Digitalization

Digitalization has been a trend for the last two decades and was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The growing dependence on digital systems and the rapid evolution of these technologies have introduced a collective vulnerability to losing stored digital information. Threats to digital archives include technical glitches and switching between file systems. But this impermanence can also be purposeful: ephemeral formats are appealing in the new generation of social media with Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook stories.

Planners and local government officials need to make decisions about what planning work should be preserved, such as data to evaluate and monitor programs or to measure plan performance, in addition to the ethical storage and maintenance of this data. For more on the role of digitalization in driving change in communities today and the importance of good data management, read the APA report Digitalization and Implications for Planning and PAS Memo 124, "Data Governance for Planners."