Public Administration Today

Repair Cafes Are the Beating Heart of the Right-to-Repair Movement

Next City

MARCH 20, 2024

Op-ed: Right-to-repair legislation is crucial to systemic change. But every item salvaged through America’s growing patchwork of local repair movements is its own victory.

Legislation

The Music Industry Chooses Winners and Losers. Cities Can, Too.

Next City

MARCH 8, 2024

By creating a robust music ecosystem policy, cities can incubate talent and launch new stars, Shain Shapiro argues in his new book.

Books

Africatown Is Still Trying to Breathe

Next City

MARCH 6, 2024

Black and Hispanic communities in America's port cities are fighting an uphill battle against environmental racism and industrial expansion. Next up in Africatown, the Alabama neighborhood founded by formerly enslaved people: a new rail line.

The Pandemic Investment That Allowed Gig Workers to ‘Break Free’

Next City

MARCH 5, 2024

Receiving unemployment assistance and pandemic relief funds gave some gig workers space to breathe – and rethink their careers entirely.

Affordable Housing Is Never the Only Problem – Or the Only Solution

Next City

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

Poverty doesn’t cause social breakdown, nor is social breakdown confined to areas with high levels of poverty, Seth Kaplan writes in “Fragile Neighborhoods.

Housing

It’s Time for City Planners To Be Proactive About Church Property Transitions

Next City

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Around the country, churches are closing, downsizing and selling their real estate. Urban planners need to be prepared.

The Black Immigrant Women Who Bought a Minneapolis Mall

Next City

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Lack of access to proper retail space was crippling these immigrant businesswomen in the Twin Cities. In forming a commercial real estate cooperative, they’re going far by going together.

Individualism Is Making Public Transit Worse

Next City

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

For buses and trains to work well, they must meet the needs of many different people at the same time.

This Canadian Community Shows the Key to Thriving Black Urbanism

Next City

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Op-ed: For Black urbanism to thrive, it needs proximity to Afrocentric social, physical and economic infrastructure.

In Philly’s Chinatown, a Community Workshop Envisions Alternatives to Sixers Arena

Next City

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Chinatown residents are working on new proposals for the downtown strip where developers are planning a new basketball arena.

Development

Gentrification’s Roots in the Post-Industrial City

Next City

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

Op-ed: De-industrialization isn’t just a Detroit story. It’s also the story of Silicon Valley, whose crown jewel, San Jose, urbanized to house workers for now long-outsourced microchip factories.

Housing

The Most Influential Role in Politics Isn’t the One You’re Thinking About

Next City

JANUARY 30, 2024

Mayors are engaged in next-level problem-solving.

Engagement

These Guerilla Bus Benches Are Spurring Berkeley to Step Up for Bus Riders

Next City

JANUARY 29, 2024

Vigilante urbanism: A pair of activists have taken up the job of building seating at Berkeley’s bus stops. Will the city step up to meet the need – and fulfill its responsibilities to its residents?

40-ish Milestones for Next City’s 20th Anniversary

Next City

DECEMBER 29, 2023

We compiled proud moments from the nonprofit media outlet’s first two decades.

Nonprofit

40-ish Milestones for Next City’s 20th Anniversary

Next City

DECEMBER 27, 2023

We compiled proud moments from the nonprofit media outlet’s first two decades

Nonprofit

Year In Review: Our Favorite Next City Stories From 2023

Next City

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Staff picked the stories that moved them this year — each shows the power of solutions journalism to highlight how people are creating cities where everyone can thrive.

2023

Next City’s Most Popular Stories Of 2023

Next City

DECEMBER 26, 2023

We've collected our top reporting and analysis from this year on the solutions that liberate cities.

2023

How A Small Brooklyn Credit Union Punches Above Its Weight

Next City

DECEMBER 5, 2023

The CEO of Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union shares its blueprint for building a sustainable institution that meets its communities’ growing needs.

Sustainability

The Tiny Credit Union Powering Brooklyn’s Economy

Next City

DECEMBER 4, 2023

What makes this particular credit union so special, how did it come to be – and what if there were more of them?

Next City’s End-of-Year Give Guide

Next City

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Here are our suggestions for places to give your cash during the 2023 holiday season and beyond.

2023

Next City’s 2023 Gift Guide For City Lovers

Next City

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Our gift recommendations for urbanists who care about creating equitable cities.

2023

El Paso Tried To Turn This Historic Neighborhood Into A Sports Arena. Then Residents Stepped In.

Next City

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

After El Paso residents and historic preservationists spent years battling the historic Duranguito neighborhood, the city has backed out and is seeking another site for its stadium plan.

Our Planning Process is Broken. Street Experiments Can Help.

Next City

OCTOBER 27, 2023

Op-ed: Street experiments are a rapid, low-cost technique that marries the best of top-down and bottom-up planning to create new possibilities.

How El Paso’s Streetcars Rose Again

Next City

OCTOBER 17, 2023

The rise and fall and – thanks to a guerilla art campaign and the tenacity of several city officials – rise again of El Paso's iconic streetcars.

Campaign

What Sunrise El Paso Learned From Its Historic Youth-Led Climate Charter Campaign

Next City

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

El Paso's youth launched a historic fight for the country's first municipal climate charter. After a failed ballot initiative, the group is launching a new effort to bring climate action to Sun City.

Campaign

Starting America’s First East African Magnet School – In Just Three Months

Next City

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

After decades of declining enrollment, St. Paul Public Schools made a bold bet: offer families a school with support in seven different languages. The school’s first-time principal had one summer to get it done.

A Coal Mine Turned Garden Is Feeding 2,000 Texans Every Month

Next City

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

The 1-acre garden, in the middle of a 35,000-acre former mine, is supplying thousands of pounds of fresh produce to families in three Texas counties that have few grocery stores.

They Stopped A Pipeline Planned For Their Memphis Community. Now Can They Get Clean Drinking Water?

Next City

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

A private solution to a public problem”: In South Memphis and other Black neighborhoods, residents are often forced to rely on corporate solutions for safe drinking water.

The City Offering Grief Support For Families Affected By Fatal Overdoses

Next City

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

For grieving families of loved ones lost to drug overdose, support can be hard to find. In Philadelphia, a city agency aims to change that.

Disaster Relief Often Leaves Disabled People Behind. Disabled First Responders Are Changing That.

Next City

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

Disability inclusion in emergency preparedness and response doesn’t just mean supporting disabled victims of extreme weather. It also means including disabled communities in disaster relief strategy.

D.C.’s Street Vendor Regulations Formalize The Informal

Next City

AUGUST 22, 2023

The District’s new street vending regulations allow street vendors to self-govern the sidewalks where they conduct business. Plus, a peek at new developments for street vendors in NYC and California.

Regulations

Regulations Information Development Government

The 52-Year Fight To Protect El Paso’s Castner Range Continues

Next City

AUGUST 16, 2023

This year, Biden declared the high-desert mountain land a National Monument. But for local conservationists, the work isn't over yet.

A Land Trust And A Non-Profit Team Up To Bring More Black Teachers To Kansas City

Next City

AUGUST 10, 2023

By constructing duplexes on vacant land for the teachers, the groups aim to provide educators with a strong community while ensuring that teachers live and work in the district they serve.

Education

Texas Cities Are Getting Ready For The State’s ‘Death Star’ Law

Next City

AUGUST 8, 2023

Houston and San Antonio have filed a major lawsuit. Dozens of local officials have signed onto a scathing amicus brief. And across the state, cities are scrambling to prepare for the wild west that Gov. Greg Abbott's controversial preemption law will likely bring.

Laws

Lessons From The U.K.’s Transformative Social Housing System

Next City

AUGUST 3, 2023

Social historian John Boughton explains how the U.K.’s social housing system changed millions of low- and middle-income people’s lives – and how privatization has crippled its power.

Housing

Filling The Accessible Housing Gap For Disabled People Of Color

Next City

JULY 27, 2023

New developments are prioritizing affordable, accessible housing for a population that’s uniquely vulnerable to housing discrimination.

Housing

Housing Development

The El Paso Activists That Kept A Historic Chicano Landmark From Demolition

Next City

JULY 26, 2023

Community leaders, organizations and activists came together to save the Lincoln Park building years ago. Today, they're still working to preserve its heritage and potential.

Accessibility Lawsuits Are Bringing Slow But Steady Wins For Disabled City Residents

Next City

JULY 12, 2023

Lawsuits over inaccessible sidewalks, transit, libraries and other public infrastructure are costing cities millions. But for disabled people of color, they may be the only route to equity.

At Long Last, North Minneapolis’ Black Residents May Soon Have A Credit Union Of Their Own

Next City

JULY 11, 2023

The travails of Arise Community Credit Union, set to be Minnesota’s first Black led-credit union, raise the question: How hard should it be for communities to have their own financial institutions?

Inside The Fight To Kick Out Rochester’s Power Company

Next City

JUNE 28, 2023

In New York’s third-largest city, locals are sick of skyrocketing bills and dirty fuel sources. They’re fighting against long odds for the public to own the grid.

The Upstate Town That Took Back Its Power

Next City

JUNE 26, 2023

Massena residents fought the local utility to bring their electric grid under public control. Forty years later, they say it’s still paying off.

How A Nonprofit Reunites Separated Families At The U.S.-Mexico Border

Next City

JUNE 14, 2023

At the annual Hugs Not Walls event, it's a logistical challenge to clear the way for families to reunite in the river while border patrol officers promise not to intervene.

Nonprofit

Nonprofit Events

The Grassroots Movement That Built Puerto Rico’s First Community-Owned Microgrid

Next City

JUNE 10, 2023

In the small mountain town of Adjuntas, an "energy insurrection" is building a model for clean, reliable power across the island.

Grassroots

New York Finally Gets Its First Worker-Owned Cooperative Cocktail Bar

Next City

JUNE 6, 2023

Despite the exploitative labor environment in bars and restaurants, this may be the first worker-owned cooperative in New York City’s hospitality sector.

Next City

Repair Cafes Are the Beating Heart of the Right-to-Repair Movement

The Music Industry Chooses Winners and Losers. Cities Can, Too.

Trending Sources

Africatown Is Still Trying to Breathe

The Pandemic Investment That Allowed Gig Workers to ‘Break Free’

Affordable Housing Is Never the Only Problem – Or the Only Solution

It’s Time for City Planners To Be Proactive About Church Property Transitions

The Black Immigrant Women Who Bought a Minneapolis Mall

Individualism Is Making Public Transit Worse

This Canadian Community Shows the Key to Thriving Black Urbanism

In Philly’s Chinatown, a Community Workshop Envisions Alternatives to Sixers Arena

Gentrification’s Roots in the Post-Industrial City

The Most Influential Role in Politics Isn’t the One You’re Thinking About

These Guerilla Bus Benches Are Spurring Berkeley to Step Up for Bus Riders

40-ish Milestones for Next City’s 20th Anniversary

40-ish Milestones for Next City’s 20th Anniversary

Year In Review: Our Favorite Next City Stories From 2023

Next City’s Most Popular Stories Of 2023

How A Small Brooklyn Credit Union Punches Above Its Weight

The Tiny Credit Union Powering Brooklyn’s Economy

Next City’s End-of-Year Give Guide

Next City’s 2023 Gift Guide For City Lovers

El Paso Tried To Turn This Historic Neighborhood Into A Sports Arena. Then Residents Stepped In.

Our Planning Process is Broken. Street Experiments Can Help.

How El Paso’s Streetcars Rose Again

What Sunrise El Paso Learned From Its Historic Youth-Led Climate Charter Campaign

Starting America’s First East African Magnet School – In Just Three Months

A Coal Mine Turned Garden Is Feeding 2,000 Texans Every Month

They Stopped A Pipeline Planned For Their Memphis Community. Now Can They Get Clean Drinking Water?

The City Offering Grief Support For Families Affected By Fatal Overdoses

Disaster Relief Often Leaves Disabled People Behind. Disabled First Responders Are Changing That.

D.C.’s Street Vendor Regulations Formalize The Informal

The 52-Year Fight To Protect El Paso’s Castner Range Continues

A Land Trust And A Non-Profit Team Up To Bring More Black Teachers To Kansas City

Texas Cities Are Getting Ready For The State’s ‘Death Star’ Law

Lessons From The U.K.’s Transformative Social Housing System

Filling The Accessible Housing Gap For Disabled People Of Color

The El Paso Activists That Kept A Historic Chicano Landmark From Demolition

Accessibility Lawsuits Are Bringing Slow But Steady Wins For Disabled City Residents

At Long Last, North Minneapolis’ Black Residents May Soon Have A Credit Union Of Their Own

Inside The Fight To Kick Out Rochester’s Power Company

The Upstate Town That Took Back Its Power

How A Nonprofit Reunites Separated Families At The U.S.-Mexico Border

The Grassroots Movement That Built Puerto Rico’s First Community-Owned Microgrid

New York Finally Gets Its First Worker-Owned Cooperative Cocktail Bar

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