New York City (NYC) receives thousands of requests each year from other cities seeking to learn about its planning strategies and initiatives across sectors, from health to green buildings. As New York evaluates its own strategies, it also looks to other cities to learn from their successes. While it would be best to learn of other cities' innovations directly, in practice NYC often learns of them through the media, and learns more by subsequent research. It can be challenging to identify the right agencies in other cities, and to get information quickly, efficiently, and in sufficient detail to be of benefit. Thus, the question arose: how can cities make information available across sectors in a uniform way and encourage regular, continual exchange for the benefit of other cities across the globe? Modeled on our successful student Internet exchange program which bridges NYC students with peers around the world, NYC has begun developing the Best Practices Resource Bank, an online resource for people seeking to learn about municipal implementation strategies across a variety of sectors in cities worldwide.
