Media Room

Fall 2020 – CIOReview selected MetroQuest as a best-in-breed smart city technology solution for uplifting the way urban residents live, work, and communicate.

Spring 2019 – The use of online pubic engagement platforms to support planning projects has grown from a few early adopters to a standard component of many planning outreach projects. Early on most agreed that online engagement is an effective way to reach younger people who have been traditionally difficult to reach. But can it be more than that?

December 1, 2018 – “Because informed input is the greatest kind of input, the tool is designed to first educate the public about a project and then quickly collect their informed feedback. What we’ve seen is that incorporating online citizen engagement has been a resounding success so far.”

December 1, 2018 – A distinguished panel comprising of CEOs, CIOs and analysts, along with th editorial board have reviewed and shortlisted top companies at the forefront of tackling the CRM challenges.

September 4, 2018 – “With MetroQuest, cities can engage thousands of people across a broad demographic, while obtaining informed input and actionable results in support of their planning and investment decision.”

September 4, 2018 – It’s curcial to create a master plan or a roadmap to build a smart city. While developing a smart city framework, an overall plan of the city is the critical step that covers every aspect, from public safety to transporation to utilities.

March 8, 2018 – Forces are aligning to increase polarization and tension in public dialog, and planners are increasingly caught in the middle. A recent workshop with 100 engagement experts resulted in a free eBook to help planners detox their public involvement.

November 7, 2017 – Transportation planners are on to something big and, for the most part, they are keeping it to themselves. The future is a relatively small fleet of shared, electric, self driving vehicles, and it’s coming fast. Are we ready?

March 13, 2017 – It was clear to the City of Toronto that engaging less confident cyclists that make up 60% of the population, yet seldom come to community meetings, might be the key to dramatic mode shifts in the city. Here’s how it happened.

December 4, 2016 – What is the highest purpose of community engagement? Why do some planners go all out to hear from the public? This article dives into these questions based on nine interviews conducted at APA 2016.

September 8, 2016 – Trust between the public and government agencies is low, and democracies are paralyzed without it. How can community engagement help restore trust? This post outlines the challenge and a process for solving it.

July 5, 2016 – Planners, like any other professionals, live in a kind of bubble. Those charged with dealing with the public run the risk of expecting too much from residents as they design community engagement activities. Here are some of the most common mistakes.

May 6, 2016 – With the constellation of civic technologies, like online community engagement platforms, growing quickly, it’s important to recognize the positive and negative consequences of new practices in community engagement.

April 14, 2016 – As I do every year at the APA National Conference, I did my best to catch as many community engagement sessions as possible. Here are highlights, takeaways, and the common threads I noticed this year.

March 28, 2016 – With disruptions at public meetings on the rise and a growing number of online engagement tools to choose from, is face to face community engagement destined to die out? What’s at stake if we let that happen?

March 14, 2016 – Introducing the Fiasco Files—a lighthearted look at those times when things went sideways in community engagement. This Fiasco File tells the story of an angry and vocal minority group and the havoc the raised at a public meeting.

February 23, 2016 – Do modern accessibility regulations go far enough to ensure fair access to all community members for public engagement activities? How can we design our planning processes to reach the broadest demographic?

January 5, 2015 – Public meetings have their place — and they have their drawbacks. More governments are relying on useful apps to harvest ideas and feedback.