Podcast
Terms of Engagement – Episode One
From rank-choice voting to reconciliation, American democracy is headline news. Let’s talk about it.
Case Study
Leading Civic Engagement: Three Cases
These three short cases are stories of city officials leading civic engagement and public participation in pursuit of public goals. From a variety of different positions in city government, the protagonists in each case departed from typical bureaucratic processes to reach out directly to the public, using unexpected methods to solicit input, raise awareness, and effect behavioral change in their communities. In the first case, the new director of the Seattle Solid Waste Utility, Diana Gale, implemented sweeping changes to the City’s solid waste collection practices. To secure compliance with new rules and regulations and tolerance for inevitable stumbles along the way, she developed a public relations capacity, became the public face of her agency, and embraced an ethos of humility and accountability. In the second case, Antanas Mockus, the eccentric mayor of Bogotá, sought to improve public safety—focusing particularly on the unregulated and lethal use of fireworks around the Christmas holiday. He tried at first to effect change through persuasion, offering citizens alternatives to fireworks and engaging vendors in the effort to reduce fireworks-related injuries and deaths. When a child suffered severe burns, however, Mockus followed through on a threat to ban firework sales and use in the City. In the third case, David Boesch, city manager of Menlo Park, California, decided to engage residents in setting priorities around cost reduction as a major budget shortfall loomed for the coming fiscal year. He hired a local firm to plan and execute a comprehensive participatory budgeting process. In a city with a sharp divide between haves and have-nots, Boesch and his partners had to take special care to ensure that everyone’s interests were heard and represented in budgetary decision-making.
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Feature
A Summer Reading List for America’s 250th Anniversary
On July 4, 2026, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As this milestone approaches, the team at the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation has curated a collection of books, podcasts, and events that explore the meaning and impact of the declaration from 1776 to today. Join us in revisiting the document itself, reflecting on its legacy, and considering the ongoing struggle to uphold democratic ideals.
Podcast
Five Years Later, Erica Licht and Nikhil Raghuveera Bid Farewell to Untying Knots
Over the past five years, Untying Knots has served as a vital platform for conversations about racial justice, systemic oppression, and community-driven change. Co-hosted by Erica Licht and Nikhil Raghuveera, the podcast — born from a Harvard Kennedy School course in 2020 — explored how people and institutions are working to dismantle entrenched systems of racial inequity while building new frameworks rooted in justice and accountability. As the podcast concludes, Licht and Raghuveera reflect on its origins, evolution, and enduring impact, offering insights into the lessons learned and the powerful voices that shaped its journey.