As a UX designer, I agree on the point that cities need a UX designer (or several...) to make civic information visible, legible, and navigable. I lived in the

As a UX designer, I agree on the point that cities need a UX designer (or several...) to make civic information visible, legible, and navigable. I lived in the Chicago area, same as the author. In Chicago, parking signs read as if/else-if/else-if/else sequences that are annoying to parse while driving. The 'design process' (or whatever process manifested these signs) clearly had city processes but not users in mind. In downtown Chicago, you can find yourself endlessly circling blocks in your car looking for a free spot, attempting to interpret contradicting parking signs, while some driver closely tails behind you impatiently. The street parking experience is very user-hostile. The author points out a confusing spot between 1100N and 1166N State Street that has three signs on one pole. Such is a common occurrence. https://goo.gl/maps/do93fXNdTnb1driQ7 https://goo.gl/maps/do93fXNdTnb1driQ7 Here, on the same pole there are two seemingly contradicting signs: one with a green circled P and another with a red crossed-out P, both with small arrows pointing in the same direction. There's a pay box and another pay to park sign. You the driver have 1–3 seconds to react and decide: do you risk it (it says tow zone... but it also says pay to park and there's a pay box right there!) or do you try the next street over (but this is already your 5th block and you're running late for your appointment)? You could have sign wombo-combos that go like: 1. "Pay to park, 7 days a week" — okay, seems like you can park 2. "No stopping, no standing [A]am-[B]am, [C]pm-[D]pm, Mon-Fri" — oh, what time is it exactly? And today is a Monday, right? 3. "Street Cleaning, 1st Monday of the Month, [X]am-[Y]am, 1 Oct-1 Apr" — and which Monday of the month is today? and so on. Exceptions upon exceptions upon exceptions.