Web developers challenged to make Placemaking app

What if you could pull up a Google map on your mobile phone that pinpoints your location and tells you about family-friendly activities taking place nearby at that moment?

Or how about an app that calculates, in real time, how lively a neighborhood gathering place is to encourage more of your neighbors to come out and join in the fun?

The Metropolitan Planning Council thinks there should be an app for that — and other great ideas that enliven and improve Chicagoland’s public places.Thanks to a sponsorship from IBM, the 77-year-old nonprofit organization is offering a special prize of $2,500 for the best Placemaking application submitted to Apps for Metro Chicago Illinois (A4MC).This regionwide competition invites web developers and community groups to use data sets offered by the city of Chicago, Cook County, state of Illinois, and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning to solve problems in metropolitan Chicago.Web developers are competing for more than $50,000 in prizes by creating web applications to help city residents and visitors get more out of their transportation systems, neighborhoods and the region.#147;At their best, public places support job markets, provide recreational opportunities to keep communities healthy, turn strangers into neighbors, and help make Chicagoland the world-class destination it is,#148; said Marisa Novara, project manager, MPC.#147;That#146;s why we#146;re challenging web developers to wow us with apps that help residents and visitors explore and improve upon vibrant public places across the region.#148;The winning Placemaking app will help people find, create, sustain and share vibrant public places. To be considered for the Placemaking app contest, developers must:타 Check the box marked #147;Placemaking#148; when submitting online at www.appsformetrochicago.org.타 Create an app that helps users find, create, sustain or share vibrant public places in metropolitan Chicago.타 Clearly demonstrate their app helps people tap into the 11 Principles of Placemaking. Learn about the 11 Principles of Placemaking at www.placemakingchicago.com/about/principles.asp .타 Comply with all A4MC requirements.

Web developers must use data sets provided by A4MC partners on the contest web site, http://appsformetrochicago.com/data. For example, the city of Chicago has made available data sets that identify places in the city where opportunities for Placemaking exist, such as malls and plazas, habitats, boulevards, riverwalks, neighbor space gardens, and campus parks. That data set is available on A4MC#146;s website.

For information about Placemaking or the Placemaking apps challenge, contact MPC Assistant Communications Director Mandy Burrell Booth at (312) 863-6018 or mburrell@metroplanning.org.

For information about Apps for Metro Chicago, contact MCIC Director of Development and External Communications Kathryn Auerbach at (312) 580-2597 or kauerbach@mcic.org.