Living Cities

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.

Select a city to read about

What We’re Thinking

Blog Post Ben Hecht on Aug 14, 2017

Facing Down Racial Terror

Living Cities CEO Ben Hecht responds to the recent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville

Blog Post Ben Hecht on Aug 7, 2017

#BensTake: 3 Things We Learned from Surveying Innovation in America’s Cities

Our inaugural Equipt to Innovate Survey gave us insight into the state of municipal innovation across the country, and taught us a few lessons in the process.

Resource on Jul 14, 2017

Voicing Race: Racial Equity Here [PODCAST]

In the second episode of our Voicing Race podcast, Living Cities speaks with mayors and city staff participating in the Racial Equity Here initiative, on their efforts to combat structural and institutional racism.

Blog Post Joanna Carrasco on Jul 25, 2017