# Stephen Goldsmith ## Stephen Goldsmith ![](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2025-05/53380174090_a42236382b_o.jpg?h=fb6cda96&itok=SoLwiTr0) ![Headshot of Stephen Goldsmith](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/datasmart/files/goldsmith_headshot_2018.jpg) Stephen Goldsmith is the Derek Bok Professor of the Practice of Urban Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and director of Data-Smart City Solutions at the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University. He previously served as Deputy Mayor of New York and [Mayor of Indianapolis, where he earned a reputation as one of the country's leaders in public-private partnerships](/about/stephen-goldsmith/the-indianapolis-experience "The Indianapolis Experience"), competition, and privatization. Stephen was also the chief domestic policy advisor to the George W. Bush campaign in 2000, the Chair of the Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps), and the district attorney for Marion County, Indiana from 1979 to 1990. He has written *The Power of Social Innovation; Governing by Network: the New Shape of the Public Sector; Putting Faith in Neighborhoods: Making Cities Work through Grassroots Citizenship; The Twenty-First Century City: Resurrecting Urban America,* [*The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance*](/news/article/about-the-book-the-responsive-city-529 "About the Book: The Responsive City"); [*A New City O/S: The Power of Open, Collaborative, and Distributed Governance*](/news/article/about-the-book-a-new-city-o-s-1158 "About the Book: A New City O/S"); and *Collaborative Cities: Mapping Solutions to Wicked Problems*. His most recent book, [*Growing Fairly: How to Build Opportunity and Equity in Workforce Development*](https://www.brookings.edu/books/growing-fairly/), was released in February 2022. ## Written by Stephen Goldsmith Read articles, white papers, op-eds, and more written by Stephen Goldsmith. [### The Value of Concentrating Neighborhood Investment ](/atlanta-neighborhood-investment) June 01, 2026 ![Empty storefronts in Lakeville, Atlanta](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/AdobeStock_588887170_Editorial_Use_Only.jpg?itok=3ew-VtOJ) [### Using GIS to Get Community Buy-in for Affordable Housing ](/gis-affordable-housing) May 18, 2026 ![Fairfax map with colorful layers over different areas of zoning](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/Screenshot%202026-05-18%20095046.png?itok=dhggoKKP) [### De-Risking Equitable Development with 3D Spatial Technology ](/equitable-development-st-louis-digital) May 14, 2026 ![St. Louis skyline](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/AdobeStock_83742029%20St%20Louis.jpg?itok=ZhLujYRe) [### Government AI, the Road to More Bureaucratic Discretion and Accountability ](/gov-ai-accountability-discretion) May 07, 2026 ![View through glass windows in offices with shadows of people working](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/AdobeStock_261124482.jpg?itok=YspYqztn) Show morerefresh ## The Data-Smart City Pod Hosted by Stephen Goldsmith, our podcast features mayors and city leaders, academics, and subject matter experts in the areas of governance, data, innovation, and research. Listen to some of our recent episodes below. [ Subscribe to the Data-Smart City Pod on your favorite podcast app arrow\_circle\_right ](https://data-smart-city-pod.simplecast.com/) [### Federal Data, Local Impact: What Cities Need to Know ](/fed-data-city-impact) June 17, 2026 [### Building an AI-Ready City Government ](/building-ai-ready-city-government) May 27, 2026 [### Redesigning Broken and Legacy Systems to Unlock Innovation with Communities ](/redesign-system-innovation) May 13, 2026 [### The Promise and Peril of AI in Criminal Justice Systems ](/promise-peril-justice-ai) April 22, 2026 [### Supporting Childhood Opportunity Starts With Environmental Justice ](/childhood-opportunity-environmental-justice) April 08, 2026 [### From Reactive to Preventive: How AI Transforms Public Works ](/ai-public-works) April 01, 2026 [### Agentic AI Comes to City Hall ](/agentic-ai-city-hall) March 11, 2026 [### How Cities Can Measure What Actually Matters ](/cities-measure-what-matters) March 05, 2026 [### Personalizing Government at Scale: Denver's AI Strategy ](/personalizing-denver-ai) February 04, 2026 [### AI Agents and Peak Academy: Brian Elms on Empowering Government Workers ](/ai-agents-peak-brian-elms) January 21, 2026 [### Rethinking Government in 2026 ](/rethinking-gov-2026) December 17, 2025 [### City Leadership in the AI Era ](/city-leadership-ai-era) November 19, 2025 arrow\_back arrow\_forward ## Additional Projects ### The Mayoral Leadership in Education Network expand\_more The Mayoral Leadership in Education Network was a community of mayors and senior city leaders focused on the mayor’s role in education innovation, exploring better ways to navigate the political, policy, accountability, and equity considerations that cities face as the landscape of innovation evolves. The Mayoral Leadership in Education Network leverages the Ash Center’s ongoing work on public sector innovation and deep connections to city leaders to provide frameworks, tools, and practices related to leadership and collaboration across sectors, mayoral mechanisms for accountability, building capacity for leveraging data and evidence, ensuring equity and fairness across the city, engaging members of the community, and more. Of particular importance for current mayoral administrations is the need to develop data-driven, education-to-career pathways that ensure youth are entering the workforce equipped with the skills demanded by regional employers. The Mayoral Leadership in Education Network seeks to build mayors’ capacity to convene multiple city stakeholders around a shared vision for skills and talent development that empowers all youth in their communities to thrive in jobs of the future. This network is co-facilitated by two former mayors, Stephen Goldsmith and Sly James, with input from an advisory committee listed below. Meg Ansara CEO and Founding Partner, 270 Strategies John Arnold Co-Chair, Arnold Ventures Emma Bloomberg Founder and CEO, Murmuration Harvard Kennedy School ‘06 Harvard Business School ‘07 Secretary Arne Duncan Managing Partner, Emerson Collective Harvard College ‘87 Adrian Fenty General Partner, M Ventures Former Mayor, Washington, D.C. Joel Klein Chief Policy and Strategy Officer, Oscar Health Former Chancellor, New York City Department of Education Harvard Law School ‘71 Mitch Landrieu Former Mayor, New Orleans, LA Dr. Michael L. Lomax President and CEO, UNCF Hanna Skandera CEO, Mile High Strategies Marc Sternberg K-12 Education Program Director, Walton Family Foundation Harvard Business School ‘00 Harvard Graduate School of Education ‘01 ### Operational Excellence in Government expand\_more Operational Excellence in Government was led by Stephen Goldsmith during his time as director of the Innovations in American Government Awards program at the Ash Center. The project identified operational efficiency themes across state and local governments. [Learn more about the project here](/operational-excellence-government). ### Regulatory Reform in the 21st Century expand\_more Working with US cities, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School built an inventory of regulatory best practices to support local governments in streamlining regulatory processes, while at the same time supporting local and regional economic development. [Learn more about the project here](/regulation "Regulation"). ### The Indianapolis Experience expand\_more This is a set of resources, including videos, books, case studies, and journal articles about Stephen Goldsmith's tenure as Mayor of Indianapolis. Written by Goldsmith and others, these resources cover three decades of exceptional leadership and management. [See all resources here](/about/stephen-goldsmith/the-indianapolis-experience). ## Connect school [### Faculty Page ](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/stephen-goldsmith)Visit Pr. Goldsmith's Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Page. send [### Email ]()Reach out to by emailing at stephen\_goldsmith @hks.harvard.edu. thumb\_up [### LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/goldsmithstephen/)Follow on LinkedIn to remain up-to-date on Pr. Goldsmith's research, writing, projects, and events. book [### Google Scholar ](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kox5O4EAAAAJ&hl=en)Looking for a research citation? Visit Stephen Goldsmith's Google Scholar page.