Volume 48 — Urban Analytics: Capabilities and Critiques (2023)

Editor-in-Chief: Lance Gloss

Editorial Board: 

Cover Photographer: 

Read Volume 48 here.

Our cities are now wired together by technologies that produce vast troves of data. The reach of the internet and the ubiquity of digital devices have been matched by the growth of a computational toolset for analyzing these newly-available data.
This presents a compelling opportunity for planners, who have always applied data to decision-making. Planners now apply robust analytical methods to address community problems with greater precision and reach.

These new tools permit a clearer picture of the urban world. They may enable new efficiencies in the delivery of urban services. Like all technologies, however, these tools present risks. Bias enters analytics in ways that are difficult to trace. Concerns arise over privacy and surveillance. Widespread reliance on these technologies has already demonstrated threats to democratic processes.

In Volume 48 of the Carolina Planning Journal, we pause to assess the moment. What should we make of this wealth of data? Perhaps it will lead us into a new era of technocratic decision-making and revive conflicts over the right to the city. Or perhaps democratized access to these tools will help communities resolve longstanding conflicts over urban governance. What longed-for outcomes will be made possible? How will the perils be managed?

Featured articles:

  • “City Open Data Portals in the United States” by Kayla Myros
  • “Redefining Smart: The Role of Technology and Governance in Innovation” by Malcolm Smith-Fraser
  • “Interrogating Smart City Practices: The Sidewalk Labs’ Quayside Project” by Jun Wang
  • “Stratified Colombia: Forced Discrimination or Empowered Social Hierarchy?” by Gianluca Mangiapane
  • “Using Data Analytics to Support Community-based Organizations” by Cyatharine Alias, Preeti Shankar, and Anna Wolf
  • “Errors of Ommission: Undercounts of Indigenous Peoples and Tribal Housing” by David Dixon and Harry Maher
  • “The Value and Application of Digital Data from Location-based Service Vendors” by Cynthia Albright
  • “Exploring Optimum Homeless Shelter Service Delivery” by Jiwon Park
  • “Impacts of Urban Heat Island on Renters in Portland, OR” by Melissa Ashbaugh
  • “Visualizing Weather-related Road Closures in North Carolina” by Julia Cardwell
  • “Navigating the Pulse of Shanghai’s Daily Transit” by Xijing Li
  • Book Reviews:
    • “Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia” by Candela Cerpa
    • “The Ministry for the Future” by Isabel Soberal
    • “Undoing Optimization: Civic Action in Smart Cities” by Ryan Ford and Isabel Maletich
    • “Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It” by Amy Patronella
    • “Bicycle/Race: Transportation, Culture, & Resistance” by Lauren Caffe and Kathryn Cunningham
  • “Best Master’s Projects” by Christy Fierros and James Hamilton
  • “Master’s Project Titles Class of 2023”
  • “Year-in-Review: An Update from New East” by Lance Gloss
  • “NC-APA Conference Announcement”