Talk to the Zoning Code: A Prototype for Civic Engagement

Question:

What if anyone—residents, planners, students, commissioners—could ask a question about Durham’s zoning code and get an instant, clear answer?

Experiment:

I fed hundreds of pages from Durham’s draft Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) into a natural language processing (NLP) model to build a custom chatbot. Instead of scrolling through dense PDFs or hoping someone summarized it correctly, now you can just ask.

Tools Used:

• DocuChat (custom-trained chatbot)

Goal:

To prototype a more accessible, interactive, and human-centered way for communities to engage with complex civic documents—starting with one of the most influential: zoning code.

Results:

• Turned 1,000+ pages of zoning code into a usable Q&A format

• Tested by community members, designers, and policy advocates

• Demonstrated a potential new standard for public planning engagement

• Sparked interest in adapting the tool for other cities, agencies, and types of civic documents