City X at CityCamp Palo Alto
I’m excited to share that this Saturday, June 1st I’ll be presenting the City X Project at CityCamp Palo Alto, an event of the first-ever National Day of Civic Hacking. This event is an inspiring initiative that is bringing together communities from across the country to “provide citizens an opportunity to do what is most quintessentially American: roll up our sleeves, get involved and work together to improve our society.”
The tools and ideas that drive civic hacking are foundational for the City X Project. Using the design process as a common framework, we’re working with kids around the world to imagine and model a better city (and world) for the future. Our goal is to empower kids everywhere with the knowledge that they can design solutions that make the world a better place.
A particular focus for City X is how culture influences our assumptions about how problems should be solved. We specifically use 3D modeling and 3D printing technologies with the kids because they enable a form of wordless sharing. Because we’re working with 8-10 year olds who often don’t speak the same language, this enables the kids to tangibly connect their ideas through physical objects rather than words, regardless of where those ideas originated. In our increasingly interconnected world, we believe introducing kids to their future civic hacking collaborators around the globe is a really great thing.
Want to learn more? Join me this weekend in Palo Alto. I’ll be wrapping up a day of fantastic speakers with a talk at 5:55pm in Lytton Plaza. But don’t just come for that, of course. There’s also food, music, hackathons, art and makerspaces, a farmer’s market and more from 11am to 7pm. Check out all the details at hackpaloalto.org.
My talk details:
Libby Falck at CityCamp Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California
Lytton Plaza
5:55pm
Hope to see you there!
