Publications

24 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Distance Still Matters in Business, Despite the Internet

wireless—varies dramatically by location, especially when comparing urban and low-density locations, but even when comparing one city to another. On a different dimension, the types of employment affiliated with implementing frontier... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Transportation; Telecommunications; Shipping; Publishing; Technology

03 Jun 2022
Research & Ideas

In a Work-from-Anywhere World, How Remote Will Workers Go?

the benefits of the “work-from-anywhere” movement for both companies and workers. “There’s been brain drain from small towns into large urban clusters, but I don't think we have seen the spatial redistribution that we could potentially... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

10 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

The Little Understood Problem Confronting Diverse Workplaces

diverse urban charter school were at first frustrated in their attempts to connect with and socialize students, but learned valuable lessons about asking questions and sharing information about themselves to break down barriers. The paper... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

06 May 2021
HBS Case

How Four Women Made Miami More Equitable for Startups

Noting that many urban youth lacked tech skills, she and her husband Derek Pearson launched Code Fever, a company offering training camps and hackathons for young people, and transformed a vacant building in a historically Black... View Details

Keywords: by Carolyn DiPaolo

30 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Real Estate: The Most Imperfect Asset

Debates on urban sprawl and so-called new urbanism are the rage among developers and academics. Grayfield debates concern what to do with all of those old shopping malls and parking lots in infill locations.... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Construction; Real Estate

December 2023
Article

Advances in Power-to-Gas Technologies: Cost and Conversion Efficiency

By: Gunther Glenk, Philip Holler and Stefan Reichelstein

Widespread adoption of hydrogen as an energy carrier is widely believed to require continued advances in Power-to-Gas (PtG) technologies. Here we provide a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics of system prices and conversion efficiency for three currently prevalent... View Details

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23 Aug 2006
Op-Ed

The Real Wal-Mart Effect

imposes on society by securing subsidies, driving employees toward public welfare systems, creating urban sprawl, and destroying jobs in competing operations. Thus, juxtaposing these customer savings against the estimate cited by Fishman... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat & Ken A. Mark; Retail

06 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Technology Re-Emergence: Creating New Value for Old Innovations

industries, and technologies re-emerge from the brink of collapse. And while his initial research has focused on the watch industry, his findings also help explain a recent resurgence of independent bookstores, a renaissance of streetcars in numerous View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Apparel & Accessories; Technology; Consumer Products

July 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Dharavi: Developing Asia's Largest Slum (A)

By: Lakshmi Iyer, John D. Macomber and Namrata Arora

Maharashtra state is accepting bids to redevelop Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia. A real estate developer assesses the risks and tenders a bid. The bid conditions include providing new free housing to tens of thousands of slum dwellers, which is anticipated to be... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Development Economics; Housing; Urban Development; Emerging Markets; Social Issues; Business and Government Relations; Real Estate Industry; Mumbai

09 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Entrepreneurs Should Go Work for Government

rather than inventors and builders” Once chief of staff to the late Boston mayor Thomas Menino, Weiss isn't just engaging in wishful thinking. He's seen firsthand how entrepreneurs within government can cut through red tape. Weiss co-founded the Mayor's Office of New... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Dream: Impact Through Real Estate

By: Michael Chu and John Masko

The Canadian city of Toronto had one of the largest housing affordability problems of any city in the developed world. One company trying to address this problem was Dream, one of the largest real estate groups in Canada. In 2021, Dream had just launched a new system... View Details

16 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

Researchers Use Google Street View to See the Future of Cities

extra boost in development. A new tool by Harvard and MIT researchers promises to do just that, with the help of machine learning and the biggest library of urban images on the Internet: Google Street View. By using digital tools,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Real Estate

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Water, Electricity, and Transportation: Preparing for the Population Boom

By 2050, the Earth's population will likely exceed 9 billion people, up 30 percent from 6.9 billion today, according to projections from both the US Census Bureau and the United Nations. What's more, the population in the world's cities is expected to increase by 3... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

February 1998 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Meadowlands

By: Arthur I Segel and William J. Poorvu

In February 1998, developers Ted Leonard and Charlie Sexton are attempting to acquire and develop a large multifamily site in Maryland, north of Washington, D.C. They are attempting to win financing and government approvals to develop a new kind of product for the... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Maryland