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Urban Us
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- Article
Navigating Talent Hot Spots
By: William R. Kerr
Innovation clusters like San Francisco and Boston have long had an outsize impact on the global economy, and their influence keeps growing. In 2017, for instance, America’s ten largest tech hubs accounted for 58% of U.S. patents. Globally, cities such as Tokyo, Paris,... View Details
- 2018
- Working Paper
Black Out-Migration and Southern Political Realignment
By: Leah Boustan and Marco Tabellini
Can emigration from less democratic and economically less developed areas induce political and economic change? We study this question in the context of the second Great Migration of African Americans (1940–1970), when more than 4 million blacks left the U.S. South and... View Details
- May 2018 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
Urban Us
By: Mitchell Weiss and Phoebe Peronto
Shaun Abrahamson and Stonly Baptiste aimed to invest in what they called "urbantech superheroes." At Urban Us, the seed-stage urban technology-focused venture capital firm the two started in 2012, they looked for startups innovating around the future of cities. By... View Details
- January 2018
- Article
Big Data and Big Cities: The Promises and Limitations of Improved Measures of Urban Life
By: Edward L. Glaeser, Scott Duke Kominers, Michael Luca and Nikhil Naik
New, "big" data sources allow measurement of city characteristics and outcome variables at higher frequencies and finer geographic scales than ever before. However, big data will not solve large urban social science questions on its own. Big data has the most value for... View Details
- October 2017 (Revised November 2017)
- Case
NYC311
By: Constantine E. Kontokosta, Mitchell Weiss, Christine Snively and Sarah Gulick
Joe Morrisroe, executive director for NYC311, had some gut instincts but no definitive answer to the question he was just asked by one of the mayor’s deputies: “Are some communities being underserved by 311? How do we know we are hearing from the right people?” Founded... View Details
Keywords: New York City; NYC; 311; NYC311; Big Data; Equal Access; Bias; Data Analysis; Public Entrepreneurship; Urban Informatics; Predictive Analytics; Chief Data Officer; Data Analytics; Cities; City Leadership; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Prejudice and Bias; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; City; Public Administration Industry; New York (city, NY)
- 2017
- Article
Computer Vision Uncovers Predictors of Physical Urban Change
By: Nikhil Naik, Scott Duke Kominers, Ramesh Raskar, Edward L. Glaeser and César A. Hidalgo
Which neighborhoods experience physical improvements? In this paper, we introduce a computer vision method to measure changes in the physical appearances of neighborhoods from time-series street-level imagery. We connect changes in the physical appearance of five U.S.... View Details
- Article
Highways and Spatial Location within Cities: Evidence from India
By: Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R. Kerr
We investigate the impact of the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highway project on the spatial organization and efficiency of manufacturing activity. The GQ project upgraded the quality and width of 3,633 miles of road in India. We use a difference-in-difference estimation... View Details
- 2017
- Case
Uncommon Schools (A): A Network of Networks
By: John J-H Kim and Sarah McAra
In 2013, Brett Peiser, CEO of the charter school management organization (CMO) Uncommon Schools, is reassessing the nonprofit’s strategy. For nearly 10 years, Uncommon had fulfilled its mission to bring high-quality education to students in low-income, urban areas... View Details
- August 2016 (Revised October 2016)
- Case
Nirvana Vihar Rehabilitation Homes
By: Shawn Cole, Andreas Rotenberg and Thomas van den Aarssen
Kumar Builders (KUL) was finally nearing completion on the four luxury condominium towers that comprised the first phase of its bold vision for the redevelopment of more than 70 acres of prime real estate in downtown Pune, India. The Nirvana Hills development also... View Details
- March 2016 (Revised April 2017)
- Teaching Note
Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility (A): Introducing a New Model
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen
This note is for the purpose of aiding classroom instructors in the use of the Harvard Business School case "Bridj and the Business of Urban Mobility: Introducing a New Model." Instructors may use it to help students understand the challenges that come with disrupting... View Details
Keywords: Startup; Startup Management; Big Data; Smart Transit; Stakeholder Engagement; Stakeholder Management; Urban Vehicle; Mobility; Mass Transit; Uber; Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Analytics and Data Science; Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Startups; Transportation; Business and Government Relations; Transportation Industry; United States
- October 2015
- Case
Bigbelly
By: Mitch Weiss and Christine Snively
To accelerate Bigbelly's sales growth and its "smart cities" positioning, its CEO planned to shift his company from equipment sales to a subscription service. Jack Kutner hoped to re-position Bigbelly's solar-powered trash compacting stations beyond trash and recycling... View Details
Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Smart Cities; Government Innovation; Internet Of Things; IoT; Anything As A Service; Platform As A Service; Infrastructure As A Service; PaaS; Xaas; Bigbelly; Jack Kutner; B2G; Civic Innovation; City Innovation; Government Technology; Govtech; Civic Technology; Entrepreneurship; Sales; Innovation and Invention; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Web Services Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Massachusetts; United States; Boston; Chicago; Philadelphia; New York (city, NY)
- 2015
- Book
MOVE: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead
Americans are stuck. We live with travel delays on congested roads; shipping delays on clogged railways; and delays on repairs, project approvals, and funding due to gridlocked leadership. These delays affect us all, whether you are a daily commuter, a frequent flyer,... View Details
Keywords: United States; Railroad History; Airlines; Airline Industry; Air Transportation; Passenger Transportation; Cities; Urban Planning; Freighting; Change; Leadership; Public Policy; Change Leadership; Public Finance; Infrastructure; Policy; Technological Innovation; Change Management; Leading Change; Urban Development; Project Finance; Entrepreneurship; City; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Shipping Industry; Rail Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States
- Article
Entrepreneurship and Urban Growth: An Empirical Assessment with Historical Mines
By: Edward L. Glaeser, Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr
We study entrepreneurship and growth through the lens of U.S. cities. Initial entrepreneurship correlates strongly with urban employment growth, but endogeneity bedevils interpretation. Chinitz (1961) hypothesized that coal mines near cities led to specialization in... View Details
- June 2014
- Teaching Note
Lit Motors
By: Thomas Eisenmann
In mid-2012 Lit Motors had created both engineering and design prototypes and conducted initial customer tests on less than $750,000 of investment. Lit Motors' founder, Daniel Kim, had started the company to design and manufacture an efficient electric 2-wheeled... View Details
- December 2013
- Article
Land Politics and Local State Capacities: The Political Economy of Urban Change in China
By: Meg Rithmire
Despite common national institutions and incentives to remake urban landscapes to anchor growth, generate land-lease revenues, and display a capacious administration, Chinese urban governments exhibit varying levels of control over land. This article uses a paired... View Details
- December 2012 (Revised November 2014)
- Case
Lit Motors
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alex Godden
In mid-2012 Lit Motors had created both engineering and design prototypes and conducted initial customer tests on less than $750,000 of investment. Lit Motors' founder, Daniel Kim, had started the company to design and manufacture an efficient electric 2-wheeled... View Details
- 2015
- Working Paper
Entrepreneurship and Urban Growth: An Empirical Assessment with Historical Mines
By: Edward L. Glaeser, Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr
We study entrepreneurship and growth through the lens of U.S. cities. Initial entrepreneurship correlates strongly with urban employment growth, but endogeneity bedevils interpretation. Chinitz (1961) hypothesized that coal mines near cities led to specialization in... View Details
- 2012
- Chapter
An Assessment of How Urban Crime and Victimization Affects Life Satisfaction
By: Carlos Medina and Jorge Tamayo
We use data for Medellín, Colombia, to assess the effect of the homicide rate, individual’s perception of security in their neighborhood of residence, and of the effect of their having been victimized, on life satisfaction. We find a negative effect of the homicide... View Details
- 2012
- Chapter
Sustainable Cities: Oxymoron or the Shape of the Future?
By: Robert G. Eccles, Annissa Alusi, Amy C. Edmondson and Tiona Zuzul
Two trends are likely to define the 21st century: threats to the sustainability of the natural environment and dramatic increases in urbanization. This paper reviews the goals, business models, and partnerships involved in eight early "ecocity" projects to begin to... View Details
- Article
The Role of Finance and Private Investment in Developing Sustainable Cities
By: John D. Macomber
Three trends will drive urban investment, development, and entrepreneurship in the next two decades. This article provides tools to identify the situations and circumstances that will be most favorable for private sector involvement in consideration of these trends.... View Details
Keywords: Trends; Demographics; Private Sector; Investment; City; Infrastructure; Opportunities; Urban Development