Democratizing Data.

Empowering Advocates.
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About CityWork

RETHINKING GEOGRAPHY
& THE CITY


CityWork’s founding question is "what does it mean to live well in the city together?" Through public, free, research on affordable housing, gun violence, incarceration, and more, we are reshaping social and political narratives in order to challenge the status quo of urban inequality.
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About CityWork

Critical geography and data

We believe that the financialization of cities has created extreme poverty. Many policies enacted to alleviate poverty simply end up re-enforcing poverty. But it doesn’t have to be this way. By working at the intersection of critical geography and data we reimagine what a just city looks like, and are empowering others to do so as well. In short, we believe another city is possible.

Our Idea
What We Believe
Research

Hampton Roads Atlas


Attending to the multiple histories of poverty, segregation, and injustice in the region.

Mapping Rent in Hampton Roads.

We are making real-time rent data in Hampton Roads publicly available and free. Normally, data like this sits behind hefty paywalls at property tech companies.

By opening it up to the public, we are supporting activist and research efforts to track the growing crisis of unaffordable housing and its intersections with poverty, gun violence, food access, and more.

Click here

Snap/Shot: Gun Violence in Hampton Roads.

This interactive dashboard looks at gun violence in Hampton Roads from 2018 - 2022 alongside a number of social and economic correlates.

Part of the Hampton Roads Atlas, this work begins attending to the multiple histories of poverty, segregation, and injustice that converge around violence in the region.

Click here to access it

Incarceration in Hampton Roads.

Newly released data on incarceration in Hampton Roads paints a sobering picture.

Data on incarceration rates have not always been easy to access, especially in Virginia. Until now. Publicly available for this first time in decades, incarceration is hitting poor and majority-Black communities hard in Hampton Roads.

Click here to access it
About CityWork

By democratizing data back into the hands of communities, we are equipping them with tools to advocate on issues that matter most.

Alex Fella, Director
What We can do for you

Services


We identify and gather the data needed to support your project. Whether you have a collection of surveys, oversized spreadsheets, or you don't know where to begin, we find and transform data into meaningful insight and actionable information.
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Using Geographic Information System (GIS) we quickly build and deploy scalable digital maps that capture the imagination and advance change in the region. Whether it's a single map, narrative StoryMaps, or interactive dashboards, we are changing the way we think about what's possible in our cities.
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We've worked on everything from wearable biotech to gun violence to affordable housing to food deserts to criminal justice reform. We have a robust and diverse research background that allows us to build in-depth research that is always community-focused, easy to understand, and readily shareable with a broad audience.

Criminal Justice Reform

For: Virginia State Delegate Jackie Hope Glass

Virginia, uNITED sTATES
Virginia Delegate Jackie Glass wanted to advance legislation on criminal justice reform. She enlisted CityWork's expertise to provide the data and research to bolster her legislative agenda.
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Every year across Virginia millions of dollars in property are seized as part of criminal investigations. For those found not guilty, much of that property is never returned. By mapping out every property seizure and reimbursement in Virginia since 2018, we built a comprehensive research project for Glass to advance change in neighborhoods across Virginia.

Community
fridges

For: Priscilla queen, Virginia Beach

Norfolk, Virginia
A local food access activist and restaurant owner, Priscilla Queen, wanted to launched a Community Fridge program in Norfolk's food deserts.

Using GIS, we ran scenarios on where fridges would have the highest impact and reach the most amount of people within a .25 mile walking distance. We ran this analysis alongside an analysis of current food banks measured by the volume of food distributed and neighborhood transportation access to ensure widest community access.
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