During the second part of our conversation, Shane Epting told me more about how participatory budgeting and how he thinks it’s a useful tool that can be used by municipalities to better involve their citizenry in impactful decision making. He also told me about how thinking of municipalities as a sort of technology helps us think about our communities in better informed ways. Finally, Shane and I talked about how one might argue more lovingly, which strikes me as a particularly timely subject.

Dr. Shane Epting is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He’s the Co-Director and co-founder of the Philosophy of the City Research Group. He’s contributed an impressive amount of scholarship on topics related to how to most equitably and effectively conceptualize cities (or municipalities), socially just community design and governance, and ethics and justice in general as they apply to built environments.

Links:

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• https://www.shaneepting.org/
  
  
• https://sites.mst.edu/shaneepting/
  
  
• https://daily-philosophy.com/interview-shane-epting-philosophy-of-cities/
  
  
• https://www.potcrg.org/