Harvard research + relevance for cities = the center newsletter. 📬Subscribe to get occasional event invitations, career & student opportunities, the latest research and free resources for leadership and public management, and more: bit.ly/47c56jO.
20 years of the Project on Municipal Innovation! 👏
Since 2006, our colleagues at @DataSmartCities have brought together chiefs of staff and senior leaders from the largest U.S. cities to step back from the day-to-day, tackle their toughest policy challenges together, and connect with experts at Harvard and beyond.
This month, leaders from 29 cities gathered for a convening on fiscal resilience and budgeting, featuring Data-Smart City Solutions and PMI Director @GoldsmithOnGov, and Center faculty affiliate @LGermanTweets of @HarvardGSD. Participants left with frameworks and insights to put to work back home.
Special thanks to @BloombergDotOrg for making this work possible. Here’s to the next 20 years of PMI! 🏙️
Learn more: bit.ly/4zcrqaj.
Housing affordability is a top challenge for cities around the world. So what's actually working to keep renters housed?
Housing leaders from Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia joined us and @Harvard_JCHS at an event at the Center to share how they're using mediation, legal help, and new approaches to housing finance to prevent evictions, connect landlords with resources, and create a better system for everyone involved in housing.
Read the recap or watch the full conversation on YouTube: bit.ly/4s6sEBk.

ALT A panel of four individuals is seated at the front of a room addressing an audience. Behind them is a large screen displaying the title "Renter Protections in Crisis: Emerging Policies and Practices." The setting appears to be a professional or academic seminar, with attendees seated facing the panel.
⏰ Two weeks left to apply for the Bloomberg Harvard Visiting Scholars Program!
We welcome applicants across disciplines whose work advances rigorous, policy-relevant understanding of urban problem-solving and city leadership. Selected Scholars will join the Harvard community for one semester or a full academic year, with protected time for research and opportunities to engage with faculty, students, practitioners, and the Center’s global network of city partners.
If your research can strengthen how cities perform, innovate, and deliver for residents, we encourage you to apply. Applications due by October 28. 🔗 bit.ly/3SStvIK

ALT Three individuals engage in conversation near a board displaying text related to race and local government. The foreground features text promoting the Bloomberg Harvard Visiting Scholars Program, highlighting an opportunity to spend a semester or academic year at Harvard. A call-to-action banner at the bottom states "Apply by Oct. 28."
Join us at the Center or online for upcoming discussions on mega-events and cities, building genius at scale, and the stories that shape how we see urban life. All events are available in person for Harvard ID holders (with refreshments) and virtually on Zoom for everyone. 🔗 Get details and register: cities.harvard.edu/events/
📅 Oct 28: Mega-events and Cities
📅 Oct 29: Linda Hill on Genius at Scale
📅 Nov 2: Calling Gilgamesh
By 2030, the U.S. will have more older adults than children for the first time. Yet many of them are facing a housing market that wasn’t built for them. Together with @Harvard_JCHS and the Initiative on Health and Homelessness at @HarvardChanSPH, we brought together Mayor Lacey Beaty, researcher Jennifer Molinsky, and social justice advocate Niki Wilkerson to discuss the pathways that lead older adults into homelessness and how cities can respond more effectively.
👉 Read the recap or watch the full conversation: bit.ly/4rVDmKN.
What does it take to deliver innovations for city residents? The Center hosted 33 Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellows—alumni of Harvard graduate schools who are now working inside city halls across the U.S. and internationally. They’re turning their talents and training toward addressing thorny city challenges identified as priorities by their mayors.
Regular convenings are an essential part of the fellowship design, enabling young leaders to develop skills, share ideas, continue learning from Harvard faculty, and gain support on their public sector career journeys.
Curious about the fellowship? 👇
bit.ly/4hzmS66
Earlier this month, Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellows serving in 33 U.S. cities came together at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University—some just beginning their two-year fellowships and others entering their second year.
Together, they learned with Harvard faculty and one another, exchanging ideas, challenges, and lessons from their work in city halls. New fellows also explored what responsive city government looks like through The Sandwich Shop, a Harvard teaching case about navigating bureaucracy in Amsterdam.
These convenings give fellows a chance to step back from their day-to-day work, strengthen their skills, and bring new ideas back to the cities they serve.
📸 Swipe through for a look inside the sessions.
🔗 Explore The Sandwich Shop teaching case: bit.ly/4f2fMr0
How can cities better protect renters? From eviction diversion to rent stabilization to rules on algorithmic rent-setting, cities are trying new approaches to housing stability. Join us and @Harvard_JCHS as researchers and practitioners unpack what's working—and what's not.
📆 Tuesday, September 22 at 3:00 p.m. EST
🎟️ Students and others on the @Harvard campus: join us in person! Doors open at 2:45 p.m. with refreshments.
📺 Or join the livestream from anywhere.
🔗 Register today: bit.ly/4zFw3dJ.
Nine faculty from six @Harvard schools have joined the Bloomberg Center for Cities as faculty affiliates.
Their research spans leadership, public finance, media, inequality, and tech in government. Welcome to @rebeccardiamond (Harvard FAS), @Linda_A_Hill (@HarvardHBS), @gordon_h_hanson (@Kennedy_School), @dmckinneywhite (@HarvardGSD), Farayi Chipungu (@Kennedy_School and @HarvardLaw), @nancygibbs (@Kennedy_School), @LGermanTweets (@HarvardGSD), @LaChaunBanks (@HarvardExt), and Santi Garces (@Kennedy_School).
Learn more: bit.ly/3VtIzgF
Join a conversation with Center faculty affiliate @CornellWBrooks (@HarvardDivinity and @Kennedy_School) and @KevinRobertsTX (President of the Heritage Foundation) moderated by Washington Post reporter @laurameckler as they debate the role of diversity in higher education and American life.
Following the discussion, Center faculty affiliate @JuliaMinson will lead a facilitated debrief on engaging across disagreement for in-person attendees.
📅 Tue, Sept 22 at 6:00 p.m.
🎟️ In-person seats open to all Harvard ID holders.
📺 View the livestream of the debate on YouTube.
🔗 Register: bit.ly/4itDu1v.
Sponsored by our colleagues at the @HarvardIOP.
Our Open House brought together more than 300 students and guests from across Harvard last week! 🏙️
Students from schools across the University stopped by to explore our labs and research, meet staff and faculty, learn about upcoming events and opportunities, and connect with some our affiliated students to hear about their experience with the Center.
Read about our opportunities for students, register for upcoming events, and learn how you can get involved at the Center on our website: cities.harvard.edu
The Bloomberg Center for Cities invites researchers from across disciplines and career stages to apply for the new Bloomberg Harvard Visiting Scholars Program.
Visiting Scholars will spend one semester or a full academic year in residence at Harvard with protected time to advance rigorous, policy-relevant research on urban problem-solving and city leadership. Scholars will engage with Harvard’s intellectual community, experienced practitioners, students, and the Center’s global network of city partners.
If your research can deepen our understanding of how cities drive performance, lead innovation, and deliver results for residents, we want to hear from you.
Applications are now open. Apply by October 28. 🔗 bit.ly/3SStvIK
What happens when you bring together political scientists studying cities and local government from across institutions? New ideas, connections, and opportunities for collaboration.
This week, we did just that at the Bloomberg Center for Cities, gathering more than 150 scholars following the Local Political Economy Conference and ahead of #APSA2026.
Throughout the evening, researchers shared their work on cities and local government, sparking conversations across topics and approaches.
Thank you to our research presenters, partners, and Center faculty affiliates who co-hosted, including Rawi Abdelal, @jdbk, Ryan Enos, @MalikMashail, @StephanieTern, @Arfung, Yanilda María González, and Nick Stephanopoulos who helped bring this community together.
Mark your calendars! 🗓️ The Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University is hosting an Open House on Wednesday, September 9 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.—and all @Harvard community members are invited.
Drop by any time to:
🏙️ Meet Center staff and learn about student opportunities, events, and research
🤝 Connect with current students and learn about their experiences
🔎 Tour the Center and event space
Let us know you plan to attend: bit.ly/466o2RD
Data centers are reshaping the power grid and the tradeoffs of where electricity goes. 🔌Center faculty affiliate John Macomber (@cleantechcities) of @HarvardHBS breaks down why the AI boom is intensifying competition for electricity, why local siting battles might matter more than national policy, and why private capital will increasingly be pulled into financing climate hazard adaptation. Read more: bit.ly/4qC6lmh.
We were glad to welcome @WhatWorksCities to the Bloomberg Center for Cities yesterday to explore opportunities for greater alignment and collaboration in our shared work with cities.
Together, we’re working to help city leaders use data and evidence, strengthen government performance, and deliver better results for residents.
Grateful for the exchange of ideas—and excited about what’s ahead.
Research is only useful to cities if it reaches them.
That principle sits at the center of our work: bringing together expertise from across @Harvard to produce research, develop practical resources, and make both available to the people running local government.
This week that looks like the tenth class of senior officials from cities in @BHcityleaders, in the classroom working on cross-sector collaboration and using data and innovation to solve pressing problems.
The same teaching cases and guides they're using are available to any city leader, educator, or student who wants them. Download them for free:
📖 A Task Force with Teeth? Driving City Performance in Lawrence, MA: bit.ly/4q4QNr2
📖 Collaborating for Youth Development in Hartford: bit.ly/3RUIEsh
🏛️ The Art and Science of Cross-Sector Collaboration: bit.ly/4wNaKoK
🏛️ Using Data to Solve Urban Problems: bit.ly/4waxKN4
Mayors don’t lead alone. This week, senior officials from cities participating in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative are strengthening their ability to drive change across city hall.
In the classroom, they’re exploring how to build effective cross-sector collaborations and use data and innovation to solve pressing problems. You can explore and apply the same resources in your own work. Download them for free:
📖 A Task Force with Teeth? Driving City Performance in Lawrence, MA case: bit.ly/4q4QNr2.
📖 Collaborating for Youth Development in Hartford, CT case: bit.ly/3RUIEsh.
🏛️ The Art and Science of Cross-sector Collaboration Action Insights: bit.ly/4wNaKoK
🏛️ Using Data to Solve Urban Problems Action Insights: bit.ly/4waxKN4
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities—and many of society’s most consequential challenges are playing out there.
Mayors and city leaders are called on to improve public safety, expand access to housing, strengthen infrastructure, respond to climate change, and deliver the everyday services residents rely on. Doing that well requires not only good policy, but strong public organizations capable of turning priorities into results.
That is central to the mission of our work: bringing together expertise from across @Harvard to produce research, develop practical resources, and strengthen the capabilities of city leaders—including through @BHcityleaders.
Thank you to @MikeBloomberg for his enduring commitment to cities, and to @BloombergDotOrg for making this work possible.
Over the past decade, the @BHCityLeaders, housed at the Bloomberg @CenterforCities at @Harvard, has become the place where mayors from around the world come to learn—and lead.
Together with our partners at Harvard @Kennedy_School and @HarvardHBS, we are proud of our work to help local governments improve how they serve—and move their residents’ chief priorities forward.
We're #hiring a Research Assistant for the City Hall Survey, a longitudinal study of how cities in @BHcityleaders build capacity over time.
This is a great fit for a @Harvard Ph.D. student in a quantitative social science field who wants to apply R and survey research skills to a real dataset with practical relevance for city leaders.
🎓Open to enrolled Harvard Ph.D. students
📆 Fall 2026 semester
🕒 10-20 hours/week
🔗 Apply by August 17: bit.ly/4wIAzWO
We're #hiring! Join the Bloomberg Center for Cities as our Senior Manager, Conferences and Events, and help bring the world's leading thinkers on cities together for high-impact convenings.
Apply or share with your networks: bit.ly/4fH6jEF.





































