#224 My Building Doesn't Recycle: Designing for Policy Change

The biggest challenge in making a civic app is creating impact. While it’s fairly straightforward to create an app, how do you engage your audiences and direct them to take meaningful action?

Built at Chi Hack Night, My Building Doesn’t Recycle is a civic app that allows Chicago residents of high density buildings to report that their building management does not provide recycling services.

After being picked up by the press and getting the attention of the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, My Building Doesn’t Recycle influenced the drafting of a stronger recycling ordinance, which was passed by Chicago City Council and will go into effect January 2017. Impact created.

How can an idea at a hack night become an app that affects policy change? Claire Micklin, Interaction Designer at The University of Chicago, will explain how civic apps can have the power to influence policy change and that policy change can be a realistic goal. When apps have a clear call to action, are digestible by journalists and citizens, and tell a compelling story, they can get the attention of policymakers - and change cities for the better.