Boston’s ‘New Urban Mechanics’ model adopted in Philly

Boston’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, which in recent years has developed innovations such as automated pothole detection and reporting, now has a sister office in Philadelphia.

The partnership between the two cities arose after Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter heard his Boston counterpart, Thomas Menino, discuss the Office of New Urban Mechanics during a 2011 conference.

“Mayor Nutter came back and said, ‘I want one of those,’” said Story Bellows, one of two staffers in the Philadelphia Office of New Urban Mechanics.

The two programs now share a website with links to each office, as well as an invitation for other cities to create offices based on the Boston model.

The Boston and Philadelphia offices each have two full-time staffers, but Bellows noted that they have somewhat different objectives. While the Boston office focuses on technological innovation, the Philadelphia office, according to Bellows, emphasizes “social entrepreneurship” that can balance the goals of profitability, sustainability and social good.

The sharing of ideas has been a two-way street, according to Nigel Jacob, who works in the Boston office with Chris Osgood.

Jacob credited his Philadelphia counterparts for bringing to his attention Textizen, a tool for conducting detailed surveys, and Community Planet, an online platform designed to promote coordination in tackling global challenges.

The Boston Office of New Urban Mechanics is a finalist for an award from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

The office also recently launched a program to disseminate among roughly 30 suburban communities technology that Boston developed for use in the city in 2009. The technology, now known as “Commonwealth Connect,” enables smartphone users to quickly report problems such as potholes, graffiti and broken tree limbs. The project is being financed by a $400,000 state grant.