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The reports “Innovation and the City – part I and part II’ from the Center for an Urban Future and NYU Wagner present 40 innovative policies from cities across the U.S. and around the globe that could serve as a model and give mayors and other municipal leaders the ability to learn from their peers and develop new policies based on models that have already proven effective.
Researchers at the Center for an Urban Future and NYU Wagner interviewed nearly 200 policy experts in cities across the country and around the globe, looking for game-changing reforms that have proven effective.
15 Policy Ideas for NYC
The Innovation and the City (part I) report presents 15 policies that could be implemented in New York City, taking into account city’s important needs and also local government structure and political climate:
- UPDATING 311 – A More Responsive, Transparent & Participatory 311
Boston & Chicago - KINDERGARTEN TO COLLEGE SAVINGS – Fostering a College-Going Culture & Allaying Rising Tuition Costs
San Francisco - INNOVATION LOAN FUND – Loan Fund Seeds New Ideas at the Agency Level
Chicago - PEAK ACADEMY – Sending Agency Staff to Innovation School
Denver - PROJECT ORACLE – Measuring Impact in Human Services
London - SPACEHIVE – Crowdsourcing Capital Projects
London - ZERO WASTE – A Comprehensive Approach to Increasing Recycling & Improving Waste Management
San Francisco - DIGITAL BADGING – Creating an Alternative Assessment System for Out-of-School Programs
Philadelphia, Providence & Chicago - BUDGET SAVINGS COMMISSION – Private Firms Develop Mass Budget Savings
Chicago - OPEN DATA – A More Transparent, Inclusive & Collaborative Government
Seattle & San Francisco - CITY ID PREPAID MASTERCARD – Municipal Identification & Debit Card
Oakland - ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS & BASEMENT CONVERSIONS – Helping the Elderly to Comfortably & Affordably “Age in Place’
Seattle, Vancouver & Santa Cruz - PRIZE-LINKED SAVINGS – Incentivizing Savings Accounts in Underbanked Communities
Michigan - IMMIGRANT EXPORT INITIATIVE – Helping Immigrant-Run Businesses Grow through Exporting
Los Angeles & Chicago - COMMUTER TAX BENEFIT – Expanding Access to Federal Pre-Tax Transit Benefits
San Francisco
An additional 25 Policy Ideas for cities
The researchers also discovered a lot of promising innovations that didn’ t match up well with New York’ s needs or addressed problems that the City was already confronting in a different way. So, in this second edition of the report, they present policies that might not work in New York but are important enough to merit replication in other cities. These 25 policies come from a diverse group of municipalities and confront a variety of different kinds of problems.
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Innovation Delivery Teams
Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Louisville, KY; Memphis, TN; New Orleans, LA -
Health Stats Program
Camden, NJ -
Parking Sensor Program
San Francisco, CA -
Sector Panels
Seattle, WA -
Parent Mentor Program
Chicago, IL -
Split-Rate Property Tax
Harrisburg, PA -
Crisis Intervention Program
Memphis, TN -
Social Impact Bonds
New York City, NY -
Community Attorney Program
Minneapolis, MN -
Gang Reduction & Youth Development program
Los Angeles, CA -
Toronto Regional Immigrant Employment Council
Toronto, Ontario -
Results Minneapolis
Minneapolis, MN -
Greener Greater Buildings
New York City, NY -
Infrastructure Trust
Chicago, IL -
Green Factor
Seattle, WA; Washington, DC -
Family and Senior Homeless Initiative
Denver, CO -
Family Violence Unit
Minneapolis, MN -
SmartRiverside
Riverside, CA -
The Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO)
New York City, NY -
Microgrids
Hookerk, Netherlands; Sendai, Japan -
Community Infrastructure Levy
London, United Kingdom -
Applied Sciences NYC Competition
New York City, NY -
The Pedestrian Plaza Program
New York City, NY -
Teacher Homebuyer Program
San Jose, CA -
Participatory Budgeting
New York City, NY; Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Vallejo, CA; Toronto, Ontario
Download the reports
- Download the report Innovation and the City – Part I
- Download the report Innovation and the City – Part II