Everyone has a role to play in making our cities and communities safer, stronger, and delightful. We all have ideas about what a great place looks and feels like - but how do we communicate these ideas and bring them together in a way that is accessible and aesthetically pleasing? UrbanDesignX is an engagement platform to empower local citizens to share, map, and discuss urban change. UrbanDesignX empowers citizens to celebrate places they love but also identify areas of opportunity. For architects, city planners, and developers, UrbanDesignX provides an additional means to tap into local knowledge and work towards solutions grounded in lived experiences.‍

What we heard.

In conversation with built environment professionals, designers, teachers, students, and community changemakers there was a distinct need for a digital tool that incorporated:

• crowd mapping
• georeferencing (attach photos and videos to place locations)
• real life perspectives
• an open evolving map
• the opportunity to choose preferred method of communicating creative ideas
• social elements (e.g., ability to up-vote ideas and discussion)
• A sense of exploration

Reflecting back on our experiences as urban planning and architecture students we also integrated features that could enhance collaboration among team members and visual presentation options for projects.

Using UrbanDesignX

UrbanDesignX is for community members who want to learn, share ideas and improve their communities. At the same time, the design of the platform has been specifically curated to meet the needs of particular users.

For Practitioners

• Gain local insights on community challenges and opportunities
• Share local initiatives, events and projects
  

For Students

• Utilize the platform to showcase your work
• Collaborate on city wide-projects with your peers
  

For Teachers/Tutors

• Communicate with students in real time
• Share student work together in one location
  

For Designers & Artists

• Promote your work
• Submit your take on a community need 
  

For Community Changemakers

• Connect with other local and global changemakers
• Share inspirational examples from around the world
• Discuss local challenges and opportunities
• Connect with community fundraisers (e.g., gofundme)
  

Creating an Incredible User Experience

We believe an incredible user experience is a prerequisite for active engagement. While exciting new features are in the works, we strive to achieve a clean and accessible platform from day one. UrbanDesignX features are all presented through an attractive intuitive user interface responsive across any device.

On UrbanDesignX, community members will be able to upload projects, articles or posts to the platform in three simple steps.

With UrbanDesignX, you can also explore ideas presented in your community and be inspired by projects around the world on the UrbanDesignX map. Consider adding tags to your project, article, or post enabling greater filtering precision. You can also tag collaborators to recognize team efforts and reach a wider audience.

We believe at its best, social media can be harnessed to build a sense of community. UrbanDesignX provides collaborative spaces to discuss challenges and highlight opportunities to build better places together. Through the platform, you can like and comment on projects, articles and posts. Additionally the platform comes with built in direct messaging and group chats.

Roadmap

In the upcoming months we will be releasing timely updates as we receive feedback on the beta and move towards a full product release. Some of these updates will include tools designed for business, events, organizational accounts, competitions, a resource database and marketplace features.

Sign Up for the Beta

If you would like early access to UrbanDesignX and help grow the platform, sign up for the free beta here. Your feedback is important to improving the overall experience and will help guide priorities for future updates.

urbandesignx.com

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