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 Hafizah Omar & Nadia Owusu on Apr 19, 2018

Operationalizing Racial Equity & Inclusion: Transforming Organizations and Beyo… 

What did Living Cities find in our scan of practices being used by organizations to operationalize racial equity? This series highlights the twelve themes we uncovered.

Blog Post Hafizah Omar & Nadia Owusu on Apr 5, 2018

Operationalizing Racial Equity & Inclusion: Contextualizing Systems, Data, and … 

What did Living Cities find in our scan of practices being used by organizations to operationalize racial equity? This series highlights the twelve themes we uncovered.

Resource on Mar 15, 2018

Operationalizing Racial Equity & Inclusion at Living Cities: Frequently Asked Questions 

What does it mean to operationalize racial equity in organizations? How does that change our day-to-day work? Why is it important to do internal racial equity work?

Blog Post Demetric Duckett on Apr 4, 2018

Stony the Road We Trod: Commemorating Dr. King 

Blog Post Elodie Baquerot & Nadia Owusu on Mar 20, 2018

Operationalizing Racial Equity & Inclusion at Living Cities: Tools for Getting … 

Are you looking to embed racial equity and inclusion into the work of your organization? These are some of the resources and contacts we have shared with folks who have asked about steps we’ve taken,…

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Safety and Justice Challenge 

Blog Post Brian R. Nagendra & Sindhu Lakshmanan on Mar 1, 2018

Living Cities’ Catalyst Impact Funds Named to ImpactAssets 50 for Seventh Conse… 

For the seventh year in a row, Living Cities’ Catalyst Impact Funds have been selected for the ImpactAssets 50. Learn more about our impact investing.

Blog Post Brinda Ganguly & Brian R. Nagendra on Feb 8, 2018

New Impact Investing Strategy Puts Race Front and Center 

Driving impact through investment means getting real about race.

Explore the people who are creating change