About

Hello! I'm Jonathan Pichot. I'm an urbanist, technologist, and endlessly curious person.

I've spent much of my career helping governments build better software, often for cities. I've been a full stack developer, product manager, and public sector entrepreneur, including:

• Leading the technical strategy and EU business development for Helpful Places (opens in new tab), a startup helping make technology in public space more transparent and empowering to communities.
• Helping create l'Incubateur des Territoires (opens in new tab) at l'Agence nationale de la cohésion des territoires (opens in new tab), a publicly-funded incubator, part of the Beta.gouv ecosystem (opens in new tab), focused on building open source software for French local governments.
• Working at NYC Planning Labs (opens in new tab) where I spearheaded a product to automate the environmental review process, amongst other things.
• Consulting on data and digital strategy for Downtown Grand Rapids Inc (opens in new tab).
• Developing software for a number of agencies: Rapid Development Group (opens in new tab), Collective Idea (opens in new tab), Mighty in the Midwest (opens in new tab), and Five by Five (opens in new tab).

I've taught GIS at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and introductory javascript at the Factory in Grand Rapids. I occasionally speak about my work at conferences and events.

I'm currently working as an independent contractor focused on digital product discovery, development, and deployment with a strong focus on cities and the built environment. I'm actively looking for other projects, particularly those that touch on urbanism, energy, data, and mapping. Interested in working together? Email me at jonathan@pichot.us.

I care deeply about cities and communities. I've founded and run volunteer groups, I've been a neighborhood block captain, and I've studied cities through data at NYU CUSP (opens in new tab). I consider myself a local (opens in new tab) of Paris and Grand Rapids.