Philadelphia’s Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) pilots experiments that offer the potential to improve radically the quality of City services

To design, conduct and evaluate pilot projects in these areas, MONUM builds partnerships between constituents, academics, entrepreneurs, non-profits and City staff.

Philadelphia’s Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) pilots experiments that offer the potential to improve radically the quality of City services. To design, conduct and evaluate pilot projects in these areas, MONUM builds partnerships between constituents, academics, entrepreneurs, non-profits and City staff. If you would like to work with us on an idea you have to make Philadelphia even better, we would love to hear from you. You can learn more about our work below, or follow our work on twitter. Here are a sample of our projects:

• FastFWD: Funded by Bloomberg Philathropies, FastFWD creates a new pathway for civic entrepreneurs to propose, refine and test ideas that can improve local government. Now in its second year, FastFWD has supported nearly a dozen civic startups in areas ranging from civic engagement to public safety. The support includes significant coaching and mentoring by subject matter experts and experienced entrepreneurs.
• **Civic Design Challenge: **This project was a public call to artists & designers who had new ideas for improving civic spaces. Over 30 teams submitted proposals. Four were selected and received $20,000 in total to implement them.
• Textizen: Developed and incubated in Philadelphia, Textizen provides a text-message-based platforms to engage community members in important conversations and debates.
• CityHow & NeighborHow: These two experimental platforms were built in partnership with Code for America. They present new methods for communities – in both City Hall and in city neighborhoods – to form and share information.
• Philadelphia2035: The Game: This project used an on-line engagement platform to drive a community conversation around the 2035 master plan for Philadelphia. The platform was delivered through a partnership with the City’s Planning Department and Emerson College.