The Doable City Reader and Series
A collaboration with 8-80 Cities in partnership with the Knight Foundation
The Doable City Reader is a digital media project produced in collaboration with the Doable City Forum, an initiative of 8 80 Cities and the Knight Foundation. The Doable City Reader examines how civic leaders across North America are implementing quick solutions to urban design challenges their cities face. The goal is to engage the greater public in a dialogue about urban change that empowers civic leaders to tackle problems in their own communities.
The challenge
Held in Chicago, the Doable City Forum brought together civic leaders from around North America for three days to discuss easily implementable solutions that have the potential to radically transform the way citizens live in cities. Discourse Media recognized the forum as an opportunity to engage with urban change makers working on the ground across North America. We embedded two journalists in the forum to collect ideas and stories that emerged from both the formal programming and the informal exchanges amongst delegates about their experiences from the ground.
What we did
Using the conversations at the Doable City Forum as a springboard, we produced a multi-chapter online platform and digital dissemination strategy to engage civic leaders and place the Doable City concept at the forefront of the urban transformation movement. After the event, we rounded out our research with additional reporting, critically analyzing concepts and seeking out additional stories to bring the content alive.
The platform
In order to make the ideas accessible and valuable to many users, we created a multi-layered digital platform. Each chapter is an evocative and easy-to-read feature story. Readers who want to know more can go deeper by clicking on a series of interactive footnotes (like internal hyperlinks) to explore additional text, video, infographics and resources on many topics. Chapters also include additional real-life stories about how Doable City concepts are being applied on the ground in cities across North America. 
Journalistic approach
The success of the project hinged on the authenticity of the stories told in the Doable City Reader. This was key for engaging the general public and partnering with media to disseminate content. So, rather than employing a traditional, promotional communications strategy, 8 80 Cities and the Knight Foundation committed to a journalistic approach. The journalists embedded at the event were given the autonomy to report independently, using the tools of journalism and critical inquiry, and make judgements about which stories were most relevant to their audience. They collected research, interviewed and, in some cases, captured video of conference speakers and participants discussing their hopes, strategies and challenges in their communities. After the event, we rounded out our research with additional reporting, critically analyzing concepts and seeking out additional stories to bring the content alive.
“Our collaboration with Discourse Media allowed us to dig deeper into issues that had previously not been explored in such detail. Their team brought creativity and professionalism to the project, while challenging us to think more critically about the issues… We look forward to many future collaborations with them!” – Gil Penalosa, Founder and Chair of the Board, 8 80 Cities
