About the Thriving Cities Lab
The Thriving Cities Lab (TCL) is developing a new paradigm for urban analysis, community assessment, and civic engagement based on a holistic framework of community well-being.
The Intellectual Roots of Thriving
One can trace contemporary conversations about thriving and well-being to two main sources: Amartya Sen’s and Martha Nussbaum’s development of the “capabilities approach” and to research on the “social determinants of health” (SDOH). The root system of thriving, however, extends deep into our past — far beyond our contemporary horizon — though still providing significant inspiration and intellectual support for it. In tracing the ancient roots of the concept of thriving, the work of Aristotle is foundational.
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The Thriving Ecosystem
Many organizations and governments have followed the path of the capabilities and “social determinants of health” (SDOH) paradigms and have moved away from conceiving of thriving in narrow economic terms. For instance, there is the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEALL), consisting of Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales and Iceland. According to the Alliance, a “Wellbeing Economy is an economy designed to serve people and the planet, not the other way around.”
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City-centric
Why the city? According to demographers, in 2007, for the first time in history, humans crossed the Rubicon—became a majority urban as opposed to rural species. In short, the twenty-first century is shaping up to be the century of cities. In their book, The Metropolitan Revolution, Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley point out that, in the U.S., while cities occupy about 12% of the landmass, they account for two-thirds of the country’s population and 75 percent of the nation’s GDP. And this city-centric growth is not only characteristic of North America but is a global phenomenon. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, cities generate more than 80 percent of global GDP today. Most impactful are the so-called megacities—approximately 600 urban centers—which, by themselves, account for a fifth of the world’s population and generate a whopping 60 percent of global GDP.
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