Stephen Goldsmith
Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government
Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
Former Mayor
City of Indianapolis, Indiana
(1992-2000)

Living Cities is a valuable partner to the Innovations in Government program that I directed at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. We have a shared belief that healthy cities—characterized by strong neighborhoods, good educational institutions, efficient government services, financial stability, an engaged civil society, and innovative leaders—are required to improve the lives of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. Cities are the gateways to opportunity and prosperity for low-income individuals.

Living Cities also shares my personal orientation toward disruptive innovation for good. U.S. cities face crippling budget deficits, and many people are fearful of other fiscal realities, such as future unfunded pension liabilities. Living Cities fights through the anxiety and uses its assets to mobilize multiple actors in a community to pursue a shared goal. Living Cities has a deep and longstanding commitment to facilitating new approaches that cut across traditional policy categories, span the full range of government agencies, and harness the collective power of the public, corporate and philanthropic sectors. I describe this approach as “networked governance” and share a belief with Living Cities that innovation needs to be incubated in organizations across civil society, and that true solutions will only come from endeavors that include public, private, and non-profit participation.

These common values and aspirations led the Innovations Program and Living Cities to partner on what we call the Project on Municipal Innovation (PMI). PMI is a groundbreaking forum of 30 of America’s largest and most creative cities and urban counties that convenes at Harvard every six months. PMI connects local officials to research and expertise and establishes connections between and among cities and their corporate and philanthropic counterparts. With Living Cities’ guidance, PMI has engaged directly with cities across the country to pursue innovation, foster strategic relationships among community partners, and develop new ways to generate innovation.