Publications

Fast Answer

Government data and information sources for public entrepreneurship

list of 85 municipal open data sites Where can I find information on spending for local governments? You can find a variety of cities who make data available via easy to navigate “Open Budgets” Ex. View Details

2021
Working Paper

Property Rights and Urban Form

By: Simeon Djankov, Edward L. Glaeser, Valeria Perotti and Andrei Shleifer

How do the different elements in the standard bundle of property rights, including those of possession and transfer, influence the shape of cities? This paper incorporates insecure property rights into a standard model of urban land prices and density, and makes... View Details

Keywords: Property; Rights; City; Development Economics; Global Range

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November 2014
Article

Government Green Procurement Spillovers: Evidence from Municipal Building Policies in California

By: Timothy Simcoe and Michael W. Toffel

We study how government green procurement policies influence private-sector demand for similar products. Specifically, we measure the impact of municipal policies requiring governments to construct green buildings on private-sector adoption of the U.S. Green Building... View Details

Keywords: Public Procurement; Green Building; Quality Certification; Environmental Policy; Buildings and Facilities; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Government and Politics; Green Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry; California

spring 2002
Article

Business Leadership Coalitions and Public-Private Partnerships in American Cities: A Business Perspective on Regime Theory

By: James Austin and Arthur McCaffrey

Keywords: Leadership; Partners and Partnerships; Theory; Perspective; City; United States

Find at Harvard

01 Sep 2011
News

Making a Difference in the World

The City Solution: Facts and Figures p. 32 “half the world’s people ” U.N. Habitat report (“Cities and Climate Change – Global Report on Human Settlements”) March 2011 p. 33 “2 percent land mass most of its emissions.” UN Habitat Report... View Details

Keywords: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

19 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

LEED-ing by Example

this strategy actually worked, up until now. “LEED [adoption] is not just something to pay attention to when there's a bid to rebuild city hall.” In a new paper, Public Procurement and the Private Supply of Green Buildings, authors... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

April 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Exporting Livability: Investing in New Urban Centers

By: John D. Macomber and Essie Alamsyah

Can Singapore urban design, policy continuity, and system of laws be exported outside of Singapore to accelerate the effective development of new urban agglomerations? Nina Yang, CEO of Sustainable Urban Development at Ascendas-Singbridge, a large real estate company... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Projects; Design; City; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Real Estate Industry; China; Singapore

05 Nov 2013
News

Start-Ups Get a Start in New Orleans

Kevin Wilkins by Constantine von Hoffman Just eight years after New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, Kevin Wilkins (MBA 1992) says the city is poised to join Silicon Valley, Boston, and Austin (Texas) as one of the nation's... View Details

Keywords: New Orleans; Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services

30 Sep 2015
News

The Power of Service

explains Reilly, who cofounded City Year in Boston in 1988 with Harvard friends Michael Brown (HLS 1988), Alan Khazei (HLS 1987), and Neil Silverston (HBS 1987). At the quarter-century mark, the nonprofit today engages young adults in... View Details

06 Nov 2017
Research Event

Who is Responsible for the Future of Cities?

CAMBRIDGE, Mass — On a rainy afternoon in late October, Mohsen Mostafavi stood before a packed auditorium at Harvard University and considered the history of cities in terms of three cooked eggs. Mostafavi, the Dean of the Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

Fast Answer

Sustainability in Construction Industry

expect nine shifts to radically change the construction value chain and offer a blueprint for the next normal ahead. How do you build a city for... View Details

01 Dec 2015
News

Leading Boston and Beyond

From left: Chris Osgood, Dan Koh, Lauren Lockwood It is 2:30 p.m. on the day before Thanksgiving, and the halls of Boston City Hall are eerily quiet. Dan Koh (MBA 2011), Chris Osgood (MBA 2006), Lauren Lockwood (MBA 2014), and Austin... View Details

Keywords: Jen Myers; Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

September 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

LabCDMX: Experiment 50

By: Mitchell Weiss and Maria Fernanda Miguel

There were probably 30,000 public buses, minibuses, and vans in Mexico City. Though, in 2015, no one knew for certain since no comprehensive schedule existed. This was why el Laboratorio para la Ciudad (or LabCDMX) had spawned an effort to generate a map of the... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Experimentation; Lean Startup; Government; Innovation; Crowdsourcing; Open Data; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Government Administration; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Mexico City; Mexico

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

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Govtech; Urbantech; Seed Investing; Urban Us; Shaun Abrahamson; Stonly Baptiste; Remix; One Concern; Starcity; SeamlessDocs; Venture Capital; Public Sector; City; Urban Development; Entrepreneurship; Miami; San Francisco; New York (city, NY)

2010
Chapter

The Agglomeration of U.S. Ethnic Inventors

By: William R. Kerr

The ethnic composition of US inventors is undergoing a significant transformation - with deep impacts for the overall agglomeration of US innovation. This study applies an ethnic-name database to individual US patent records to explore these trends with greater detail.... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Geographic Location; Patents; Ethnicity; City; Innovation and Invention; United States

SSRN

2024
Government Testimony

Budget Committee Testimony on Riskier Business: How Climate Is Already Challenging Insurance Markets

By: Ishita Sen

Keywords: Insurance; Climate Change

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November 2011
Case

Envision Charlotte: Building an Energy Cluster

By: William W. George

Keywords: Energy; Industry Clusters; Economic Growth; Infrastructure; North Carolina

Rentschler helped grow National City into one of the world’s largest commercial banks. Under his leadership, National City Bank had assets of over $5 billion with branches throughout New York, Latin America... View Details

Keywords: Finance

2008
Working Paper

The Agglomeration of U.S. Ethnic Inventors

By: William R. Kerr

The ethnic composition of US inventors is undergoing a significant transformation—with deep impacts for the overall agglomeration of US innovation. This study applies an ethnic-name database to individual US patent records to explore these trends with greater detail.... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Geographic Location; Patents; Ethnicity; City; Innovation and Invention; United States