PRESS RELEASE: Announcing The Shared City, A Blog About the Rise of the Sharing Economy

Next City launches The Shared City, a new blog about the rise of the sharing economy and the changing role of the public sector in cities, with support from Knight Foundation.

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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The non-profit media organization Next City, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has launched The Shared City, a new daily blog about the rise and consequences of the sharing economy, in which social and governmental systems play new roles to enable less individual consumption and more collaboration.

Each day, The Shared City will deliver stories about the people and projects that are changing the roles and responsibilities of the public, private and civic sector.

The organization has tapped New York City-based journalist Nancy Scola to write the daily column. Scola, who came to journalism from a career in government and politics, has written extensively about the intersections of technology and politics, digital media, governing, political organizing, and more and is a frequent Next City contributor.

Readers can now access The Shared City at nextcity.org/sharedcity and follow @nextcityorg and @nancyscola on Twitter for daily updates.

The Shared City is driven by the nation’s trend toward a sharing economy that has potential to open up new avenues of participation in city life. Enabled by evolving technologies and attitudes, more people are taking an active role in urban development and politics. Yet there are also valid concerns that technology and a reshaped public sector will speed globalization and turn vibrant cities into dystopian places. These fears are not unwarranted, but they aren’t entirely accurate either.

“The concept of a ‘shared city’ is one we should explore, as we look for new ways to make our cities more vibrant and help create a sense of place that spurs attachment and progress,” said Carol Coletta, Knight Foundation vice president for national and communities.

Though focused on different themes of technology, government and business, the column will be united by its singular focus what can be achieved by collaborating and what the collective has to gain from new practices and policies that require cooperation.

“Technology, entrepreneurship and urban advocacy have collectively created a seismic shift in our economy and how local governments deliver services. This column will chart the cutting-edge debate about where civic tech is leading us, what cities with reduced a public sector will look like, and what regular people can do to participate in shaping that future,” says Diana Lind, Next City’s Executive Director and Editor in Chief.

In addition to daily coverage, Nancy Scola will also produce three investigative features that will be part of Next City’s longform series, Forefront. These stories will analyze complex issues at the heart of the shared city.

Delivering valuable, in-depth reporting on urban policy issues

Next City provides readers looking for an urbanist perspective with daily online coverage of public policy and current affairs at nextcity.org. In addition to a daily blog and topic-specific columns, Next City publishes a subscriber-based digital longform story series called Forefront, which offers readers a single in-depth story each week.

Recognizing the needs for sustained reporting on topic-specific issues facing cities, Next City also recently launched The Equity Factor, a daily blog about equitable economic development, written by columnist Bill Bradley, and Watermark, a series examining all aspects of the world’s growing water problem by Next City contributor Sarah Goodyear.

About Next City

Next City is a non-profit media organization, dedicated to promoting socially and environmentally sustainable economic growth in America’s cities and examining how and why our built environment, economy, society and culture are changing. In addition to a daily blog, Next City publishes a weekly longform series called Forefront (available by subscription) featuring smart analysis and coverage of the latest urban policy trends and practices. Next City’s writers are based in cities around the world and focus on transportation, infrastructure, economic development, governance, housing, education, the environment, civic tech, and more. Through innovative urban affairs journalism published at nextcity.org and convening events around the country, Next City informs and connects cities and the people working to improve them. Previously “Next American City,” the organization became “Next City” in December 2012 in a move to cover urbanization without any boundaries.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.

About Nancy Scola

Nancy Scola is a Brooklyn-based journalist and writer whose work on the intersections of technology and politics has been published by The American Prospect, Capital, Columbia Journalism Review, New York, Reuters, Salon, Science Progress, Seed, and other publications. She was previously the associate editor of techPresident, a widely read daily online publication of the Personal Democracy Forum. She’s talked about governing, campaigns, political organizing, technology policy, digital media and more on the BBC, CNN.com, MSNBC, and WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show,” and frequently appears on conference panels.

Scola came to journalism from government and politics. From 2001 to 2005, she served on the Democratic staff of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the United States House of Representatives, under Rep. Henry Waxman of California, handling both online communications and a technology policy portfolio. After leaving Capitol Hill, she was an aide to former Virginia Governor (now Senator) Mark Warner as he explored a possible run in the 2008 presidential election.

Browse Scola’s past work for Next City here and learn more about her at nancyscola.com.

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