Cities and Communities

In Honolulu, Hawaii, land use laws have been leveraged as a tool to manage the impact of tourism on the city. These laws should be changed to offer greater protection to local residents.

Natural disasters strike Americans indiscriminately; unfortunately, federal disaster relief doesn’t reach them the same way.

AI will continue to permeate and transform cities. With the right guidelines, it will allow governments to improve citizen engagement, reduce tax fraud, and optimize energy, mobility, and waste management systems.

Daniel Agbiboa, an assistant professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University, has called on African policymakers to prioritize people’s voices when enacting policies concerning the informal transport sector in Africa. Speaking during an interactive program hosted by Africa Policy Journal, Professor Agbiboa highlighted the importance of considering the views of ordinary citizens […]

South Africa needs massive social investment in education and basic infrastructure if the country is to address its current development challenges. The Executive Director, Center for Development and Enterprise, South Africa, Ann Bernstein, stated this during the Growth Lab Development Talks at the Harvard Kennedy School. The theme of her talk was “The Role of […]

While the Mayor doesn’t control the MBTA directly, she can make Boston’s transit system more equitable from day one. Jonathan Timm outlines four strategies for advancing racial equity in Boston’s public transit system.

Because of the pandemic, CPC has reaffirmed its belief that community-based organizations remain critical to advancing the rights and well-being of low-income and immigrant communities. The strength and resiliency of the Asian American community is tied to the capacity and sustainability of Asian American organizations. On 13 March 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a […]

Focusing on increasing diversity within police departments pushes the burden of reform on the same people most impacted by police brutality.

Radically expanding public housing enables us to prioritize affordability, livability, and community governance—a sustainable alternative to the current for-profit system.

Emily Wade and Elissa Schufman of Our Streets Minneapolis explain why traffic enforcement is not a good strategy to make streets better places to bike, walk, and roll, and urge governments at all levels to take bold alternative approaches to traffic safety.

American democracy is increasingly more like a Homeowners Association (HOA) than the participatory and empowering system to which we should aspire. Property owners control decision making over the community by virtue of their wealth, excluding those unable to access property and pushing aside those with insufficient resources to participate. What’s more, the whims of long-passed […]

Even at Harvard, a liberal Atlanticist bubble where the Marshall Plan was first announced, events to celebrate NATO’s 70th Anniversary celebration were sparsely attended by American students, unlike Europeans who were excited to attend. Expectations for the NATO summit scheduled this month in London were low, and organizers hoped at best to avoid new tensions […]