Strategic Leadership and Management
Leading Economic Development in Cities
Equipping cities with tools and knowledge to build new paths toward shared prosperity
City leaders play a pivotal role in advancing their city’s economic growth through decisions that foster growth, inclusion, and opportunity. This work has far-reaching impact on a city’s ability to thrive, shaping opportunities for residents, businesses, and communities to achieve their full potential.
Offered in collaboration with Harvard University’s Growth Lab, Leading Economic Development in Cities offers an intensive in-person and online classroom experience featuring custom-designed case studies, cohort learning, and team working sessions taught by Harvard faculty. Program participants come from around the world, bringing a diversity of perspectives, resources, and expertise as senior city officials.
Together, they become more adept at defining and diagnosing economic growth constraints, deepening personal leadership capabilities to drive change in their city halls, identifying place-based opportunities for inclusive economic development, and taking concrete steps toward a growth and inclusion strategy tailored to their city’s context.
Select alumni cities of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative are invited to apply for this program.
Jorrit de Jong and Ricardo Hausmann serve as Faculty Co-Chairs of the program.
Featured Resource
This teaching case explores how mayors can balance visionary planning with practical coalition-building while ensuring that transformative projects meet the needs of all residents.
