Engagement Center
Stephen Walter Stephen Walter

Engagement Center

The Engagement Center is a harm reduction day shelter and the lowest threshold space in the City of Boston — meaning those with nowhere else to go can receive care, services, and shelter.

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Boston Smart City Policy
Stephen Walter Stephen Walter

Boston Smart City Policy

I led the direction of a number of Smart City initiatives of the City of Boston, including the creation of the City’s first Smart City Playbook, the writing and management of the largest technology RFP to come directly out of the Mayor’s Office in the 21st Century (Beta Blocks), the creation of the Local Sense Lab - a way for the City to better understand the affordances (and pitfalls) of IoT sensor technology - and even our first ever Robot Block Party.

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Engagement Lab
Stephen Walter Stephen Walter

Engagement Lab

I helped develop and run the Engagement Lab, an applied research lab at Emerson College that designs and studies civic technology, engagement, and play. The Lab’s work has ranged from the design and development of engagement games, to the organization of civic technology researchers and practitioners from around the world, to the dissemination and teaching of playful user experience design in both digital and analog contexts. During my time as managing director, the Lab grew from a partnership of two working out of a faculty offce and cubicle, to a staff of over 20 designers, developers, project managers, faculty, and students, working collaboratively in a dedicated lab space that served as both a center for academic research and an independent, self-funding design studio.

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Community PlanIt
Stephen Walter Stephen Walter

Community PlanIt

Community PlanIt was a game for community planning, used for processes and issues ranging from the City of Detroit’s Long Term Plan, to youth unemployment in Moldova, to school planning in the LA Unified School District and Boston Public Schools.

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Civic Research Agenda
Non Featured Stephen Walter Non Featured Stephen Walter

Civic Research Agenda

As a member of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, I helped write the City of Boston’s first ever Civic Research Agenda, which we described as: “A primer on the questions we're asking, the problems that stump us, and the partnerships we need.” Read it here!

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