CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head><meta charSet="utf-8"/><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"/><title>The first fifty years of civic design</title><link rel="icon" href="/favicon.svg" type="image/x-icon"/><meta property="og:type" content="website"/><meta property="og:title" content="The first fifty years of civic design"/><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.navapbc.com/insights/the-first-fifty-years-of-civic-design"/><meta property="og:url" content="https://www.navapbc.com/insights/the-first-fifty-years-of-civic-design"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="Nava PBC"/><meta property="og:description" content="Tracing civic design's history can help the field become more resilient. "/><meta name="twitter:title" content="The first fifty years of civic design"/><meta name="twitter:description" content="Tracing civic design's history can help the field become more resilient. "/><meta name="description" content="Tracing civic design's history can help the field become more resilient. "/><meta property="og:image" content="https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/rbULRB9VPQmpbfB1gOLwr/f4c9aa83ebdc2c2c3633e7b22a56797d/Toolkit_Pattern_5_V2.svg"/><meta name="twitter:image" content="https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/rbULRB9VPQmpbfB1gOLwr/f4c9aa83ebdc2c2c3633e7b22a56797d/Toolkit_Pattern_5_V2.svg"/><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/><meta name="next-head-count" content="16"/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/css/6980edd05bac5f5c.css" as="style"/><link rel="stylesheet" href="/_next/static/css/6980edd05bac5f5c.css" data-n-g=""/><link rel="preload" href="/_next/static/css/1aa395170fea6b66.css" as="style"/><link rel="stylesheet" href="/_next/static/css/1aa395170fea6b66.css" data-n-p=""/><noscript data-n-css=""></noscript><script defer="" nomodule="" src="/_next/static/chunks/polyfills-78c92fac7aa8fdd8.js"></script><script defer="" src="/_next/static/chunks/4552.49d944856c55031d.js"></script><script defer="" src="/_next/static/chunks/5936.8a039496410dd890.js"></script><script defer="" src="/_next/static/chunks/5620.80a592415009b53f.js"></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/webpack-567fc27aeac12bcf.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/framework-840cff9d6bb95703.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/main-9877a51c3cee18b9.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/pages/_app-9f59045fbd67ae2c.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/7264-e66c009017c0f342.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/5680-7276c15a0fe276dd.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/294-3b01dac049714702.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/4003-4f48c62db3602bd3.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/1972-2f272c9ab38d3d78.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/3221-2bbc25aaf49513f7.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/7900-69740ec6d7ed0ad4.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/chunks/pages/insights/%5Bslug%5D-884b1cfc1f153426.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/6O20ePbToX-6EQon-5fnj/_buildManifest.js" defer=""></script><script src="/_next/static/6O20ePbToX-6EQon-5fnj/_ssgManifest.js" defer=""></script></head><body><div id="__next"><div class="h-screen"><div class="flex flex-col"><header class="bg-white w-full z-50"><div class="hidden lg:flex responsive-container flex-wrap items-center justify-between h-[80px]"><a class="absolute -left-[1000px] focus:left-0 top-0 bg-white p-sm" href="#main">Skip Navigation Links</a><a href="/" id="home-link" class="navbar"><svg width="96" height="44" viewBox="0 0 96 44" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title>Nava Home</title><path d="M84.5599 24.1866C83.2722 24.1866 82.395 23.4215 82.395 22.339C82.395 21.126 83.3655 20.3795 85.3624 19.9689L87.6952 19.521V21.4432C87.6952 23.0669 86.4075 24.1866 84.5599 24.1866ZM81.2379 29.0016C84.2799 29.0016 86.8927 27.6765 87.9378 25.5863C87.9378 26.6687 88.0124 27.6019 88.2177 28.5163H96C95.7201 27.4712 95.5148 25.549 95.5148 23.5708V16.2737C95.5148 10.5257 92.3048 7.9689 85.325 7.9689C79.1104 7.9689 75.2473 10.5816 74.8927 15.2286H82.8056C82.9176 13.6236 83.7201 12.8212 85.2877 12.8212C86.6501 12.8212 87.4152 13.549 87.4152 15.0607V15.9378L81.9658 16.7589C79.0358 17.2068 77.1135 17.8787 75.9005 18.9238C74.7807 19.8942 74.2582 21.2193 74.2582 23.0109C74.2582 26.5941 77.0575 29.0016 81.2379 29.0016ZM58.395 28.5163H67.297L74.1649 8.45412H65.8973L63.3406 19.3717C63.0607 20.5288 63.0233 21.182 62.8927 22.0964H62.818C62.7061 21.182 62.6501 20.5288 62.3701 19.3717L59.7947 8.45412H51.5272L58.395 28.5163ZM39.6019 24.1866C38.3141 24.1866 37.437 23.4215 37.437 22.339C37.437 21.126 38.4075 20.3795 40.4043 19.9689L42.7372 19.521V21.4432C42.7372 23.0669 41.4495 24.1866 39.6019 24.1866ZM36.2799 29.0016C39.3219 29.0016 41.9347 27.6765 42.9798 25.5863C42.9798 26.6687 43.0544 27.6019 43.2597 28.5163H51.042C50.762 27.4712 50.5568 25.549 50.5568 23.5708V16.2737C50.5568 10.5257 47.3468 7.9689 40.367 7.9689C34.1524 7.9689 30.2893 10.5816 29.9347 15.2286H37.8476C37.9596 13.6236 38.762 12.8212 40.3297 12.8212C41.6921 12.8212 42.4572 13.549 42.4572 15.0607V15.9378L36.9891 16.7403C34.0591 17.1882 32.1369 17.86 30.9238 18.9051C29.804 19.8756 29.2815 21.2006 29.2815 22.9922C29.3002 26.5941 32.0995 29.0016 36.2799 29.0016ZM0 28.5163H7.74495V14.874V11.1042H7.81959C8.17418 12.0187 8.8647 13.3064 9.4619 14.5194L17.4868 28.535H26.1649V0.0186637H18.4199V13.9036V17.4681H18.3453C17.9907 16.4977 17.1882 14.8554 16.6283 13.7729L9.08865 0H0.0186608L0 28.5163Z" fill="black"></path><path d="M95.4028 36.2236H0V43.9499H95.4028V36.2236Z" fill="black"></path></svg></a><nav class="flex items-baseline w-auto animate-fadeIn" aria-label="main"><div class="desktopnav_dropdownAnimations__Htuy_ relative group my-auto" aria-expanded="false"><div tabindex="0" class="dropdowntitle flex flex-row justify-between items-center gap-x-xs cursor-pointer mr-3xl pt-md pb-sm text-gray-600 group-hover:text-gray-900 pr-xs font-sans">Mission<div class="chevron mt-[4px]" aria-hidden="true"><svg aria-label="" width="8" height="5" viewBox="0 0 20 11" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M19 1L10 10L1 1" stroke="#111827" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"></path></svg></div></div><div class="absolute -left-[28px] top-[44px] z-1 w-[236px] hidden group-hover:block group-focus-within:block"><div class="react-slidedown mt-[19px] bg-white"><a href="/impact" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar pt-xl pb-md">Impact</a><a href="/values" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar pt-md pb-xl">Values</a></div></div></div><div class="desktopnav_dropdownAnimations__Htuy_ relative group my-auto" aria-expanded="false"><div tabindex="0" class="dropdowntitle flex flex-row justify-between items-center gap-x-xs cursor-pointer mr-3xl pt-md pb-sm text-gray-600 group-hover:text-gray-900 pr-xs font-sans">Work<div class="chevron mt-[4px]" aria-hidden="true"><svg aria-label="" width="8" height="5" viewBox="0 0 20 11" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M19 1L10 10L1 1" stroke="#111827" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"></path></svg></div></div><div class="absolute -left-[28px] top-[44px] z-1 w-[236px] hidden group-hover:block group-focus-within:block"><div class="react-slidedown mt-[19px] bg-white"><a href="/services" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar pt-xl pb-md">Services</a><a href="/case-studies" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar py-md">Case studies</a><a href="/toolkits" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar py-md">Toolkits</a><a href="/labs" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar pt-md pb-xl">Nava Labs</a></div></div></div><div class="desktopnav_dropdownAnimations__Htuy_ relative group my-auto" aria-expanded="false"><div tabindex="0" class="dropdowntitle flex flex-row justify-between items-center gap-x-xs cursor-pointer mr-3xl pt-md pb-sm text-gray-600 group-hover:text-gray-900 pr-xs font-sans">Careers<div class="chevron mt-[4px]" aria-hidden="true"><svg aria-label="" width="8" height="5" viewBox="0 0 20 11" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M19 1L10 10L1 1" stroke="#111827" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"></path></svg></div></div><div class="absolute -left-[28px] top-[44px] z-1 w-[236px] hidden group-hover:block group-focus-within:block"><div class="react-slidedown mt-[19px] bg-white"><a href="/careers" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar pt-xl pb-md">Working at Nava</a><a href="/open-roles" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar pt-md pb-xl">Open roles</a></div></div></div><div class="desktopnav_dropdownAnimations__Htuy_ relative group my-auto" aria-expanded="false"><div tabindex="0" class="dropdowntitle flex flex-row justify-between items-center gap-x-xs cursor-pointer mr-3xl pt-md pb-sm text-gray-600 group-hover:text-gray-900 pr-xs font-sans">About<div class="chevron mt-[4px]" aria-hidden="true"><svg aria-label="" width="8" height="5" viewBox="0 0 20 11" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M19 1L10 10L1 1" stroke="#111827" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"></path></svg></div></div><div class="absolute -left-[28px] top-[44px] z-1 w-[236px] hidden group-hover:block group-focus-within:block"><div class="react-slidedown mt-[19px] bg-white"><a href="/story" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar pt-xl pb-md">Our story</a><a href="/team" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar py-md">Team</a><a href="/dei" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar py-md">Diversity, equity, and inclusion</a><a href="/contract-vehicles" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar py-md">Contract vehicles</a><a href="/news" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar py-md">News</a><a href="/events" class="text-gray-900 text-left block px-[28px] font-sans hover:underline navbar pt-md pb-xl">Events</a></div></div></div><a href="/insights" class="group relative inline-block cursor-pointer desktopnav_lineAnimations__MyaUZ navbar "><p class="text-gray-600 pt-md font-sans mr-3xl pb-sm group-hover:text-gray-900">Insights</p></a><a href="/contact" class="group relative inline-block cursor-pointer desktopnav_lineAnimations__MyaUZ navbar "><p class="text-gray-600 pt-md font-sans mr-3xl pb-sm group-hover:text-gray-900">Get in touch</p></a></nav></div><div class="lg:hidden block"><div class="responsive-container flex flex-wrap items-center justify-between h-[60px]"><a href="/" id="home-mobile-link" class="navbar"><svg width="62" height="28" viewBox="0 0 96 44" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title>Nava Home</title><path d="M84.5599 24.1866C83.2722 24.1866 82.395 23.4215 82.395 22.339C82.395 21.126 83.3655 20.3795 85.3624 19.9689L87.6952 19.521V21.4432C87.6952 23.0669 86.4075 24.1866 84.5599 24.1866ZM81.2379 29.0016C84.2799 29.0016 86.8927 27.6765 87.9378 25.5863C87.9378 26.6687 88.0124 27.6019 88.2177 28.5163H96C95.7201 27.4712 95.5148 25.549 95.5148 23.5708V16.2737C95.5148 10.5257 92.3048 7.9689 85.325 7.9689C79.1104 7.9689 75.2473 10.5816 74.8927 15.2286H82.8056C82.9176 13.6236 83.7201 12.8212 85.2877 12.8212C86.6501 12.8212 87.4152 13.549 87.4152 15.0607V15.9378L81.9658 16.7589C79.0358 17.2068 77.1135 17.8787 75.9005 18.9238C74.7807 19.8942 74.2582 21.2193 74.2582 23.0109C74.2582 26.5941 77.0575 29.0016 81.2379 29.0016ZM58.395 28.5163H67.297L74.1649 8.45412H65.8973L63.3406 19.3717C63.0607 20.5288 63.0233 21.182 62.8927 22.0964H62.818C62.7061 21.182 62.6501 20.5288 62.3701 19.3717L59.7947 8.45412H51.5272L58.395 28.5163ZM39.6019 24.1866C38.3141 24.1866 37.437 23.4215 37.437 22.339C37.437 21.126 38.4075 20.3795 40.4043 19.9689L42.7372 19.521V21.4432C42.7372 23.0669 41.4495 24.1866 39.6019 24.1866ZM36.2799 29.0016C39.3219 29.0016 41.9347 27.6765 42.9798 25.5863C42.9798 26.6687 43.0544 27.6019 43.2597 28.5163H51.042C50.762 27.4712 50.5568 25.549 50.5568 23.5708V16.2737C50.5568 10.5257 47.3468 7.9689 40.367 7.9689C34.1524 7.9689 30.2893 10.5816 29.9347 15.2286H37.8476C37.9596 13.6236 38.762 12.8212 40.3297 12.8212C41.6921 12.8212 42.4572 13.549 42.4572 15.0607V15.9378L36.9891 16.7403C34.0591 17.1882 32.1369 17.86 30.9238 18.9051C29.804 19.8756 29.2815 21.2006 29.2815 22.9922C29.3002 26.5941 32.0995 29.0016 36.2799 29.0016ZM0 28.5163H7.74495V14.874V11.1042H7.81959C8.17418 12.0187 8.8647 13.3064 9.4619 14.5194L17.4868 28.535H26.1649V0.0186637H18.4199V13.9036V17.4681H18.3453C17.9907 16.4977 17.1882 14.8554 16.6283 13.7729L9.08865 0H0.0186608L0 28.5163Z" fill="black"></path><path d="M95.4028 36.2236H0V43.9499H95.4028V36.2236Z" fill="black"></path></svg></a><div class="block "><button aria-label="menu" aria-expanded="false" class="font-sans text-gray-900 border-grey"><svg width="20" height="25" viewBox="0 0 27 22" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M26.3997 1H1" stroke="black" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"></path><path d="M26.3997 10.7695H1" stroke="black" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"></path><path d="M26.3997 20.5391H1" stroke="black" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"></path></svg></button></div></div><nav aria-label="main" class=" absolute left-0 top-[60px] responsive-container w-full flex flex-col bg-white z-50"><div class="react-slidedown"></div></nav></div></header><main id="main"><header class="overflow-hidden"><div class="bg-sage-900"><div class="responsive-container z-10 relative pt-2xl lg:pt-3xl pb-2xl"><div><h1 class="animate-titleSlide font-sans type-preset-1 font-bold md:font-black w-full text-sage-200 xl:w-3/4">Insight</h1><p class="animate-titleSlideB text-white type-preset-1 font-sans font-bold md:font-black w-full xl:w-3/4 pb-md">The first fifty years of civic design</p><div class="animate-titleSlideC font-serif font-light type-preset-4 py-lg text-white w-full xl:w-3/4"><p class="pb-md">Civic tech is a young field with old roots. By tracing the histories of accessibility and participatory practices, we can learn how to become more resilient. </p></div></div></div></div><div class="bg-sage-900 hide-in-print"><div class=" responsive-container pt-3xl"><div class="w-1/4 false"><div class="flex items-stretch"><div class="bg-sage-800 max-h-4xl h-full text-[0px] overflow-clip"><img alt="" loading="lazy" width="72" height="72" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="object-cover " style="color:transparent;max-width:100%;height:auto" src="/_next/static/media/Nava-Brand-Pattern-Direction1-Heavy-White.d95be682.svg"/></div><div class="bg-sage-600 max-h-4xl h-full text-[0px]"><img alt="" loading="lazy" width="72" height="72" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="object-cover" style="color:transparent;max-width:100%;height:auto" src="/_next/static/media/Nava-Brand-Pattern-Terrain1-Heavy-White.2062ea9f.svg"/></div><div class="bg-sage-200 max-h-4xl w-4xl"> </div></div></div></div></div></header><div class="animate-fadeIn2"><div class="responsive-container py-2xl flex flex-col-reverse md:grid md:grid-cols-12 "><article id="article" class="w-full md:col-span-8 text-gray-900 font-serif "><section id="intro"><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">“The current civic tech project is really a fifty-year project, intended to change institutions that we hope will last hundreds more.”</p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">This is a quote from Cyd Harrell, now leading the City and County of San Francisco's Digital Services team, formerly of 18F and Code for America, and author of<span class="italic "> A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide</span>. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">Considering civic tech through this forward-thinking lens is valuable, but it’s also crucial to recognize that civic tech is a young field with old roots. Our field’s practices, influences, and language come from a variety of established sources that we should reflect on and learn from. To remember those who paved our way is to prepare civic tech for the coming decades; to forget them is to risk making old mistakes again, damaging relationships, and underestimating the possible rate of change. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">By tracing the histories of accessibility and participation—words that come up often in our field—it becomes apparent that civic design yields from over 50 years of advocacy, research, and collaboration.</p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">It’s also crucial to recognize that there’s no “correct” way to follow these histories. Though this article cites Western, specifically American, developments, we must understand that civic design stems from worldwide practices. We should recognize this breadth of influence if we wish to build more resilience and depth in our perception of what we, as civic design practitioners, can accomplish. </p></section><section id="tracing-accessibilitys-roots"><h2 class="type-preset-3 font-bold font-sans pt-lg pb-md"><span class=" font-bold ">Tracing accessibility’s roots</span> </h2><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">While accessibility for government services for all has gained more visibility in civic tech, it’s worth it to dive into the history of accessibility as a movement. One way to trace this starts at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1960s with a student named Ed Roberts. As a teenager, polio paralyzed Roberts from the neck down, and when he arrived at Berkeley, he found a campus unequipped to accommodate someone like him. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">In response, Roberts found an empty wing of a hospital and convinced the school to treat it as a dorm for disabled students. The dorm became a rallying place for students with severe disabilities, and eventually Roberts formed the Center for Independent Living along with fellow students Hale Zukas and Jan Brown. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">For the members of the Center for Independent Living, independence didn’t merely mean performing tasks without assistance; it meant exercising radical-self determination. They fought for attendants’ support and wheelchair ramps, and later, secured grants to build ramps and access points throughout campus. And standardization wasn’t good enough—the Center for Independent Living was deeply invested in individuals’ unique needs. The Center was integral to Berkeley’s first large rollout of curb cuts, or ramps designed for wheelchair access to buildings. </p><div class="my-md mx-auto "><div class=""><img alt="A black and white photo from the 1970s shows a group of people, including some people in wheelchairs, smiling in an office." loading="lazy" width="670" height="452" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent;max-width:100%;height:auto;width:100%;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 670 452'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='/_next/image?url=https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/KxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS/9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9/berkeley.png&w=16&q=1'/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="100vw" srcSet="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2FKxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS%2F9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9%2Fberkeley.png&w=640&q=75 640w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2FKxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS%2F9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9%2Fberkeley.png&w=750&q=75 750w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2FKxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS%2F9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9%2Fberkeley.png&w=828&q=75 828w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2FKxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS%2F9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9%2Fberkeley.png&w=1080&q=75 1080w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2FKxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS%2F9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9%2Fberkeley.png&w=1200&q=75 1200w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2FKxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS%2F9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9%2Fberkeley.png&w=1920&q=75 1920w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2FKxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS%2F9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9%2Fberkeley.png&w=2048&q=75 2048w" src="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2FKxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS%2F9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9%2Fberkeley.png&w=2048&q=75"/></div><div class="type-preset-7 border-l-black border-l-2 pl-md my-sm"><div class="font-sans "><p class="pb-md">The Center for Independent Living was formed in 1972 in Berkeley, California, </p></div></div></div><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">The advocacy, direct prototyping, design, and implementation at Berkeley ultimately led to a national conversation around accessibility and The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which barred discrimination on the basis of handicaps. Subsequent national-level organizing, like 1990’s <a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="https://www.history.com/news/americans-with-disabilities-act-1990-capitol-crawl" target="_blank"><span class=" underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2">Capital Crawl</span></a>, contributed to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that same year. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">Though the ADA resulted in many standards and regulations around physical accessibility, soon it became apparent that similar requirements should be implemented in digital spaces in government. In 1998, the Rehabilitation Act was amended to include Section 508, which outlined compliance requirements for digital systems. The World Wide Web Consortium developed the <a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/" target="_blank"><span class=" underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2">Web Content Accessibility Guidelines</span></a> (WCAG) in the early aughts, which outlines how to make accessible websites, mobile apps, and PDFs. And more recently, 18F collaborated with The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), a community of federal employees, to update <a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="https://www.plainlanguage.gov/" target="_blank"><span class=" underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2">plainlanguage.gov</span></a>. PLAIN seeks to promote the use of easy to read, jargon-free language in government communications, which can reduce the risk of people misunderstanding government materials. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">These efforts over the past fifty-odd years have paved the way for conversations around accessibility in the civic tech space. For example, the Department of Justice recently joined forces with Nava and 18F to <a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="https://www.navapbc.com/insights/bringing-diverse-perspectives-modernize-ada-gov" target="_blank"><span class=" underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2">redesign ADA.gov</span></a>, aiming to empower diverse groups of Americans by making ADA rights and regulations easy to find, understand, and share.</p></section><section id="a-brief-history-of-public-participation"><h2 class="type-preset-3 font-bold font-sans pt-lg pb-md"><span class=" font-bold ">A brief history of public participation</span></h2><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">Public participation is integral to civic design, from recruiting participants for user research to incorporating user feedback into new programs. And although terms like “human-centered design” entered government technology circles relatively recently, the idea of soliciting public feedback is an old one. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">We again look to the 1960s, when Lyndon B. Johnson aimed to revitalize urban spaces and explore new modes of municipal governing with the Model Cities program. As part of the program, Johnson tasked civil servant Sherry Arnstein to design a citizen engagement model, which eventually led her to publishing her seminal article “A Ladder of Citizen Participation.” In it, Arnstein argued that there are eight rungs of citizen participation, from non-participatory forms where no feedback is possible and the state coerces the public, all the way to legitimate forms of participation, where the public partners with the government. </p><div class="my-md mx-auto max-w-[500px]"><div class=""><img alt="Sherry Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation" loading="lazy" width="322" height="504" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent;max-width:100%;height:auto;width:100%;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 322 504'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='/_next/image?url=https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS/0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074/image2.png&w=16&q=1'/%3E%3C/svg%3E")" sizes="100vw" srcSet="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS%2F0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074%2Fimage2.png&w=640&q=75 640w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS%2F0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074%2Fimage2.png&w=750&q=75 750w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS%2F0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074%2Fimage2.png&w=828&q=75 828w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS%2F0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074%2Fimage2.png&w=1080&q=75 1080w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS%2F0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074%2Fimage2.png&w=1200&q=75 1200w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS%2F0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074%2Fimage2.png&w=1920&q=75 1920w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS%2F0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074%2Fimage2.png&w=2048&q=75 2048w" src="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS%2F0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074%2Fimage2.png&w=2048&q=75"/></div></div><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">An example of mid-level participation occurred around the same time, separate from the Model Cities Program, when sociologist William Whyte approached the New York City Planning Commission with a proposal to understand why people used some public plazas while others remained empty. As a result, the Commission observed how people interacted with the spaces to inform recommendations around the design of public plazas. Whyte’s final recommendations resulted in a successful redesign of Bryant Park in the early ’90s. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">Up the ladder and a few years later, a group of artists, architects, and policy analysts in New York City founded the Center for Urban Pedagogy, or CUP. CUP advocated for direct community engagement and offered workshops to help residents understand their city and their rights. Roughly ten years ago, CUP began running small fellowships that paired designers with nonprofit or community organizations. Many of these designers have gone on to build entire practices at the nexus of social innovation and public sector work. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">The 2000s saw a rise in community governance in other countries as well. The Danish public sector innovation lab, <a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/insights/welcome-to-mindlab" target="_blank"><span class=" underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2">MindLab</span></a>, was a trailblazer in this area. Though no longer operating due to a confluence of factors, MindLab ran for over fifteen years as one of the first service design consultancies in the public sector. Likewise, the Helsinki Design Lab was founded under the Finnish government to advance strategic design. The Helsinki Design Lab open-sourced much of their work and cataloged what they referred to as the “studio model”—a practice of bringing together various stakeholders. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">Many of these efforts informed the creation of the <a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="https://gds.blog.gov.uk/" target="_blank"><span class=" underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2">Government Digital Service </span></a>in the United Kingdom, which builds platforms and services to promote a personalized government experience for all. </p></section><section id="why-it-matters-for-civic-tech-practitioners"><h2 class="type-preset-3 font-bold font-sans pt-lg pb-md"><span class=" font-bold ">Why it matters for civic tech practitioners</span></h2><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">Princeton history professor Michael S. Mahoney famously <a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/Mahoney/articles/issues/issuesfr.htm" target="_blank"><span class=" underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2">wrote</span></a> of tech that “We have lots of answers but very few questions, lots of stories but no history.” Though Mahoney was arguing that it’s too soon to draw conclusions about the history of computing, as civic tech practitioners, we fall into this mindset at our own peril. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">When we discuss accessibility, we use language that has roots in a fierce and radical self-determination. When we talk about participation or user research, we draw from ideas that critique power relationships and optimize agency and control. When we celebrate wins, we must remember the difficult work that came before us to make those wins possible. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">Rather than hoard this institutional knowledge, we should share our influences, cite our sources, and reflect on who and what shaped our public sector work. Instead of drawing distinctions between fields and subfields, we should recognize how our history unites us. We must research our history the same way we try to understand a stakeholder landscape or service blueprint; we must share our findings; and we should think about the language, phrases, or lenses that pertain to our specific practices. This type of reflection is more important than ever, as we’re at a moment in history where trust in institutions is low and the systemic challenges we face are urgent. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">Thinking of tech as “young” is important—it helps put into context how much work we have ahead of us and centers on a future where incremental progress converts into large, systemic change. But it’s also important to see civic tech within an ongoing movement with deep history. Doing so can stop us from making old mistakes again, damaging relationships with the community, applying inappropriate tactics to a project, and underestimating how quickly things can change. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5">Approaching our work through a lens informed by history and a deeply rooted sense of context will help us become a more resilient field. It will equip us to engage in the work over the coming decades. I look forward to seeing where we grow together. </p><p class=" py-md type-preset-5"><span class="italic ">This article is based on a </span><a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="https://rosenfeldmedia.com/civic-design-2022/sessions/the-first-fifty-years-of-civic-design/" target="_blank"><span class="italic "><span class=" underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2">session presented</span></span></a><span class="italic "> at Civic Design 2022 by Rosenfeld.</span></p></section><div class="mt-xl font-sans"><h2 class="font-bold type-preset-6 pb-xs">Written by</h2><hr class="h-[2px] bg-gray-300" aria-hidden="false"/><div class="grid grid-cols-9 w-full font-sans type-preset-7 py-md"><div class="col-span-2 sm:col-span-1 mr-sm"><img alt="" loading="lazy" width="65" height="65" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="object-cover" style="color:transparent;max-width:100%;height:auto" srcSet="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4wRx2lBbk1rEfQF17iJPPQ%2F333c1ffb32ca24aea2eb7517b77e7210%2Fteam-sha.jpeg&w=96&q=75 1x, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4wRx2lBbk1rEfQF17iJPPQ%2F333c1ffb32ca24aea2eb7517b77e7210%2Fteam-sha.jpeg&w=256&q=75 2x" src="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4wRx2lBbk1rEfQF17iJPPQ%2F333c1ffb32ca24aea2eb7517b77e7210%2Fteam-sha.jpeg&w=256&q=75"/></div><div class="sm:pl-md col-span-7 sm:col-span-8 block sm:grid sm:grid-cols-8"><div class="w-full sm:col-span-3 pr-sm"><p class="font-bold"><a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="/authors/sha-hwang" target="">Sha Hwang</a></p><p class="text-gray-700">COO and Cofounder</p></div><div class="w-full sm:col-span-5 sm:pt-0 pt-sm">Sha Hwang is the COO and cofounder of Nava. Sha has worked with clients such as the New York Times, the Harvard Library Lab, MTV, Flickr, and Adobe and cofounded the company Movity, which was acquired by Trulia.</div></div></div></div></article><div class="hidden md:block md:col-span-1"></div><div class="w-full md:col-span-3 pt-md "><div class="type-preset-7"><div class="font-sans md:block flex justify-between pb-xl md:pb-2xl"><div><div class="pb-2xl"><p class="font-sans"><b class="font-bold block pb-sm">Published</b>January 6, 2023</p></div><div class="md:pb-2xl"><p class="font-bold pb-sm">Authors</p><ul><li id="Sha Hwang" class="pb-md "><p><a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="/authors/sha-hwang" target="">Sha Hwang</a></p><p class=" text-gray-700">COO and Cofounder</p></li></ul></div></div><div><p class="font-bold pb-md">Topics</p><ul><li id="Accessibility" class="pb-md"><a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="/tags/accessibility" target="">Accessibility</a></li><li id="Civic tech" class="pb-md"><a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="/tags/civic-tech" target="">Civic tech</a></li><li id="Equity" class="pb-md"><a class=" text-gray-900 underline decoration-1 underline-offset-2 hover:text-sage-700 " href="/tags/equity" target="">Equity</a></li> </ul></div></div></div><div class="mt-md type-preset-7 sticky top-48 w-full max-w-[240px] hidden md:block "><h3 class="font-sans font-bold pb-sm">On this page</h3><ul class="border-l-2 border-gray-200"><li class="font-sans pl-lg my-md ml-[2px]"><a class=" text-gray-600 hover:text-sage-700 " href="#intro" target="">Intro</a></li><li class="font-sans pl-lg my-md ml-[2px]"><a class=" text-gray-600 hover:text-sage-700 " href="#tracing-accessibilitys-roots" target="">Tracing accessibility’s roots</a></li><li class="font-sans pl-lg my-md ml-[2px]"><a class=" text-gray-600 hover:text-sage-700 " href="#a-brief-history-of-public-participation" target="">A brief history of public participation</a></li><li class="font-sans pl-lg my-md ml-[2px]"><a class=" text-gray-600 hover:text-sage-700 " href="#why-it-matters-for-civic-tech-practitioners" target="">Why it matters for civic tech practitioners</a></li></ul></div></div></div><section id="IBWn2eTtjvLYuXSxfhxQA-more-posts" class="pt-xl pb-4xl"><div class="responsive-container"><hr class="h-[2px] bg-gray-300" aria-hidden="false"/><div class="w-full pt-md flex justify-between items-center "><div class="md:w-2/3 "><h2 class="font-sans type-preset-3 font-bold">More from Nava </h2></div><div class="hidden md:inline-block"></div></div></div><div class="pt-2xl"><section class=""><div class="responsive-container "><div class="w-full"><div class="w-full grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2 lg:grid-cols-3 gap-x-md md:gap-x-2xl gap-y-3xl "><div class="w-full self-stretch "><a href="/case-studies/access-government-services-login-gov" class="group flex flex-col sm:flex-row gap-md md:flex-col h-full article-feed" aria-labelledby="/case-studies/access-government-services-login-gov"><div class="w-full sm:w-1/3 md:w-full"><img alt="A female, South Asian USPS employee checks the ID card of an older, white man. " loading="lazy" width="16" height="9" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="bg-navy-700 object-cover w-full group-hover:scale-105 ease-in duration-200" style="color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto" sizes="100vw" srcSet="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP%2F72338d646c8b7c7031c059254d253f99%2FHelping_people_access_public_benefit_programs_through_Login-gov.png&w=640&q=50 640w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP%2F72338d646c8b7c7031c059254d253f99%2FHelping_people_access_public_benefit_programs_through_Login-gov.png&w=750&q=50 750w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP%2F72338d646c8b7c7031c059254d253f99%2FHelping_people_access_public_benefit_programs_through_Login-gov.png&w=828&q=50 828w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP%2F72338d646c8b7c7031c059254d253f99%2FHelping_people_access_public_benefit_programs_through_Login-gov.png&w=1080&q=50 1080w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP%2F72338d646c8b7c7031c059254d253f99%2FHelping_people_access_public_benefit_programs_through_Login-gov.png&w=1200&q=50 1200w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP%2F72338d646c8b7c7031c059254d253f99%2FHelping_people_access_public_benefit_programs_through_Login-gov.png&w=1920&q=50 1920w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP%2F72338d646c8b7c7031c059254d253f99%2FHelping_people_access_public_benefit_programs_through_Login-gov.png&w=2048&q=50 2048w" src="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP%2F72338d646c8b7c7031c059254d253f99%2FHelping_people_access_public_benefit_programs_through_Login-gov.png&w=2048&q=50"/></div><div class="w-full sm:w-2/3 md:w-full"><div class=" type-preset-8 text-gray-500 mb-md">General Services Administration</div><p id="/case-studies/access-government-services-login-gov" class="type-preset-6 mb-sm font-bold tracking-tight text-gray-900 font-sans group-hover:text-sage-400">Helping people access government services through Login.gov</p><p class="type-preset-6 font-sans text-gray-700">We're helping to design, build, and deliver an in-person identity verification service that will help more people access critical government services.</p></div></a></div><div class="w-full self-stretch "><a href="/events/aws-pss-welcome-reception-nava" class="group flex flex-col sm:flex-row gap-md md:flex-col h-full article-feed" aria-labelledby="/events/aws-pss-welcome-reception-nava"><div class="w-full sm:w-1/3 md:w-full"><img alt="" loading="lazy" width="16" height="9" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="bg-navy-700 object-cover w-full group-hover:scale-105 ease-in duration-200" style="color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto" sizes="100vw" srcSet="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc%2F04393c0c109da0fdd71b7f6df37ca500%2FContent-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01.png&w=640&q=50 640w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc%2F04393c0c109da0fdd71b7f6df37ca500%2FContent-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01.png&w=750&q=50 750w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc%2F04393c0c109da0fdd71b7f6df37ca500%2FContent-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01.png&w=828&q=50 828w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc%2F04393c0c109da0fdd71b7f6df37ca500%2FContent-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01.png&w=1080&q=50 1080w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc%2F04393c0c109da0fdd71b7f6df37ca500%2FContent-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01.png&w=1200&q=50 1200w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc%2F04393c0c109da0fdd71b7f6df37ca500%2FContent-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01.png&w=1920&q=50 1920w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc%2F04393c0c109da0fdd71b7f6df37ca500%2FContent-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01.png&w=2048&q=50 2048w" src="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc%2F04393c0c109da0fdd71b7f6df37ca500%2FContent-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01.png&w=2048&q=50"/></div><div class="w-full sm:w-2/3 md:w-full"><div class=" type-preset-8 text-gray-500 mb-md">June 25, 2024 at 11:00 PM UTC</div><p id="/events/aws-pss-welcome-reception-nava" class="type-preset-6 mb-sm font-bold tracking-tight text-gray-900 font-sans group-hover:text-sage-400">(Un)Official AWS PSS Welcome Reception</p><p class="type-preset-6 font-sans text-gray-700">You're invited to our (un)official Amazon Web Services Public Sector Summit welcome reception!</p></div></a></div><div class="w-full self-stretch "><a href="/news/hannah-kane-chief-of-staff" class="group flex flex-col sm:flex-row gap-md md:flex-col h-full article-feed" aria-labelledby="/news/hannah-kane-chief-of-staff"><div class="w-full sm:w-1/3 md:w-full"><img alt="" loading="lazy" width="16" height="9" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="bg-navy-700 object-cover w-full group-hover:scale-105 ease-in duration-200" style="color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto" sizes="100vw" srcSet="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK%2F521472a2f3edb0535a8b7659bb87b5fc%2FToolkit_Pattern_3_V2.png&w=640&q=50 640w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK%2F521472a2f3edb0535a8b7659bb87b5fc%2FToolkit_Pattern_3_V2.png&w=750&q=50 750w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK%2F521472a2f3edb0535a8b7659bb87b5fc%2FToolkit_Pattern_3_V2.png&w=828&q=50 828w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK%2F521472a2f3edb0535a8b7659bb87b5fc%2FToolkit_Pattern_3_V2.png&w=1080&q=50 1080w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK%2F521472a2f3edb0535a8b7659bb87b5fc%2FToolkit_Pattern_3_V2.png&w=1200&q=50 1200w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK%2F521472a2f3edb0535a8b7659bb87b5fc%2FToolkit_Pattern_3_V2.png&w=1920&q=50 1920w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK%2F521472a2f3edb0535a8b7659bb87b5fc%2FToolkit_Pattern_3_V2.png&w=2048&q=50 2048w" src="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK%2F521472a2f3edb0535a8b7659bb87b5fc%2FToolkit_Pattern_3_V2.png&w=2048&q=50"/></div><div class="w-full sm:w-2/3 md:w-full"><div class=" type-preset-8 text-gray-500 mb-md">October 17, 2024</div><p id="/news/hannah-kane-chief-of-staff" class="type-preset-6 mb-sm font-bold tracking-tight text-gray-900 font-sans group-hover:text-sage-400">Hannah Kane joins Nava as new Chief of Staff</p><p class="type-preset-6 font-sans text-gray-700">A seasoned civic tech professional, Kane will drive strategic company-wide initiatives.</p></div></a></div></div></div></div></section><div class="responsive-container md:hidden py-lg flex justify-end"></div></div></section><section class="relative w-full bg-plum-50 hide-in-print"><div class="responsive-container pt-md flex flex-col md:flex-row justify-start"><div class="w-full md:w-1/2 pt-3xl pb-md md:pt-4xl md:pb-3xl"><h3 class="type-preset-3 font-bold text-plum-900">Partner with us</h3><p class="pt-sm type-preset-3 font-bold text-plum-600 pb-2xl">Let’s talk about what we can build together.</p><div><button class="font-sans font-bold h-[55px] md:h-[70px] inline-flex items-center justify-center px-2xl py-sm mr-auto type-preset-7 md:type-preset-6 leading-6 transition duration-150 ease-in-out flex-row cursor-pointer text-sage-700 bg-white hover:bg-sage-100 CTA-block">Get in touch</button></div></div><div class="self-center md:self-end w-full md:w-1/2 max-h-[400px] max-w-[400px] lg:max-h-[500px] lg:max-w-[500px] overflow-hidden align-end"><img alt="" loading="lazy" width="500" height="500" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="pt-auto" style="color:transparent;width:100%;height:auto" sizes="100vw" srcSet="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F5BzdwfkJyPTjzFhJ3zGQrg%2F2dd62521fe065a8ea539ae8aed33c720%2FCTA2-500x500-V01.png&w=640&q=75 640w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F5BzdwfkJyPTjzFhJ3zGQrg%2F2dd62521fe065a8ea539ae8aed33c720%2FCTA2-500x500-V01.png&w=750&q=75 750w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F5BzdwfkJyPTjzFhJ3zGQrg%2F2dd62521fe065a8ea539ae8aed33c720%2FCTA2-500x500-V01.png&w=828&q=75 828w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F5BzdwfkJyPTjzFhJ3zGQrg%2F2dd62521fe065a8ea539ae8aed33c720%2FCTA2-500x500-V01.png&w=1080&q=75 1080w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F5BzdwfkJyPTjzFhJ3zGQrg%2F2dd62521fe065a8ea539ae8aed33c720%2FCTA2-500x500-V01.png&w=1200&q=75 1200w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F5BzdwfkJyPTjzFhJ3zGQrg%2F2dd62521fe065a8ea539ae8aed33c720%2FCTA2-500x500-V01.png&w=1920&q=75 1920w, /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F5BzdwfkJyPTjzFhJ3zGQrg%2F2dd62521fe065a8ea539ae8aed33c720%2FCTA2-500x500-V01.png&w=2048&q=75 2048w" src="/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ctfassets.net%2Ft2ekr6eg3fr3%2F5BzdwfkJyPTjzFhJ3zGQrg%2F2dd62521fe065a8ea539ae8aed33c720%2FCTA2-500x500-V01.png&w=2048&q=75"/></div></div><div class="absolute left-0 right-0 -bottom-[200px] h-[200px] -z-20 bg-plum-50"></div></section></div></main><footer><div class=" relative"><div class="responsive-container bg-sage-700 sm:bg-transparent"><div class="bg-sage-700 font-sans h-3xl sm:h-4xl"></div></div><div class="bg-sage-700 sm:bg-navy-900"><div class="responsive-container z-10 relative"><div class="bg-sage-700 font-sans"><div class="font-sans text-white sm:px-2xl lg:px-4xl"><div class=" w-full flex pb-2xl flex-col md:flex-row"><div class="w-full md:w-1/2"><h3 class="font-sans type-preset-2 font-bold pb-lg -mt-[6px] md:-mt-[12px]">Stay in touch</h3><p class="font-sans mr-3xl type-preset-6 mb-md">Sign up for our newsletter to find out about career opportunities, new partnerships, and news from the broader civic tech community.</p></div><div class="w-full md:w-1/2"><form action="https://navapbc.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe/post" method="post" target="_blank" id="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" name="mc-embedded-subscribe-form"><input type="hidden" name="u" value="c69eb1fd5475fa5122ef55965"/><input type="hidden" name="id" value="a994830182"/><input type="hidden" name="tags" value="12593337"/><label for="email" class="hidden">Email</label><div id="mc_embed_signup" class="flex flex-col lg:flex-row gap-md w-full pt-sm md:pt-0"><input type="email" name="EMAIL" id="email" placeholder="Your email address" class="required email text-gray-900 w-full p-md h-[70px]"/><div class="clear"><input type="submit" name="subscribe" id="mc-embedded-subscribe" class="font-sans font-bold h-[70px] inline-flex items-center justify-center px-2xl py-sm type-preset-6 leading-6 transition duration-150 ease-in-out flex-col cursor-pointer text-white hover:bg-black w-full lg:w-auto bg-sage-900 " value="Sign up"/></div></div></form></div></div></div><div class="hidden sm:flex w-full justify-end"><img src="/images/Sign-up-Brand-pattern-V02.svg" height="72" width="144" alt=""/></div></div></div></div></div><div class="bg-navy-900 relative z-4 "><nav aria-label="secondary" class="responsive-container py-2xl sm:py-4xl grid grid-cols-12 gap-x-md md:gap-x-2xl"><div class="col-span-12 sm:col-span-2 pb-xl"><a href="/" id="footer-home" aria-label="Nava Home" class="footer"><img alt="Nava Logo" loading="lazy" width="65" height="109" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="" style="color:transparent;max-width:100%;height:auto" srcSet="/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2FN%20logo.34c339ac.png&w=96&q=75 1x, /_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2FN%20logo.34c339ac.png&w=256&q=75 2x" src="/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2FN%20logo.34c339ac.png&w=256&q=75"/></a></div><div class="hidden col-span-0 md:block md:col-span-2 lg:col-span-4"></div><div class="col-span-6 sm:col-span-4 lg:col-span-3"><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/impact" target="">Impact</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/values" target="">Values</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/services" target="">Services</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/case-studies" target="">Case studies</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/toolkits" target="">Toolkits</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/insights" target="">Insights</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/contract-vehicles" target="">Contract vehicles</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/labs" target="">Nava Labs</a></div></div><div class="col-span-6 sm:col-span-4 lg:col-span-3"><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/careers" target="">Careers</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/open-roles" target="">Open roles</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/story" target="">Our story</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/team" target="">Team</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/dei" target="">Diversity, equity, and inclusion</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/news" target="">News</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/events" target="">Events</a></div><div class="pb-lg"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="/contact" target="">Get in touch</a></div></div></nav><div class="bg-navy-600 py-xl"><div class="responsive-container flex items-center justify-between flex-col-reverse sm:flex-row"><p class="text-white font-sans type-preset-8 pt-md sm:pt-0">© 2024 Nava PBC. All rights reserved.</p><div class="flex gap-2xl type-preset-7"><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="https://twitter.com/NavaPBC" target="_blank">Twitter</a><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/nava-pbc" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a><a class=" text-white hover:underline decoration-1 hover:underline-offset-2 footer" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClJmJSvy2G_7JPrjlr_taGg/featured" target="_blank">YouTube</a></div></div></div></div></footer></div></div></div><script id="__NEXT_DATA__" type="application/json">{"props":{"pageProps":{"id":"IBWn2eTtjvLYuXSxfhxQA","slug":"/insights/the-first-fifty-years-of-civic-design","title":"The first fifty years of civic design","socialImage":{"id":"rbULRB9VPQmpbfB1gOLwr","url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/rbULRB9VPQmpbfB1gOLwr/f4c9aa83ebdc2c2c3633e7b22a56797d/Toolkit_Pattern_5_V2.svg","title":"Toolkit Pattern 5 - SVG","description":null,"width":1280,"height":720},"isBottomGapRemoved":true,"pageHeader":{"id":"IBWn2eTtjvLYuXSxfhxQA-header","title":"Insight","variant":"Post","subtitle":"The first fifty years of civic design","body":"Civic tech is a young field with old roots. By tracing the histories of accessibility and participatory practices, we can learn how to become more resilient.","image":null,"eventInfo":null,"hideHeroPattern":null},"description":"Tracing civic design's history can help the field become more resilient. ","contentBlocks":[false,{"__typename":"PostBody","id":"IBWn2eTtjvLYuXSxfhxQA-body","body":{"json":{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"“The current civic tech project is really a fifty-year project, intended to change institutions that we hope will last hundreds more.”","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"This is a quote from Cyd Harrell, now leading the City and County of San Francisco's Digital Services team, formerly of 18F and Code for America, and author of","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"value":" A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":". ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Considering civic tech through this forward-thinking lens is valuable, but it’s also crucial to recognize that civic tech is a young field with old roots. Our field’s practices, influences, and language come from a variety of established sources that we should reflect on and learn from. To remember those who paved our way is to prepare civic tech for the coming decades; to forget them is to risk making old mistakes again, damaging relationships, and underestimating the possible rate of change. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"By tracing the histories of accessibility and participation—words that come up often in our field—it becomes apparent that civic design yields from over 50 years of advocacy, research, and collaboration.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"It’s also crucial to recognize that there’s no “correct” way to follow these histories. Though this article cites Western, specifically American, developments, we must understand that civic design stems from worldwide practices. We should recognize this breadth of influence if we wish to build more resilience and depth in our perception of what we, as civic design practitioners, can accomplish. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"Tracing accessibility’s roots","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":" ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-2"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"While accessibility for government services for all has gained more visibility in civic tech, it’s worth it to dive into the history of accessibility as a movement. One way to trace this starts at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1960s with a student named Ed Roberts. As a teenager, polio paralyzed Roberts from the neck down, and when he arrived at Berkeley, he found a campus unequipped to accommodate someone like him. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"In response, Roberts found an empty wing of a hospital and convinced the school to treat it as a dorm for disabled students. The dorm became a rallying place for students with severe disabilities, and eventually Roberts formed the Center for Independent Living along with fellow students Hale Zukas and Jan Brown. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"For the members of the Center for Independent Living, independence didn’t merely mean performing tasks without assistance; it meant exercising radical-self determination. They fought for attendants’ support and wheelchair ramps, and later, secured grants to build ramps and access points throughout campus. And standardization wasn’t good enough—the Center for Independent Living was deeply invested in individuals’ unique needs. The Center was integral to Berkeley’s first large rollout of curb cuts, or ramps designed for wheelchair access to buildings. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{"target":{"sys":{"id":"3Ea6zNVTmOEcdykHS87jEz","type":"Link","linkType":"Entry"}}},"content":[],"nodeType":"embedded-entry-block"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"The advocacy, direct prototyping, design, and implementation at Berkeley ultimately led to a national conversation around accessibility and The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which barred discrimination on the basis of handicaps. Subsequent national-level organizing, like 1990’s ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://www.history.com/news/americans-with-disabilities-act-1990-capitol-crawl"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"underline"}],"value":"Capital Crawl","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":", contributed to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that same year. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Though the ADA resulted in many standards and regulations around physical accessibility, soon it became apparent that similar requirements should be implemented in digital spaces in government. In 1998, the Rehabilitation Act was amended to include Section 508, which outlined compliance requirements for digital systems. The World Wide Web Consortium developed the ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"underline"}],"value":"Web Content Accessibility Guidelines","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":" (WCAG) in the early aughts, which outlines how to make accessible websites, mobile apps, and PDFs. And more recently, 18F collaborated with The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), a community of federal employees, to update ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://www.plainlanguage.gov/"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"underline"}],"value":"plainlanguage.gov","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":". PLAIN seeks to promote the use of easy to read, jargon-free language in government communications, which can reduce the risk of people misunderstanding government materials. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"These efforts over the past fifty-odd years have paved the way for conversations around accessibility in the civic tech space. For example, the Department of Justice recently joined forces with Nava and 18F to ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://www.navapbc.com/insights/bringing-diverse-perspectives-modernize-ada-gov"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"underline"}],"value":"redesign ADA.gov","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":", aiming to empower diverse groups of Americans by making ADA rights and regulations easy to find, understand, and share.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"A brief history of public participation","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-2"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Public participation is integral to civic design, from recruiting participants for user research to incorporating user feedback into new programs. And although terms like “human-centered design” entered government technology circles relatively recently, the idea of soliciting public feedback is an old one. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"We again look to the 1960s, when Lyndon B. Johnson aimed to revitalize urban spaces and explore new modes of municipal governing with the Model Cities program. As part of the program, Johnson tasked civil servant Sherry Arnstein to design a citizen engagement model, which eventually led her to publishing her seminal article “A Ladder of Citizen Participation.” In it, Arnstein argued that there are eight rungs of citizen participation, from non-participatory forms where no feedback is possible and the state coerces the public, all the way to legitimate forms of participation, where the public partners with the government. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{"target":{"sys":{"id":"6Id5U4JFbVVQv1FDm6RTKh","type":"Link","linkType":"Entry"}}},"content":[],"nodeType":"embedded-entry-block"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"An example of mid-level participation occurred around the same time, separate from the Model Cities Program, when sociologist William Whyte approached the New York City Planning Commission with a proposal to understand why people used some public plazas while others remained empty. As a result, the Commission observed how people interacted with the spaces to inform recommendations around the design of public plazas. Whyte’s final recommendations resulted in a successful redesign of Bryant Park in the early ’90s. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Up the ladder and a few years later, a group of artists, architects, and policy analysts in New York City founded the Center for Urban Pedagogy, or CUP. CUP advocated for direct community engagement and offered workshops to help residents understand their city and their rights. Roughly ten years ago, CUP began running small fellowships that paired designers with nonprofit or community organizations. Many of these designers have gone on to build entire practices at the nexus of social innovation and public sector work. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"The 2000s saw a rise in community governance in other countries as well. The Danish public sector innovation lab, ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/insights/welcome-to-mindlab"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"underline"}],"value":"MindLab","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":", was a trailblazer in this area. Though no longer operating due to a confluence of factors, MindLab ran for over fifteen years as one of the first service design consultancies in the public sector. Likewise, the Helsinki Design Lab was founded under the Finnish government to advance strategic design. The Helsinki Design Lab open-sourced much of their work and cataloged what they referred to as the “studio model”—a practice of bringing together various stakeholders. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Many of these efforts informed the creation of the ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://gds.blog.gov.uk/"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"underline"}],"value":"Government Digital Service ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"in the United Kingdom, which builds platforms and services to promote a personalized government experience for all. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"value":"Why it matters for civic tech practitioners","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"heading-2"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Princeton history professor Michael S. Mahoney famously ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/Mahoney/articles/issues/issuesfr.htm"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"underline"}],"value":"wrote","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":" of tech that “We have lots of answers but very few questions, lots of stories but no history.” Though Mahoney was arguing that it’s too soon to draw conclusions about the history of computing, as civic tech practitioners, we fall into this mindset at our own peril. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"When we discuss accessibility, we use language that has roots in a fierce and radical self-determination. When we talk about participation or user research, we draw from ideas that critique power relationships and optimize agency and control. When we celebrate wins, we must remember the difficult work that came before us to make those wins possible. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Rather than hoard this institutional knowledge, we should share our influences, cite our sources, and reflect on who and what shaped our public sector work. Instead of drawing distinctions between fields and subfields, we should recognize how our history unites us. We must research our history the same way we try to understand a stakeholder landscape or service blueprint; we must share our findings; and we should think about the language, phrases, or lenses that pertain to our specific practices. This type of reflection is more important than ever, as we’re at a moment in history where trust in institutions is low and the systemic challenges we face are urgent. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Thinking of tech as “young” is important—it helps put into context how much work we have ahead of us and centers on a future where incremental progress converts into large, systemic change. But it’s also important to see civic tech within an ongoing movement with deep history. Doing so can stop us from making old mistakes again, damaging relationships with the community, applying inappropriate tactics to a project, and underestimating how quickly things can change. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"Approaching our work through a lens informed by history and a deeply rooted sense of context will help us become a more resilient field. It will equip us to engage in the work over the coming decades. I look forward to seeing where we grow together. ","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"},{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"value":"This article is based on a ","nodeType":"text"},{"data":{"uri":"https://rosenfeldmedia.com/civic-design-2022/sessions/the-first-fifty-years-of-civic-design/"},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"underline"},{"type":"italic"}],"value":"session presented","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"hyperlink"},{"data":{},"marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"value":" at Civic Design 2022 by Rosenfeld.","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"}],"nodeType":"document"},"links":{"assets":{"block":[],"hyperlink":[]},"entries":{"block":[{"sys":{"id":"3Ea6zNVTmOEcdykHS87jEz"},"__typename":"PostImage","border":"none","caption":"The Center for Independent Living was formed in 1972 in Berkeley, California, ","attribution":null,"image":{"sys":{"id":"KxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS"},"url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/KxDIIqw4B4xdu5mXyP7NS/9d0fefa22748cc917da717895545b0f9/berkeley.png","width":670,"height":452,"title":"berkeley","description":"A black and white photo from the 1970s shows a group of people, including some people in wheelchairs, smiling in an office."}},{"sys":{"id":"6Id5U4JFbVVQv1FDm6RTKh"},"__typename":"PostImage","border":"none","caption":null,"attribution":null,"image":{"sys":{"id":"6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS"},"url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/6SiFbyD3DyreSzQnnTO5nS/0c946c3efea5f659ac61cfe5da6b1074/image2.png","width":322,"height":504,"title":"Ladder of Citizen Participation","description":"Sherry Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation"}}]}}},"contentTags":["Accessibility","Civic tech","Equity"],"authors":[{"name":"Sha Hwang","slug":"sha-hwang","bio":"Sha Hwang is the COO and cofounder of Nava. Sha has worked with clients such as the New York Times, the Harvard Library Lab, MTV, Flickr, and Adobe and cofounded the company Movity, which was acquired by Trulia.","role":"COO and Cofounder","image":{"id":"4wRx2lBbk1rEfQF17iJPPQ","url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/4wRx2lBbk1rEfQF17iJPPQ/333c1ffb32ca24aea2eb7517b77e7210/team-sha.jpeg","title":"team-sha","description":"","width":192,"height":192}}],"date":"2023-01-06T00:00:00.000-07:00","hideSideNav":false,"eventInfo":null},{"__typename":"ContentBlockArticleList","id":"IBWn2eTtjvLYuXSxfhxQA-more-posts","title":"More from Nava","items":[{"__typename":"Post","id":"1pYAdGCsPqyvwabAZckxAN","contentTags":["Agile development","Accessibility","Veterans"],"slug":"access-government-services-login-gov","title":"Helping people access government services through Login.gov","date":"2023-09-07T00:00:00.000-05:00","kicker":false,"clientName":"General Services Administration","contentType":"Case Study","shortSummary":"We're helping to design, build, and deliver an in-person identity verification service that will help more people access critical government services.","promoImage":{"id":"2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP","url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/2hTiVEd6HYTGAXQUGTKGjP/72338d646c8b7c7031c059254d253f99/Helping_people_access_public_benefit_programs_through_Login-gov.png","title":"Helping people access public benefit programs through Login-gov","description":"A female, South Asian USPS employee checks the ID card of an older, white man. ","width":1280,"height":720}},{"__typename":"Post","id":"1wTGnXd4CP5ZtK9p9CsFsx","contentTags":["Civic tech"],"slug":"aws-pss-welcome-reception-nava","title":"(Un)Official AWS PSS Welcome Reception","date":"2024-06-25T19:00:00.000-04:00","kicker":false,"clientName":null,"contentType":"Events","shortSummary":"You're invited to our (un)official Amazon Web Services Public Sector Summit welcome reception!","promoImage":{"id":"4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc","url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/4dzkXzrdrEMD8EjD5wljSc/04393c0c109da0fdd71b7f6df37ca500/Content-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01.png","title":"Content-Card-Events-AWS-PSS-V01","description":"","width":1280,"height":720}},{"__typename":"Post","id":"6h8cGnc4DrDRaqsWTWbzKd","contentTags":["Civic tech"],"slug":"hannah-kane-chief-of-staff","title":"Hannah Kane joins Nava as new Chief of Staff","date":"2024-10-17T00:00:00.000-05:00","kicker":false,"clientName":null,"contentType":"News","shortSummary":"A seasoned civic tech professional, Kane will drive strategic company-wide initiatives.","promoImage":{"id":"1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK","url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/1iB2Wkij6HYsNHt6TG9iaK/521472a2f3edb0535a8b7659bb87b5fc/Toolkit_Pattern_3_V2.png","title":"Social Pattern Design 3 - PNG","description":"","width":1280,"height":720}}],"layout":"3 card row"},{"__typename":"SectionCtaBlock","id":"IBWn2eTtjvLYuXSxfhxQA-work","title":"Partner with us","body":"Let’s talk about what we can build together.","buttonText":"Get in touch","buttonPath":"/contact","isBottom":true,"image":{"sys":{"id":"1lNLtY5DLthC94TiYeKcvR"},"url":"https://images.ctfassets.net/t2ekr6eg3fr3/5BzdwfkJyPTjzFhJ3zGQrg/2dd62521fe065a8ea539ae8aed33c720/CTA2-500x500-V01.png","width":500,"height":500,"title":"illustration-plum-3","description":""}}]},"__N_SSG":true},"page":"/insights/[slug]","query":{"slug":"the-first-fifty-years-of-civic-design"},"buildId":"6O20ePbToX-6EQon-5fnj","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[5084,4552,5936,5620,3223,7909],"gsp":true,"locale":"en","locales":["en"],"defaultLocale":"en","scriptLoader":[]}</script></body></html>