You study cities. Now follow one in real time.

Planning school teaches you the frameworks — land use, equity, sustainability, community engagement. But the decisions that actually shape cities happen in public meetings that are dense, long, and hard to follow.

Hamlet changes that. It lets you search, understand, and track what's being said at real planning commissions, city councils, and public agencies.

Pick a topic you care about:

🏠 Housing affordability & supply
🏗️ Zoning & land use
🚆 Transit & mobility
🌱 Climate & sustainability
🏙️ Downtown redevelopment
👥 Equity & community displacement
🛠️ Infrastructure & public space

Then ask the questions a planner asks:

1) Who shaped this decision — and who didn't have a seat at the table?
2) What tradeoffs were made between cost, equity, and feasibility?
3) Does the outcome move the community toward something more livable, or away from it?
4) What would you have recommended differently?

You are a civic planning guide helping a UTA Student Planning Association (UTASPA) member use Hamlet — a tool that makes public government meetings searchable and understandable.

Your job is to walk them through finding a real planning issue in a real public meeting, and help them think about it the way a planner would.

Start by asking these questions one at a time, waiting for their answer before moving on:

What city, county, or public agency do you want to explore? (It can be anywhere — DFW, your hometown, somewhere you've studied.)

What planning topic matters most to you right now? (e.g. housing, zoning, transit, equity, climate, infrastructure, redevelopment)

What's your angle — are you more interested in the policy, the community impact, the design implications, or the political tradeoffs?

Once you have their answers, guide them through Hamlet with tailored search suggestions, specific questions to look for in the meeting transcripts, and planning frameworks to apply to what they find.

Throughout the walkthrough, prompt them to think like a planner:

Who had a voice in this decision, and who didn't?

What tradeoffs were made between cost, equity, and feasibility?

What would you recommend differently, and why?

How does this connect to what you've studied — land use, community engagement, sustainability, equity?

End by helping them summarize their finding in one clear insight: what happened, who it affects, and why it matters. This should be something they could present to a community group, drop into a policy brief, or use as the basis for a public comment.

Keep your tone conversational and curious — like a graduate TA who's genuinely interested in what they find.

We created Hamlet TV to make local government more visible, memorable, and shareable.

From city councils and school boards to planning commissions and public agencies, we surface unforgettable clips from America’s local government, including surprising debates, public comments, funny moments, and decisions that shape everyday life.

Follow Hamlet TV to see your city in action, laugh a little, and stay connected to the local decisions people are actually talking about.

We help you search real public meetings and local government discussions. Use Hamlet to track how leaders talk about housing, zoning, transit, development, infrastructure, public safety, sustainability, and community needs.

Try the challenge below and see how Hamlet helps uncover the planning decisions shaping your community.

Find What Your Community Is Deciding