Sara Carter
A City Planner's Notebook Meets a Journalist's Curiosity
Every morning, I sketch a rough diagram before I write a single word. Sometimes it's a flow of data nodes, sometimes a rough map of a neighbourhood corridor — it's how my analytical side and my writing side shake hands before the day begins.
I work at the intersection of urban development and technology, tracking how smart city ideas move from conference slides to actual street-level change. That gap between theory and pavement is where I spend most of my time — reading policy papers, then walking the districts those papers describe, then writing about what I actually found.
What You Can Expect Here
Whether you're new to urban innovation or deep in the field, I try to write in a way that meets you where you are. Here's how I approach every piece:
- Testing ideas against real-world examples before committing to a conclusion
- Translating dense technical concepts into language that actually sticks
- Flagging what's genuinely new versus what's repackaged hype
- Sharing the messy middle of learning, not just polished outcomes
If any of that sounds useful, pull up a chair. My latest writing is a good place to start, or feel free to reach out directly — I read every message.