Municipal technology often begins with the existing process. A paper form becomes a PDF. A PDF becomes an online form. An online form becomes a portal. The citizen experience improves incrementally, but the underlying model remains the same: know what you want, know which department owns it, know which permit applies, and begin the process.
The next generation of civic technology should start somewhere else: intent. A person should be able to say what they are trying to accomplish and have the system reveal where, when and under what conditions that activity is possible. That is the leap from digitizing paperwork to digitizing opportunity.
What comes next
This note will be expanded with interviews, source material, field observations and direct evidence as the work develops. The point is to make the thinking public enough to be challenged — and structured enough to become useful.