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 Monique Woodard on Nov 6, 2019

3 Cities Using Capital to Build More Inclusive Ecosystems

Eighteen months ago, in collaboration with Living Cities, Rockefeller and Surdna Foundations, we launched Start Up, Stay Up, Scale Up (SU)3 — an initiative designed to address the challenges in acces…

Blog Post Sarah Liniger Eisner on Oct 24, 2019

Personal Reparations

Resource on Jun 21, 2019

Through the Eyes of Wakanda: On Screen Lessons for Off Screen Impact

The seeds of a dynamic black future already exist within the minds of those among us—as long as, together, we are willing to step forward and author it.

Blog Post Shannon Jordy on Oct 14, 2019

#WealthInColor: Red Planet Books and Comics [VIDEO]

Red Planet Books and Comics owner Lee Francis tackles the perceptions of and narratives about Native Americans and their communities, and has important lessons for investors in New Mexico and beyon…

Blog Post JaNay Queen Nazaire & Demetric Duckett on Oct 10, 2019

Building Inclusive Ecosystems: Reflections from HBCU@SXSW [PODCAST]

How can we build ecosystems that put entrepreneurs of color at the center? At HBCU@SXSW we had a conversation about how inclusive ecosystem building can address the country’s legacy of racial dispari…

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation