Using Crowdsourcing Applications to Interpret and Build More Equitable Cities

On this episode of EJBTalks, Stuart Shapiro welcomes Will Payne, the newest faculty member in our Urban Planning Program. With urban planning moving beyond the focus on the physical form, economic functions, and social impacts of the urban environment, they discuss Professor Payne's research on crowdsourcing applications, which provide large amounts of data from consumers that can drive real change in cities. Having recently completed his dissertation in this area, Professor Payne talks about how early “star” rating systems such as New York’s Zagat Survey have morphed into today’s crowd-sourcing applications including Yelp and Nextdoor. These social media tools have, in turn, become predictors of gentrification, showing how technology, food, culture, politics, and more are intertwined with housing issues. They can also be used to understand how people react and behave in response to these issues. He also explains that these tools exist to solve real problems, enabling planners to study cities and what people really think by providing new and better access to spatial data, and in the right hands, they can be used to create more equitable cities that serve the needs of everyone.