Here is this week’s installment of news and views for urbanists:

• Micro-Participation Connects Citizens to Their Governments: The idea is to fit civic activity and involvement into the everyday lives of the public, resulting in more small ways to collaborate and communicate. (Shareable)

• Remaking Government in a Wiki Age: If we could figure out how to make government as effective as Google, ideological differences and disputes between vested interests would matter a lot less. (New York Times)

• Hunter-Gatherers Show Human Populations Are Hardwired for Density: Though their societies have changed over the millennia, studying characteristics of present-day hunter-gatherers can let us peer into the past. (Scientific American)

• The City Of The Future Is Already Here: The future may seem far away and out of reach, but we’re already experiencing many of the benefits of technological advances that will make our cities livable and sustainable homes. You just have to know where to look. (Fast Company)

• The Exposed City—A Brief History of Mapping the Urban Invisibles: From Ptolemy to MIT, or what Edward Tufte has to do with Google Earth and the future of understanding cities. (Brain Pickings)