Urbanization - Publications - Faculty & Research

24 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 24

Urban Waste Entrepreneurs John D. Macomber, Chad M. Carr, and Fan ZhaoHarvard Business School Case 211-086 Private sector entrepreneur in China with advanced solid waste management capability competes with state owned enterprises and also... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2016
First Look

March 1, 2016

Ponzetto Abstract—Cities generate negative, as well as positive, externalities; addressing those externalities requires both infrastructure and institutions. Providing clean water and removing refuse requires water and sewer pipes, but the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Case

China Vanke (A-1)

By: Lynn S. Paine, John Macomber and Keith Chi-ho Wong

As China's largest homebuilder, China Vanke Co. Ltd. (Vanke) was facing an industry downturn sparked by strong government intervention. Faced with falling prices, Vanke's president must decide whether to keep the company's pricing and product positioning intact, and... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; China; Green Building; Sustainable Development; Business Government Relations; Leadership; Business and Government Relations; Urban Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Safety; Real Estate Industry; China

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29 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Are First-Time Buyers Left Out of Real Estate’s Rebound?

Department of Housing and Urban Development, the primary agency for dealing with affordable housing in this country, is about $35 billion. Realtors say the sky will fall if we end the mortgage interest deduction—that it would adversely... View Details

Keywords: Construction; Real Estate

25 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Why a Harvard Finance Instructor Went to the Kumbh Mela

the Harvard Divinity School. She is a world expert on pilgrimages and the author of definitive books about the rivers of India. Prof. Rahul Mehrotra, chair of the department of urban planning and design at the Harvard Design School, has a... View Details

Keywords: by John D. Macomber; Construction; Real Estate

18 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Beyond Heroic Entrepreneurs

there are people who are literally trying to solve global issues like poverty and water scarcity, but social entrepreneurship also includes people trying to start a community garden." This is literally the case for Bethel Erickson-Bruce, who founded an View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

May 2020 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Amy Klopfenstein and Amram Migdal

In November 2019, Sandra Richter, co-founder and CEO of Soofa, a network of advertising-supported digital bulletin boards, must decide between two different fundraising and expansion plans for her company. One plan entails raising $15 million in a Series A round and... View Details

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March 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Case

Supermarkets in Inner Cities

By: James E. Austin and Jaan Elias

Excerpts from five articles that present the challenges and opportunities inherent in opening and operating supermarkets in inner-city neighborhoods. View Details

Keywords: Urban Scope; Market Entry and Exit; Alliances; Business and Government Relations; Problems and Challenges; Development Economics; Business and Community Relations; Business Ventures; Strategic Planning; Cooperation

Citation

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February 2024
Supplement

Can Cities Beat the Heat? (B5): Detroit Climate Action Snapshot

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Climate snapshots provide a summary of climate actions that occurred between 2018 and 2024, highlighting major green initiatives, innovations, carbon mitigation strategy, and action across multiple levels of government and the private sector. Snapshots also provide an... View Details

Keywords: Mitigation Policies; Carbon Footprint; Climate Finance; Mobility; Adaptation; Renewable Energy; Climate Change; Problems and Challenges; Sustainable Cities; City; Innovation Strategy; Investment; United States; Detroit

Citation

February 2024
Supplement

Can Cities Beat the Heat? (B10): Pittsburgh Climate Action Snapshot

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Coelin P. Scibetta and Jacob A. Small

Climate snapshots provide a summary of climate actions that occurred between 2018 and 2024, highlighting major green initiatives, innovations, carbon mitigation strategy, and action across multiple levels of government and the private sector. Snapshots also provide an... View Details

Keywords: Mitigation Policies; Carbon Footprint; Climate Finance; Mobility; Adaptation; Renewable Energy; Climate Change; Problems and Challenges; Sustainable Cities; City; Innovation Strategy; Investment; United States; Pittsburgh

Citation

11 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 11

on schemas, procedural justice, emotion expression, and prosocial behavior. Land Politics and Local State Capacities: The Political Economy of Urban Change in China Author:Meg Rithmire Publication:China Quarterly (forthcoming) Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2009
Case

One South: Investing in Emerging Markets (A)

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas and Justin Seth Ginsburgh

A United States private equity fund, The Saboput Group, must decide whether to invest in a new technology park development in Chennai, India. The case provides the reader with a detailed investment memorandum from the local Indian operating partner, and the reader must... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Emerging Markets; Partners and Partnerships; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Chennai; United States

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Research Summary

Overview

Jurgen's research focuses on the challenges and opportunites to the energy sector created by technological change and externalities, in particular those associated with greenhouse gas emissons. Specific areas of interest include the development of potential pathways to... View Details

Keywords: Alternative Energy; Energy Conservation; Energy Generation; Energy Sources; Non-Renewable Energy; Renewable Energy; Disruptive Innovation; Market Design; Strategic Planning; Risk and Uncertainty; Technology Adoption; Sustainable Cities; Business Strategy; Auto Industry; Battery Industry; Energy Industry; Transportation Industry; Utilities Industry

06 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Climbing Down from the Ivory Tower

public sector who deliver health services effectively." But there's another takeaway for Ashraf, whose current research involves co-producing studies with urban planners in sub-Saharan Africa. "We show academics that you can actually... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education; Health

15 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Does a Social Startup Decide to Commercialize? It May Depend on the Founder's Gender

period—some 31,160 new ventures listed in the NCCS-GuideStar National Nonprofit Research Database, produced by the National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute. The findings in this second analysis mirrored the first:... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

12 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

The New Real Estate

some of the best real estate market returns anywhere. Green real estate development in dense locations in our urban centers could have an enormous impact on our energy use. The average home owner in the U.S. suburbs today, according to... View Details

Keywords: by Arthur I. Segel; Construction; Real Estate

08 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 8, 2008

the nation's cramped urban centers where vacancy rates held near zero and families often "doubled up" in single-housing units. Hoping to spark a burst of new construction, New York Senator William Calder called for the creation... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Jan 2000
Research & Ideas

Strategic Alliances

next stage." In the first, or philanthropic, stage (which some partnerships skip entirely), the parties assume the traditional roles of "benevolent donor" and "grateful recipient." For example, urban community-service nonprofit City Year... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy O. Perry

03 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 3

a means of mitigating threats to the natural environment while creating urban living capacity, by combining low carbon and resource-efficient development with the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to better manage... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2024
Case

Vinalhaven: The Downtown Project

By: Richard S. Ruback, Matthew Preble, Ruth Page and Dave Habeeb

Vinalhaven is an island community located approximately 12 miles off the coast of Maine. The island has a year-round population of about 1,300 people as of 2022, with an additional 3,000 people who reside on the island in the summer months. The two largest industries... View Details