Trends

In an era where municipal services seem slightly antiquated in the face of rising forms of citizen auto-organization, the French town of Nancy launched an interactive application that bears the promise of reconfiguring the urban fabric through mobility.

Following the trend of other innovative projects, G-Ny bets on the applicative integration, linking interface mobility with physical mobility. Integrating trasportation routes and schedules, tourist attractions, ridesharing, the Grand Nancy goes further with an index allowing citizens to signal anomalies on the territory (fallen tree, potholes, etc.) by pre-categorizing and geolocalizing infomation. The app is based the rich data sets from the Openstreetmap project, allowing users to add map contents and thus enrich the app as its used. This collaborative approach is part of an evolving open data mindset and is open to all actors of mobility, from individuals to institutions and the private sector.

The idea of a dialogue between the city and its dwellers isn't new. It is part of a global movement for the reappropriation of public spaces and places by their legitimate owners. The people, sovereign, citizens, users of those spaces, organize and wield greater power.

In the spirit of casseroles, guerilla gardening, yarnbombing and occupy, we can only applaud institutions that, around the world, are joining the movement. They embody, in their own way, the emergence of a truly creative bureaucracy.