GovTech Research

#CivicTech #GovTech #CivTech. Global research and analysis of trends transforming public services. Visit our website for an in-depth sector report.

[California YIMBY @cayimby]

Huntington Beach lost its years-long fight against CA's housing rules and now faces fines up to $50,000/month for failing to plan for more homes.

[Dami @damileearch]

Tokyo didn't build *one* downtown. It built dozens.

The Yamanote Line isn't just a train loop — it's the skeleton of an entirely different kind of city. Each station is its own gravitational center. Shops, offices, apartments, life — all layered around the exits.

You grab lunch between trains. Run errands during your transfer. The city bends around *your* movement.

This is what urban resilience actually looks like — not one massive core choking on its own density, but a constellation of small downtowns, each breathing on its own.

It's been hiding in plain sight for decades. 🌐

*What city do you think could pull this off next?* 👇

#SpaceArchitecture #UrbanDesign #Tokyo #CityPlanning #Megacity #FutureCities #Architecture #UrbanPlanning #YamanoteLine #ArchitectureTok #SmartCities #BuiltEnvironment

[Reed Schwartz @reedschwartzsf]

New York State just authorized a land value tax that could generate billions of dollars for new transit.

For the @NiskanenCenter, @aarmlovi and I wrote about how the renewal of § 119-r in the FY27 budget could unlock a virtuous cycle of infrastructure delivery in NYC.

[Climate & Community Institute @cplusci]

Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to speed up buses and make them fare-free provoked excitement and debate during his mayoral campaign. But NYC isn't the only place where there's political momentum for better buses: municipalities across the US have been eliminating fares for all riders and making strategic improvements to speed up bus service.

[Streetsblog New York City @StreetsblogNYC]

NYC will see a conversion of 42nd Street into a river-to-river busway, car-free ticketholder queuing streets near Penn Station, and a complete ban on deliveries across a wide bicep of Midtown. https://t.co/0vJB91sEhM

[Rob Cross @RobCross247]

Such a shame to see our Georgian heritage lying vacant and falling into disrepair, especially amid a housing crisis.

Here's an example of three Protected Structure buildings on Ormond Quay Lower in Dublin City on my DerelictSites website:

Dublin City’s Record of Protected Structures — Building Types Analysis (draft)
https://t.co/4uhufmKwkI

6054 -5 Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin 1
https://t.co/EIoTOqGdSq

6058 - 10 Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin 1
https://t.co/dGPrnjKNXh

6059 - 11-11a Ormond Quay Lower, Dublin 1
https://t.co/aNPqpMxynf

Ormond Quay Lower - Board
https://t.co/sbC9IPJldt

Ormond Quay Lower - Map
https://t.co/p71fb2UKab

Useful Links and Grants Available
https://t.co/gD5C39nH0l

Refer to sections:
Georgian townhouse converted into apartments for rent" — multi-unit conversion of a Protected Structure.

Protected Structure needing major repair" — PS owner planning significant work

#Heritage #HousingCrisis #DerelictIreland #VacantIreland #Dublin #Ireland

[PDUmetropolità AMB @pdumetropolita]

🌿Llum verda al nou ecobarri al voltant de la fàbrica Roca de Gavà i Viladecans: 2.730 habitatges (1.260 protegits), activitat econòmica, equipaments i un parc de 7,36 ha. Un nou barri pensat per a les persones i respectuós amb el medi ambient.

Més info https://t.co/L2n0eNzFRB

[Rob Cross @RobCross247]

Only in Ireland!😡

In the midst of a housing crisis—17,517 people, including 5,571 children, are relying on emergency accommodation—and with rents and house prices unaffordable to the vast majority, there are still so many derelict and vacant buildings throughout Ireland.

Here is one example in Dublin; in my visualisation, the red blocks represent some of the derelict and vacant sites along Upper and Lower Ormond Quay in Dublin City.

#HousingCrisis #DerelictIreland #VacantIreland #Dublin #Ireland

[Circula en Bici @CirculaenBici]

Bilbao está desarrollando buena infraestructura😍 para la bici.
Carril bici sobre el emblemático Puente de Deusto.
ANTES : 4 carriles de coches 🤦‍♀️😱

[Jonathan Berk @berkie1]

Always grateful for @MassLtGov’s support. She’s one of MA’s elected officials with the strongest understanding of the policies, constraints, and systemic barriers driving Massachusetts’ housing shortage, and what it will actually take to build the homes we desperately need.

[Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard]

Planners, don't confuse private and public space. You need both.

In Helsinki, as in the typical Scandinavian courtyard block, the interior courtyard is private to the residents of the block. It is not a public amenity. That is what great public streets, squares, playgrounds, and parks are for.
The courtyard is a private residential amenity. It is a shared backyard for the people who live there.

I notice that many new courtyard-style developments in the United States make the courtyard publicly accessible, or leave it visually and physically open to the street. This is a huge mistake. If you are raising little kids in a major population center, with the whole Shakespearean cast of society, for better and for worse, moving through the public realm, you want a private backyard that keeps your children in and strangers out.

That is not anti-urban. It is a normal and healthy residential preference.

Cities should not confuse private and public space. The job of the courtyard is to give residents a secure, green, semi-domestic interior world. The job of the city is to make the public realm beautiful, safe, and generous via better streets, better sidewalks, better parks, more plazas, more playgrounds, etc.

Properties will be worth more, and cities will retain more families, if they stop insisting that every green space inside a residential block become a public amenity. Make public streets and parks wonderful for the public. Let residential courtyards function as the shared backyards they are meant to be.

[Emily Gallagher @EmilyAssembly]

Yesterday, @NYC_DOT broke ground to complete the redesign of McGuiness Blvd. McGuinness has been the site of so much unnecessary injury & death. This has been a fight many years in the making.

This victory belongs to all the people who have been harmed by traffic violence.

[Alejandro Cencerrado @AlejandroCence2]

El efecto de un solo árbol en la calle es equivalente a cinco aires acondicionados del tamaño de una habitación funcionando 20 horas al día. Si nuestra ciudad se llenara de calles como esta la vida en verano sería mucho más agradable.

[GovTech Research @GovTechResearch]

In the era of City Heat sinks due to global warming remove the asphalt and plant trees

[Mobility Behaviour 👨‍🎓 @davidlois_uned]

"Quitar asfalto en las ciudades para que la tierra respire y aumente el bienestar de sus habitantes. Esta es la filosofía que inspira muchos proyectos que están empezando a ejecutarse en ciudades europeas y de todo el mundo" https://t.co/BSWxyDwL1I

[GovTech Research @GovTechResearch]

Chicago giving a masterclass in more effective road design for cyclist's, raod safety and pedestrians

[CDOT @ChicagoDOT]

Check out the transformed S. Indiana Ave, 31st–55th.

This street regularly saw unsafe speeding, with some drivers exceeding 70 MPH. Now, traffic safety improvements have led to safer speeds, shorter crossings, and a more comfortable corridor for all users. #bikesafetymonth

[GovTech Research @GovTechResearch]

New York is tackling the blight of shuttered shops.

[NYC Planning @NYCPlanning]

Business up, vacancies down!

Storefront vacancy declined for the fourth straight quarter citywide and for the tenth straight quarter in Manhattan.

Which of the city’s 76 new tea and coffee shops are you trying next?

[Will Norman @willnorman]

We're making London better for walking, wheeling & cycling.

Great to see Red Lion St in Camden transformed as part of the Holborn Liveable Neighbourhood work.

Road space reclaimed to prioritise walking, wheeling & cycling, with 🌴☘️🌹to reduce flooding & improve biodiversity.

[GovTech Research @GovTechResearch]

London is proposing to take back control of its famous Fleet Street (Former newspaper district) road back from private cars and give it back to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.

[Will Norman @willnorman]

The @cityoflondon is planning to transform Fleet Street.

One of their options includes widening the pavement by up to 2m, more seating, planting trees & gardens and restricting eastbound through traffic (except buses, cycles & taxis).

Have your say:
https://t.co/7d0z1p7GOc

[GovTech Research @GovTechResearch]

Get some really wide scale exposure for your GovTech solutions.

[Interoperable Europe @InteroperableEU]

🛎️One month left to join the Public Sector Tech Watch🏆‘#BestCasesAward’ 2026!

The award invites #PublicAdministrations across Europe to submit their emerging technological solutions to improve #PublicServices or administrative processes.

Start here!
👉https://t.co/XSKOSPjOIW

[Clark Construction Group @ClarkBuilds]

We're diving deeper into the historic breakthrough at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Bethesda Station (@wmata) South Mezzanine project. 🚇

The Clark project team cleared 148,000 pounds of concrete in a tight 44-hour window to expose a transit tunnel sealed for five decades, taking the first step toward connecting Bethesda Station to the Maryland Transit Administration's Purple Line.

Explore more about the complex demolition process: https://t.co/9NGfIYINHb