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Dear friend,
Welcome to Frontier, the monthly newsletter from the Future of Property Rights Program at New America. We hope that you're staying safe and healthy. This month, we released a new report on smart city data governance, and held a webinar on the future of land in partnership with USAID. A recording of the event is available below. Here's what we've been up to:
What We're Doing
A Commons Approach to Smart City Data Governance
What can Elinor Ostrom’s work teach us about data governance in smart cities?
In the latest FPR report, Natalie Chyi and Yuliya Panfil propose suggestions to help policymakers improve the governance of smart city data. Through a "commons" approach, stakeholders can improve public services, protect citizens' rights, and fulfill the promise of smart cities.
The report is available here.
The Future of Land at USAID
On Monday, FPR and USAID held a webinar to dive into the Agency's Land and Resource Governance Research Agenda, which was developed with FPR’s help. We also heard from a panel of experts across the international development and global security space about why land and resource governance matters to their work.
A recording of the webinar is available here.
70 Million Worldwide Are Displaced. Can Smartphones Help Them Get Home?
Global smartphone penetration is rising and our lives are increasingly digitized. When we use services like Google Maps, Facebook, MPesa, and Uber, we generate evidence of where we go, what we purchase, and whom we interact with. And, crucially, we start to accumulate evidence of where we live.
Yuliya Panfil wrote for Good ID on how data trails could help reunite individuals with their homes and land.
What We're Reading
Rebecca Gale explores the dynamics behind eviction filings. Many landlords want to avoid kicking out tenants and ending up with empty units—that's not profitable. So landlords use the threat of eviction as a way to pressure tenants into settling up on past-due rent. Still, repeated court dates place tremendous stress on low-income renters. A reminder that the landlord-tenant relationship is anything but simple.
"High and dry: Flood-hit Zimbabweans look back to stilt homes" - Thomson Reuters Foundation News
Lungelo Ndhlovu reports on community resilience to climate change in western Zimbabwe. As the region experiences more frequent droughts and flash flooding of the Zambezi River, more people have turned to a traditional solution: stilt houses. Elevated homes keep inhabitants cool in sweltering temperatures and dry during torrential rains. The article is a powerful example that indigenous knowledge can help provide answers to modern problems.
"Why we can't build small homes anymore" - Curbed
Patrick Sisson analyzes the American obsession with McMansions and spacious backyards, and how preferences might be changing. Expensive single-family homes are pricing out potential first-time buyers. And with the U.S. experiencing an affordable housing crisis, it might be time for smaller, denser residential construction. But as we think more about cheaper housing options, it's important to remember that innovative models must be paired with changes to zoning, permitting fees, and more at the local level.
Thoughts on our work or where we're headed? Feel free to reach out to us at FPR@NewAmerica.org.
Until next month, the FPR Team.
About New America
New America is dedicated to renewing the promise of America, bringing us closer to our nation’s highest ideals. We’re a different kind of think tank: one dedicated to public problem solving. Our team of visionary researchers, changemakers, technologists, and storytellers study and seize the opportunities presented by dramatic social and technological change. We search for powerful ideas, wherever they are, and collaborate with civic innovators around the world to develop evidence-based solutions.
The Future of Property Rights Program at New America aims to help solve today’s property rights challenges, both at home and abroad. Through our research, writing, and convening, we strive to connect new constituencies and shed light on underreported issues in the property rights space.
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