Living Cities News Feed
Most Recent
- Press
Leading in a Hyperconnected World: Three reasons to change how your organization communicates | Stanford Social Innovation Review
What We're ReadingCan You Crowdsource A City? | Huffington Post
“Pop-Up,” “DIY,” “Kickstarter” “LQC” (That’s lighter, quicker, cheaper for the unfamiliar). Urbanisms of the People have been getting awfully catch-phrasey these days. What all these types of DIY…
- Blog Post
Clarity Amidst The Noise: Four Takeaways about Today’s Economy | Ben Hecht
I read a lot of articles, tweets and commentary about the state of the American economy. Seldom do I feel, however, that I understand where we really are or likely to go. Last week, however, I think I…
PublicationAt the Table: Ideas and Insights from Living Cities’ Integration Initiative
At the Table will feature reflections, conversations, profiles, articles and updates on what key stakeholders are learning at their tables (and beyond) through The Integration Initiative. Our one…
- Press
Green Financing for Capital Improvements: Difficult But Not Impossible | Habitat Magazine
- Blog Post
Takeaways from Inaugural Brookings-Living Cities State and Metropolitan Prosperity Collaborative | Arthur Burris
Last week featured the inaugural meeting of the Brookings-Living Cities State-Metropolitan Prosperity Collaborative, a peer exchange forum intended to promote deeper collaboration between state and…
- Blog Post
Meaning-Making: The Value of Engaging Stakeholders in the Interpretation of Evaluation Findings | Kathy Brennan
Meaning-Making, Learning in Public, and Collective Analysis/Interpretation are similar concepts, all grounded in the premise that it can be useful to harness your network and engage stakeholders in…
What We're ReadingSteering a Foundation as Rich as Rockefeller | Wall Street Journal
Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, on social problem solving and corporate giving.
- Blog Post
Government as Partner: The Need for a Full Leadership Table | Tracey Ross
Recently, I went on my first site visit to Newark as a new member of The Integration Initiative team. During the visit, I was struck by the rapport between the City’s Housing Director, Mike Meyer, and…
- Blog Post
Bridging the Gap: Technology & Civic Change | Alaina Harkness
I think of myself as a technology skeptic. I’m always curious about new gadgets and apps, but I like to give them a serious road test before I invite them into my life, always wary that the time I…
- Blog Post
Improving Financial Stability in America’s Cities | Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
The following was originally published on MikeBloomberg.com and in the Huffington Post on April 26, 2012. One of the most effective ways that government can fight poverty is to help individuals and…
Blog PostBetter State-Metropolitan Collaboration Can Enhance Our Economic Prosperity | Arthur Burris
As our economy recovers but unemployment and underemployment remain high, pressure continues to mount on government at all levels to create and facilitate access to economic opportunity for all. In…
Blog PostThree Ways to Put Equity into TOD | Carmen Rojas
Urban leaders across the country are lifting up Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) as a land-use and transportation solution to connect people to their places of employment, key services, and the…
- Press
Mainstreaming Social Innovation with the Public Sector | The Huffington Post
What We're ReadingWelcome to Forefront, Next American City
When Next American City first published its magazine in 2003, it was ahead of its time. Our non-profit organization had been formed in an era when sprawl, car use and obesity were reaching their peak,…
Blog PostMainstreaming Social Innovation with the Public Sector | Ben Hecht
This article was originally posted on TheHuffingtonPost.Com Social innovation has been a hot topic for a number of years now, but never more so than today. Conferences, awards, magazines, even a…
- Blog Post
Scaling Asset Building through Social Service Systems | Carmen Rojas
The Living Cities Income & Assets Working Group is focused on the challenge of reaching scale in the asset-building field. This field has significant creativity and innovation, but few efforts have…
What We're Reading3 Critical Insights Into Creativity From Jonah Lehrer’s “Imagine”
Designers spend a lot of time giving advice to each other. There has been a litany of books by designers for designers. There have been a few by business people on how design can benefit business.
What We're ReadingSocial Innovation: Can fresh thinking solve the world’s most intractable problems? | McKinsey & Company
From economic disruption, political upheaval, and other crises of the moment, to the perennial issues of disease, thirst, and famine, rarely has the world seemed so beset – or the need for new…
PublicationThe Capital Absorption Capacity of Places: A Research Agenda and Framework
This paper is the work of David Wood and Katie Grace of the Initiative for Responsible Investment at the Harvard Kennedy School and Robin Hacke and John Moon of Living Cities. We appreciate the…
What We're ReadingThe 4 Factors That Make A Country Ideal For Innovation
The countries most primed for innovation have a mix of factors--including diversity and resource scarcity--that force innovators to come up with the most compelling solutions.
PublicationScale Pathways: Bringing Asset-Building Products & Services to Scale
In cities across the country, practitioners in the field of asset-building are developing innovative approaches to expanding savings opportunities in low-income communities. Unfortunately, these…
- Press
Grant to help most vulnerable citizens | The Courier-Journal
PublicationHarnessing the Full Economic Impact of Anchor Institutions
Anchor institutions like universities and hospitals directly and indirectly generate considerable economic activity. However, the potential impact of this economic activity for regional economies is…
What We're ReadingHot spots: Benchmarking global city competitiveness
Hot spots is an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) research programme, commissioned by Citigroup, which ranks the competitiveness of 120 of the world’s major cities.
What We're ReadingCreative Construction: The New Phase of American Municipal Finance
At a local level, municipal governments have been pushed to brink — and in places such as Harrisburg, Philadelphia. or Central Falls, Rhode Island, they’ve gone past it and into bankruptcy. Due to the…
- Press
A New Report on Energy Retrofits Shows How Sustainability Pays | Next American City
- Press
Digital vs. Analog Ways of Transforming Cities | Next American City
PublicationSmall Business Framing Paper
The following provides an overview of why small businesses are important to regional economies, a framework for thinking about the types of small businesses, and some suggestions for practitioners…
PublicationRecognizing the Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Multifamily Underwriting
Foreword Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation instigated this project to encourage the financial industry to scale up financing of building energy efficiency retrofits. Deutsche Bank has a long history…
- Press
More Cash Coming to Help Eliminate New Jersey's Food Deserts | New Jersey Spotlight
- Press
Treasury Focuses on Revitalizing America’s Cities | The White House Blog
- Press
Study Clarifies the Energy Savings in Retrofitted Buildings | The New York Times
MultimediaInterview with Author, Steven Johnson
- Press
Revitalizing Struggling American Cities | Stanford Social Innovation Review
Living Cities Blog
Clarity Amidst The Noise: Four Takeaways about Today’s Economy | Ben Hecht
I read a lot of articles, tweets and commentary about the state of the American economy. Seldom do I feel, however, that I understand where we really are or likely to go. Last week, however, I think I…
Meaning-Making: The Value of Engaging Stakeholders in the Interpretation of Evaluation Findings | Kathy Brennan
Meaning-Making, Learning in Public, and Collective Analysis/Interpretation are similar concepts, all grounded in the premise that it can be useful to harness your network and engage stakeholders in…
Takeaways from Inaugural Brookings-Living Cities State and Metropolitan Prosperity Collaborative | Arthur Burris
Last week featured the inaugural meeting of the Brookings-Living Cities State-Metropolitan Prosperity Collaborative, a peer exchange forum intended to promote deeper collaboration between state and…
Bridging the Gap: Technology & Civic Change | Alaina Harkness
I think of myself as a technology skeptic. I’m always curious about new gadgets and apps, but I like to give them a serious road test before I invite them into my life, always wary that the time I…
Government as Partner: The Need for a Full Leadership Table | Tracey Ross
Recently, I went on my first site visit to Newark as a new member of The Integration Initiative team. During the visit, I was struck by the rapport between the City’s Housing Director, Mike Meyer, and…
Improving Financial Stability in America’s Cities | Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
The following was originally published on MikeBloomberg.com and in the Huffington Post on April 26, 2012. One of the most effective ways that government can fight poverty is to help individuals and…
Better State-Metropolitan Collaboration Can Enhance Our Economic Prosperity | Arthur Burris
As our economy recovers but unemployment and underemployment remain high, pressure continues to mount on government at all levels to create and facilitate access to economic opportunity for all. In…
Three Ways to Put Equity into TOD | Carmen Rojas
Urban leaders across the country are lifting up Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) as a land-use and transportation solution to connect people to their places of employment, key services, and the…
Mainstreaming Social Innovation with the Public Sector | Ben Hecht
This article was originally posted on TheHuffingtonPost.Com Social innovation has been a hot topic for a number of years now, but never more so than today. Conferences, awards, magazines, even a…
Scaling Asset Building through Social Service Systems | Carmen Rojas
The Living Cities Income & Assets Working Group is focused on the challenge of reaching scale in the asset-building field. This field has significant creativity and innovation, but few efforts have…
Publications
At the Table: Ideas and Insights from Living Cities’ Integration Initiative
At the Table will feature reflections, conversations, profiles, articles and updates on what key stakeholders are learning at their tables (and beyond) through The Integration Initiative. Our one…
The Capital Absorption Capacity of Places: A Research Agenda and Framework
This paper is the work of David Wood and Katie Grace of the Initiative for Responsible Investment at the Harvard Kennedy School and Robin Hacke and John Moon of Living Cities. We appreciate the…
Scale Pathways: Bringing Asset-Building Products & Services to Scale
In cities across the country, practitioners in the field of asset-building are developing innovative approaches to expanding savings opportunities in low-income communities. Unfortunately, these…
Harnessing the Full Economic Impact of Anchor Institutions
Anchor institutions like universities and hospitals directly and indirectly generate considerable economic activity. However, the potential impact of this economic activity for regional economies is…
Small Business Framing Paper
The following provides an overview of why small businesses are important to regional economies, a framework for thinking about the types of small businesses, and some suggestions for practitioners…
Recognizing the Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Multifamily Underwriting
Foreword Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation instigated this project to encourage the financial industry to scale up financing of building energy efficiency retrofits. Deutsche Bank has a long history…
What We're Reading
Can You Crowdsource A City? | Huffington Post
“Pop-Up,” “DIY,” “Kickstarter” “LQC” (That’s lighter, quicker, cheaper for the unfamiliar). Urbanisms of the People have been getting awfully catch-phrasey these days. What all these types of DIY…
Steering a Foundation as Rich as Rockefeller | Wall Street Journal
Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, on social problem solving and corporate giving.
Welcome to Forefront, Next American City
When Next American City first published its magazine in 2003, it was ahead of its time. Our non-profit organization had been formed in an era when sprawl, car use and obesity were reaching their peak,…
3 Critical Insights Into Creativity From Jonah Lehrer’s “Imagine”
Designers spend a lot of time giving advice to each other. There has been a litany of books by designers for designers. There have been a few by business people on how design can benefit business.
Social Innovation: Can fresh thinking solve the world’s most intractable problems? | McKinsey & Company
From economic disruption, political upheaval, and other crises of the moment, to the perennial issues of disease, thirst, and famine, rarely has the world seemed so beset – or the need for new…
The 4 Factors That Make A Country Ideal For Innovation
The countries most primed for innovation have a mix of factors--including diversity and resource scarcity--that force innovators to come up with the most compelling solutions.
Hot spots: Benchmarking global city competitiveness
Hot spots is an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) research programme, commissioned by Citigroup, which ranks the competitiveness of 120 of the world’s major cities.
Creative Construction: The New Phase of American Municipal Finance
At a local level, municipal governments have been pushed to brink — and in places such as Harrisburg, Philadelphia. or Central Falls, Rhode Island, they’ve gone past it and into bankruptcy. Due to the…
Multimedia
Press
Leading in a Hyperconnected World: Three reasons to change how your organization communicates | Stanford Social Innovation Review
Green Financing for Capital Improvements: Difficult But Not Impossible | Habitat Magazine
Mainstreaming Social Innovation with the Public Sector | The Huffington Post
Grant to help most vulnerable citizens | The Courier-Journal
A New Report on Energy Retrofits Shows How Sustainability Pays | Next American City
Digital vs. Analog Ways of Transforming Cities | Next American City
More Cash Coming to Help Eliminate New Jersey's Food Deserts | New Jersey Spotlight
Treasury Focuses on Revitalizing America’s Cities | The White House Blog
Study Clarifies the Energy Savings in Retrofitted Buildings | The New York Times
Revitalizing Struggling American Cities | Stanford Social Innovation Review
- Rss
- Help
Living Cities Members
Members
- AARP Foundation
- The Annie E. Casey Foundation
- AXA Equitable
- Bank of America
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Citi Foundation
- Deutsche Bank
- Ford Foundation
- The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- The Kresge Foundation
- The McKnight Foundation
- MetLife, Inc.
- Morgan Stanley
- Prudential Financial, Inc.
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- The Rockefeller Foundation
- Surdna Foundation
- W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Affiliate Members
Where we work
