Building a new urban practice.

Living Cities works with cross-sector leaders in cities to build a new type of urban practice aimed at dramatically improving the economic well-being of low-income people. We believe that these four core elements of our work are key to these ends:

Open-Sourcing Social Change.

We work at the intersections of information, people, story, and technology to accelerate the uptake of promising solutions to social problems.

Collective Impact.

We support ambitious data-driven, results-oriented cross-sector tables who work together differently to achieve large-scale results and enduring change.

Capital Innovation.

We blend public, private and philanthropic financial resources in new ways to better meet the needs of cities and their residents.

Public Sector Innovation.

We work with public sector leaders to foster more nimble, collaborative, and data-driven local governments.

Explore the topics we address 

Where We Work

See all of the cities where we work. This map also features cities participating in our Integration Initiative, including highlighting our other work in those places.

Explore the cities 

What We’re Thinking

Blog Post JaNay Queen Nazaire & Crystal Li on Mar 22, 2019

Getting Real About Results 

How can we fix the disconnect between our investment and the impact we hope to achieve?

Blog Post Brinda Ganguly & Brian R. Nagendra on Mar 13, 2019

Living Cities’ Catalyst Impact Funds Named to ImpactAssets 50 for Eighth Consec… 

For the eighth year in a row, Living Cities’ Catalyst Family of Funds have been selected for the ImpactAssets 50, an impact investing showcase featuring fund managers with demonstrated financial capa…

Resource on Mar 5, 2019

Getting Ready for Racial Equity Work: The Racial Equity Here Evaluation 

This evaluation of our Racial Equity Here initiative offers recommendations for other cities interested in applying a racial equity lens to their policies and operations.

Blog Post Kien Lee on Mar 12, 2019

Getting Ready for Racial Equity Work: Community Engagement  

Community engagement is central to cities’ racial equity strategies. It's also where cities need a lot of support.

Blog Post Joanna Carrasco on Mar 5, 2019

Holding Staff Through Our Racial Equity Journey 

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Safety and Justice Challenge 

Blog Post Alyssa Smaldino on Feb 21, 2019

What Does Racial Equity & Inclusion Look Like for You? 

Through our Racial Equity Here initiative, we learned that there are "spark plugs" everywhere, at every level, who are working to normalize, organize and operationalize racial equity in institutions.…

Blog Post Lethy Liriano on Jan 10, 2019

Applying Healing Justice to Our Internal Journey in Racial Equity 

We're learning that if we want to do transformational work in the world, we must build interpersonal, restorative relationships.

Explore the people who are creating change