Follow the Data Podcast: Celebrating The Gates in Central Park and the Power of Public Art
February 21, 2025
20 years ago, the late Christo and Jeanne-Claude transformed Central Park with The Gates, a temporary public art installation featuring 7,503 saffron-colored gates adorned with free-flowing fabric. After being elected as Mayor of New York City, Mike Bloomberg worked with the artists to bring their vision to life.
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These cities are using innovation to build more responsive, digital-enabled services
December 4, 2024
What the Bloomberg Philanthropies-supported innovation team (i-team) found was that local government had effectively outsourced the process of signing people up for affordability resources to community groups that didn’t have the capacity to ensure, in a systematic way, that residents got the help they needed.
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Follow the Data Podcast: In Defense of Democracy
November 27, 2024
Around the world, public leaders are confronting a growing distrust in government. In these divided times, a mayor’s work becomes increasingly important. As the governing body closest to their residents, they are often the ones left reminding their communities of what we have in common—and why those things are worth fighting for.
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Partnering for Public Good: Ensuring Future Housing Affordability
November 13, 2024
During a breakout session at the eleventh Bloomberg CityLab, held last month in Mexico City, we spoke with four urban leaders who specialize in housing affordability. Their experience and insights spotlight cross-sector strategies and structures needed to tackle the affordable housing crisis across the globe.
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The most memorable moments from Bloomberg CityLab 2024
October 25, 2024
When more than 700 mayors, civic leaders, urban experts, and creatives gathered in Mexico City for the 11th Bloomberg CityLab, they dug deeply into a host of complex challenges and the innovative ways cities are tackling them.
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Follow the Data Podcast: A Home for Arts and Culture in Lower Manhattan
October 4, 2024
Last year, the Perelman Performing Arts Center opened in New York City – the last major piece in the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Its opening marks a new chapter in the story of Lower Manhattan as a center of culture and creativity.
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Follow the Data Podcast: A New Frontier for Local Government: Generative AI
July 22, 2024
Generative artificial intelligence has the potential to transform local government. That’s why city officials everywhere are working to harness its promise—from redesigning infrastructure to reimagining emergency response—alongside managing its pitfalls.
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Follow the Data Podcast: Using Data to Tackle Air Pollution
July 5, 2024
As the world’s urban population grows, it is critical for policymakers and citizens to have access to data-driven scientific research that can empower communities and inform important environmental, air quality, and public health policy decisions.
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An Albanian City Creatively Reclaims Streets for Kids
June 25, 2024
“School Block” is a project of our Asphalt Art Initiative, which helps cities use art and community engagement to improve street safety and revitalize public space. Completed in September 2023, the project used art to reclaim a parking lane around all four sides of the block, adding 1,500 square meters of vibrant, protected pedestrian space. “It’s like night and day, this has become a fairyland,” said local resident Badhkim Topçiu.
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Protecting our Ocean: A race to 30% by 2030
June 8, 2024
Our ocean is the lifeblood of our planet, filled with extraordinary biodiversity while also playing a pivotal role in helping us fight the climate crisis as the planet’s largest heat and carbon sink. In 2022, the world made a bold commitment to protect and conserve at least 30% of land and water globally by 2030.
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