Next City
Join Lucas Grindley, executive director at Next City, where we believe journalists have the power to amplify solutions and spread workable ideas. Each week Lucas will sit down with trailblazers to discuss urban issues that get overlooked. At the end of the day, it's all about focusing the world's attention on the good ideas that we hope will grow. Grab a seat from the bus, subway, light-rail, or whatever your transit-love may be and listen on the go as we spread solutions from one city to the Next City .
Episodes
164 episodes
Poetry Breaks Through Where Planners Cannot
Public art projects use poems across Philadelphia to help residents process loss, gun violence and grief together.
The Secret Sauce in Democratic Community Engagement
A group is working to ensure that the closure of Hester Street in New York City doesn't mean the loss of its wisdom as a trusted facilitator of processes that
Summer Break
Next City is on a brief hiatus for the summer. We'll be back at the end of July. Thank you for listening to Next City.
On Being Planners With Purpose
We are creating a podcast episode about these three episodes related to the Planners With A Purpose conference that Next City sponsored.
After 150 Episodes, Revisiting Our Favorite Solutions
The Next City podcast debuted in November 2021 and has now recorded 150 episodes, with hundreds of interviews about solutions with changemakers.
For Immigrant Communities, These Organizations Build Belonging
Sponsored podcast: From Chelsea to the Berkshires, these organizations do the frontline work of caring for their community when federal policy turns hostile.
How Boston’s Chinatown Turns Culture Into Power
This sponsored series is created in partnership with The Culture & Community Power Fund (C&CPF) , a national funders’ collaborative advancing the role of
How To Transform Closed Schools for Community
Today, we're learning about the effort to ensure public school buildings continue serving neighborhoods even after they close.
Real Solutions Are Everywhere
A partner episode with the podcast, Real Solutions, produced with The Othering & Belonging Institute.
Lessons on Serving Immigrant Communities Under Attack
As immigrant communities face daily threats from ICE and the Trump administration, they need allies they can trust.
Community Power Is Finally Going Big in Economic Development
Community-owned commercial real estate models are starting to make bigger splashes, thanks in part to building relationships with investors and officials who
Tenants Rising: Organizing for Housing Justice, Part 2
Examine tenant-led movements and legal strategies to preserve affordability and resist displacement.
Tenants Rising: Organizing for Housing Justice, Part 1
Examine tenant-led movements and legal strategies to preserve affordability and resist displacement.
This City Spent $1 Million To Erase $90 Million in Residents’ Debt
On a daily basis, thousands of Americans are faced with the choice of whether to seek needed medical care, or stay home untreated to avoid sliding further into
Artists in Government: Creativity as Civic Infrastructure
If we want to imagine a better world, artists might be better than anyone for the job. Today, we are looking at artists-in-residence programs in government.
Building Affordable Housing Without Federal Dollars
One new reality many community leaders are dealing with: Federal funding is rocky, to say the least.
From Tangled Title to Shared Prosperity
Across the country, low-income communities face threats of displacement, predatory investment activity and limited wealth-building opportunities.
A Food Security Solution for Urban and Rural Neighbors
Highlighting our recent coverage on nonprofit and alternative grocery models in Kentucky, this event would look at how communities—from urban Lexington to
Solutions for Rebuilding After Climate Disaster
Explore how communities in Altadena are rebuilding after devastating wildfires, with a focus on inclusive, community-led design and architecture.
Telling the Story of Housing Affordability
Even though housing is a crisis in every American city, we hear over and over that telling the story effectively is a big challenge.
How We Build Community Ownership and Self-Determination
New models of collective power are emerging in neighborhoods where residents have always found ways to support one another, even as economic systems excluded
Takeaways From A Tumultuous Year in Economic Justice
After a year marked by the undermining of public resources, community development is adapting by finding ways to make progress more resilient.
The Role of Philanthropy in This Moment
Live recording in November in partnership with the Small Business Anti-Displacement Network.
Building The Community Power Ecosystem
Sponsored Episode with the Culture & Community Power Fund and Kresge Foundation
When Community Benefits Agreements Work (And When They Don’t)
Residents teamed up with university students to slow the demolition of an affordable housing community and reshape redevelopment in West Philadelphia.
Learning Community Power By Example: The Chinatown Arena Fight
Philadelphians have a history of banding together and organizing when faced by powerful and monied development that has threatened their displacement.
What Collective Ownership Looks Like in Philly
As rapid development reshapes neighborhoods like Kensington, residents and business owners face displacement and loss of local control.
Revisiting: Emergent City - A Decade-Long Fight Against Displacement
We're revisiting a favorite episode from the archive to celebrate Next City's Winter Film Festival, this year's series: "Power and Place."
Philadelphia’s Pyramid Club Reborn Through Art and Afrofuturism
Join Matthew Jordan-Miller Kenyatta and artist Shawn Theodore for PYRAMID CLUB: 1937—2035, a reimagining of the legendary North Philadelphia social club as a
Designing for Childhood: How Cities Are Ending Playspace Inequity
So much depends on your ZIP code, even children’s access to play.
City-Building with Culture at the Core
Culture is often treated as a niche area but is actually integral to the successful design and adoption of other areas of urban planning and policy.
How Your Nonprofit Can Use Research to Strengthen Impact
Nonprofits often struggle to prove their impact, but the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) is showing how a rigorous research partnership can
A Federal Freeze Won’t Stop Green Progress
Even as billions in federal clean energy funding sit trapped in legal limbo, community lenders are determined to keep the green transition alive.
Alternative Models For Funding and Supporting Cultural Spaces and Workers
Communities need spaces for art; you can't support art without supporting artists.
The Fight for Freedom of Mobility in Black America
Charles T. Brown, author of "Arrested Mobility," discusses why mobility is not afforded in the same way to everyone – and the dire cost of this inequity.
Heroic Oysters Are ‘Holding Back the Tide’
New York was once the world’s oyster capital.
Razing Liberty Square: On Writing the Playbook to Fight Gentrification
The documentary "Razing Liberty Square” shows what happens in Miami as sea levels rise and the rich move inland, encroaching on residents of the Liberty Square
'The Black Power Scorecard:' On Expanding Power and Lives
Black power is more than symbolic. It’s a measurable reality tied to things like ownership, investment in neighborhoods, and—ultimately—life expectancy.
Revisiting Lexington - "This ‘Big Town’ Has Solutions for Cities Everywhere"
This week, we’re revisiting an episode we released earlier this year, all about Lexington, Kentucky — a city where collaboration and creativity are
Creating Common Ground: The Value of Public Parks
The Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore® Index each year ranks the 100 largest U.S. cities on factors such as park access, investment, and equity.
How Community Development Is Responding To This Crossroads
Community development in America is at a pivotal moment.
Not My Narrative – “The Bootstraps Narrative” (Pilot Episode)
This week, we’re trying something new: instead of our usual Next City episode, we’re sharing the pilot for “Not My Narrative,” an experimental mini-series that
Unlocking Housing Access: Why Tenant Screening Protections Matter
In the U.S., approximately 3.6 million households are threatened by eviction each year, and for many, the consequences last long after the eviction itself.
The Evolution of the Queer Women’s Gathering Space?
Back in the 1980s, there were more than 200 lesbian bars across the United States. By 2022, that number had shrunk to 21.
The Problem With Streets and Climate Disasters
When fires swept through the wealthy L.A.
One Way to Ensure ‘Altadena Is Not For Sale’
When the Eaton Fire tore through the Altadena neighborhood in January, many homes were lost.
This “Unapologetically Black” Monument Is Already Changing Los Angeles
In our fifth-ever episode of the Next City podcast, we spoke to Jason Foster of Destination Crenshaw, a monument to Black Los Angeles that had just broken
The Quiet Engine for Affordable Housing in Red and Blue States
The CDFI Fund is a proven driver of affordable housing in every state—red and blue alike. But now, this vital source of financing is at risk of federal cuts.
What Happens When Wildfire Relief Inspires Too Many Donations
When wildfires hit Los Angeles in January, people did what they always do in a crisis: They stepped in to help. And many of them donated clothes.
The First Draft of Pandemic History
Five years after the start of the COVID pandemic, we revisit journals from the nurses who lived through it.
In Conversation with the Former NEA Chair on What’s Next for the Arts
Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson is the former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, having resigned when President Trump took office.
A Proven Solution For Preventing Homelessness
In this sponsored podcast episode with Results for America, learn how Santa Clara County helped thousands of Californians stay housed.
So Many Land Trusts Launched in NYC That They Created A Map
We talk about community land trusts, or CLTs, a lot at Next City. It's about ownership: The community owns the lands and stewards the land.
How We Get The Banks We Deserve
Banks can be a force for good.
Fixing the Housing Crisis Goes Beyond Building More Units
The housing crisis isn’t just about supply.
Inside the Fight to Save LGBTQ Landmarks and Culture
Preserving the stories and spaces that define LGBTQ communities is an act of resilience and resistance.
The Intersection of Philanthropy, Storytelling, and Racial Justice
Stories shape how we see the world.
Emergent City: A Decade-Long Fight Against Displacement
What happens when a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on deep-pocketed developers?
One Way Cities Are Welcoming Immigrants
IDs aren’t just about identification — they’re about connection. This episode dives into the power of municipal ID programs to foster trust and open doors.
Crushing Medical Debt: The Movement to Revolutionize Healthcare Access
In the United States, medical debt isn’t just a financial burden; it’s a reflection of deeper systemic inequities that force individuals to take on “survival