Good, Responsive Services Start With the Resident

Good services don't start with the city's org chart or budget lines. They start by understanding the resident's actual journey — and all the hidden time, paperwork, and friction that comes with it. Host Stephen Goldsmith speaks with Dr. Kim Leary, director of the Good Services Lab at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, about how listening is an active skill, why selection bias shapes who gets heard, and how cities can use AI and resident-centered design to create services that actually work for everyone.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why "good services" means residents can find, understand, and use them without insider knowledge
• How selection bias shapes civic engagement and why mayors must ask "who's not in the room?"
• How AI can help identify missing constituencies and unnoticed solutions in comparable cities
• Why organizing around the resident's journey changes service delivery
• How to measure progress at baseline, midpoint, and endpoint to track what's actually improving

Guest:

• Dr. Kim Leary – clinical psychologist, professor, and director of the Good Services Lab at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University

Listener Survey: bit.ly/datasmartpod

Music credit: Summer-Man by Ketsa

About Data-Smart City Solutions

Data-Smart City Solutions, housed at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, is working to catalyze the adoption of data projects on the local government level by serving as a central resource for cities interested in this emerging field. We highlight best practices, top innovators, and promising case studies while also connecting leading industry, academic, and government officials. Our research focus is the intersection of government and data, ranging from open data and predictive analytics to civic engagement technology. We seek to promote the combination of integrated, cross-agency data with community data to better discover and preemptively address civic problems. To learn more visit us online and follow us on LinkedIn.