Mayors and Innovators Replicable Strategies for Local Political and Technological Change

By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population is expected to live in cities. How can we ensure that those rapidly growing human centers are equitable, resilient, healthy places to live and work? Two new volumes from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, spotlight innovative answers emerging in communities around the globe. These works encompass both policy solutions and technological solutions, providing knowledge and inspiration for leaders and others facing critical social, economic, and environmental challenges. Mayor’s Desk, a collection of interviews with 20 leaders of global cities large and small, offers replicable strategies for building resilience, as well as firsthand reflections on 21st century urban leadership. In candid conversations conducted with Lincoln Institute Senior Fellow Anthony Flint from 2018 to 2023, mayors from Berkeley to Bogotá discuss issues including housing, climate change, public health, financing, and infrastructure. This new generation of bold, innovative leaders demonstrates that progress is possible, even—or maybe especially—in turbulent times, and that local governments are the drivers of sustainable global change. A companion volume, City Tech, chronicles the rise of urban technology over the past decade, featuring insights from the founders, innovators, and researchers closest to the work and from the planners and other officials who are putting these tools into practice. This thoughtful collection by Rob Walker, a contributor to The New York Times, Fast Company, Bloomberg Businessweek, and other influential outlets, investigates the nuts and bolts of new ideas, their ethical implications, and their growing influence on the virtual and literal landscapes of the cities we call home. Both books include content originally published in Land Lines, the award-winning magazine of the Lincoln Institute, with exclusive new material written by the authors. They feature contributed essays from thought leaders including former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, president of C40 and the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions; urban planner Angela D. Brooks, FAICP, president of the American Planning Association; journalist Kara Swisher, author of Burn Book: A Tech Love Story; and urbanist and futurist Greg Lindsay of the ASU Threatcasting Lab and MIT Future Urban Collectives Lab. Together, these two new volumes offer an extraordinary illustration of the significant and sometimes surprising impact of change that begins at home.