Exploring the relationship between technology and cities, this book brings together an outstanding group of authors in the field to provide a critical and necessary examination of the disruption that is under way. They look at how cities should understand and regulate novel technologies, what can be learned from proposed and failed smart city projects, and how innovative economies change the structure of cities themselves. Contributors dig deeply into these and similar subjects, contributing their voices to an important dialogue on the future of urban policy and governance.The first collection of its kind, this groundbreaking volume brings together social, economic, and cultural insights to enhance our understanding of the ongoing technological upheaval in cities around the world.

In an attempt to reverse declining rates of voter participation, governments around the world are turning to electronic voting to improve the efficiency of vote counts, and increase the accessibility and equity of the voting process for electors who may face additional barriers. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified this trend.Voting Online focuses on Canada, where the technology has been widely embraced by municipal governments with one of the highest rates of use in the world. In the age of cyber elections, Canada is the only country where governments offer fully remote electronic elections and where traditional paper voting is eliminated for entire electorates. Municipalities are the laboratories of electoral modernization when it comes to digital voting reform. We know conspicuously little about the effects of these changes, particularly the elimination of paper ballots.Relying on surveys of voters, non-voters, and candidates in twenty Ontario cities, and a survey of administrators across the province of Ontario, Voting Online provides a holistic view of electronic elections unavailable anywhere else.

In an attempt to reverse declining rates of voter participation, governments around the world are turning to electronic voting to improve the efficiency of vote counts, and increase the accessibility and equity of the voting process for electors who may face additional barriers. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified this trend.Voting Online focuses on Canada, where the technology has been widely embraced by municipal governments with one of the highest rates of use in the world. In the age of cyber elections, Canada is the only country where governments offer fully remote electronic elections and where traditional paper voting is eliminated for entire electorates. Municipalities are the laboratories of electoral modernization when it comes to digital voting reform. We know conspicuously little about the effects of these changes, particularly the elimination of paper ballots.Relying on surveys of voters, non-voters, and candidates in twenty Ontario cities, and a survey of administrators across the province of Ontario, Voting Online provides a holistic view of electronic elections unavailable anywhere else.

Faced with increasing demands from residents, and amidst growing legal and resource constraints, municipalities are experimenting to find new ways of making things work. Inside Public-Sector Innovation profiles the expertise and experience of local administrators in Canada who have successfully moved innovation from conception to reality.A practitioner-oriented guide, this volume features multiple innovations from rural, urban, and suburban governments of various sizes. Exploring organizational, process, and service innovations, public administrators directly involved in their implementation highlight lessons for other practitioners considering similar strategies. Chapters cover challenges across policy domains including diversity and inclusion, public health, environmental sustainability, and service delivery inefficiencies. All together, these case studies enhance our understanding of what local public-sector innovation entails and how enterprising public servants can put it to immediate use.Recognizing local governments in Canada as drivers of experimentation, Inside Public-Sector Innovation advances research through its rich descriptions and analysis of municipal strategies, drawing attention to the unique complications and opportunities associated with innovation at scale.