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The American promise is one of equal opportunity, but in most of our communities today, access to the resources that enable prosperity are too far out of reach. Thats because there is one unseen factor that influences who is able to thrive and who cannot: capital. The flow of capital into communities has a dramatic effect on which kind of people can open small businesses, buy homes, and generally participate in the American Dream. Places that are already thriving are able to easily access capital. Banks see these neighborhoods as a safe bet and will readily support the opening of new businesses, construction of new homes, and mortgage lending. But those places that are strugglingand have been strugglingdo not receive the same treatment. These are the inner-city neighborhoods, the rural communities, and the suburban areas that have been abandoned. There are some capital options for these under-resourced communities. Nonprofit and community banks offer concessionary loans, and government grants help fill gaps. For example, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law helped drive $28.3 billion in federal grants to over 1,500 cities, according to the National League of Cities. But this is not enough. We need a different way to think about capital to drive the prosperity that has been out of reach for too many for too long. THE 3 TYPES OF CAPITAL Decades of redlining, exclusionary lending, and the uneven distribution of government funds have created entrenched divisions in American communities. Despite legal reforms, barriers to capital still persist, including higher burdens for lending placed on marginalized groups, discrimination against those groups, and capital providers simply not showing up for these places. Over 12 million Americans live in a banking desert, with no bank close by. These deserts are rural and urban, but also overwhelmingly suburban: two thirds of banking deserts are in suburban areas. Overcoming these barriers is not as simple as getting more money out to communities that need it. Communities need ways to not only absorb the capital, but use it. Offering money is not enough; the dollars must be combined with expertise and knowledge to help get it to the people who actually need it. At Living Cities, we have identified three different types of capital that lead to prosperity: 1. Financial capital: Funds, credit, and investment needed to start businesses, buy homes, and generally support community growth. Systemic gaps in creditworthiness, collateral requirements, and bias in financing limit the spread of financial capital. 2. Social capital: Networks of trust, mentorship, and informal connections that open doors to opportunity. Research shows social capital is strongly associated with upward mobility and improved economic outcomes, with limited networks leading to lower rates of entrepreneurship and employment. Not all communities have equal access. Decades of segregation and underinvestment have eroded social infrastructure in marginalized neighborhoods. 3. Knowledge capital: Information, skills, and know-how required to navigate business, government, and civic systems. When you have financial capital, but lack knowledge of regulatory systems, market trends, and grant opportunities, the capital cant get to where it’s most needed and most effective. Knowledge capital is a multiplier: pairing capital with business training or legal literacy increases success rates for entrepreneurs. THE CAPITAL EQUATION IN ACTION Only when all three types of capital come together can the cycle of exclusion be broken. Offering only one isnt enough. For example, small business programs that blend loans (financial), local business incubators (social), and technical training (knowledge) see higher success rates than those providing only cash infusions. Our Breaking Barriers to Business cohort is leveraging all three types of capital to create and execute projects that create jobs through hands-on small business assistance. Cities should audit procurement, zoning, and economic development policies to identify the gaps in all types of capital access, not only financial capital. Any federal and philanthropic interventions should require grantees to demonstrate not only financial investment but strategies for bridging social and knowledge capital divides. TOWARD INCLUSIVE GROWTH Equitable capital flow is about more than headline numbers. Its about shifting the deeper patterns that determine who gets to build the future. By understanding and reshaping capital flows, cities can fire up new engines of shared prosperity. Joe Scantlebury is president and CEO of Living Cities.
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E-Commerce
Authoritarian acolytes will tell you that, to be strong, a country must demonstrate force. White House advisor Stephen Miller recently put that worldview plainly on CNN, arguing that the real worldis governed by strengthby forceby powera claim belied, as it were, by history. America did not become a superpower primarily by proving it could dominate. It became a superpower by proving it could partner. After World War II, the United States stood unrivaled militarily. Yet it did not rely on force alone to secure its position. Instead, it invested in rebuilding a shattered world. The Marshall Plan was not charityit was a strategy, linking economic recovery with political stability and turning war-torn nations into long-term allies. By helping others prosper, the U.S. increased its own security and economic future. That is soft power at work. Dwight Eisenhower, a five-star general, advanced the idea that diplomacy is not the sole province of governments, and that when people know you, they are less likely to fear you. And when they trust you, they are more likely to collaborate with you. John F. Kennedy carried that logic forward with the Peace Corps. The program sent a clear signal that American power included service, partnership, and humility. In a Cold War offering competing models to aspire to, that mattered, and it continues to matter today. THE ROLE OF SOFT POWER Soft power was never intended to be solely a government project. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States again faced a pivotal choice: declare victory and walk away or support the hard work of transition. Out of that moment emerged citizen diplomacy initiatives like what later became Pyxera Globalformed at the behest of the George H.W. Bush White House that called for a Citizens Democracy Corps to mobilize private-sector volunteer expertise to help planned-economy societies build market economies and democratic institutions. Alongside these efforts, agencies like USAID institutionalized development as a pillar of U.S. foreign policyinvesting for decades in health, education, food security, and economic growth as tools of stability and influence. That modelpublic purpose paired with private capabilityhas always been central to Americas soft power. There are certainly many situations and geographies where U.S. engagement fell woefully short. Still, taken together, these efforts point to a simple conclusion: Americas influence has been strongest when it was most usefulnot most intimidating. Soft power was never a weaknessit was leverage. That history matters now. When the U.S. government pulls back from development, diplomacy, and partnership, the vacuum does not remain empty. Other forces are surely eager to fill it with transactional relationships, debt dependence, and authoritarian influence. If Washington is narrowing its role now, the private sector faces a choice of its own. It can retreat inward, treating global instability as someone elses problem. Or it can recognize a simple truth: A stable world is a prerequisite for sustainable business. Soft power is not philanthropy. It is long-term risk management. HOW BUSINESS CAN STEP INTO THE GAP None of the following actions is a substitute for government. But they represent a sampling of ways that global business now has the opportunityand the capacityto step into the vacuum. Normalize board service as leadershipnot a side project. Encouraging executives to serve on nonprofit and civic boards strengthens institutions at a time of severe resource constraints, when we need them to function well. It also builds empathy, governance skills, and real-world decision-making capacity, qualities companies claim to value in leaders. Scale skills-based volunteering. Finance, compliance, cybersecurity, HR, and logistics are some of the skills that many public and nonprofit institutions cannot easily access. Deploying them fills a dire resource gap while meeting employee demand for purpose-driven work that uses real expertise. Double down on supply-chain resilience as a form of stability. Diversifying suppliers, investing in transparency, and ensuring local equity reduce exposure to disruption and coercion. Resilient supply chains are not just good businessthey help anchor opportunity and stability in the places where companies operate. Expand community-driven initiatives where companies operate. Corporate success cannot sustainably outpace community well-being. Health, nutrition, education pipelines, workforce training, and local economic development are not public relations gesturesthey are investments in human capital, social cohesion, and long-term operational continuity. THE POWER OF PARTNERING Taken together, and implemented at scale, these actions underscore a simple truth: strength is not only the ability to strikeit is the ability to attract, rebuild, and partner. And if Washington continues to pull back from soft power, global business can advance something new, durable, and worth trusting. Deirdre White is the CEO of Pyxera Global.
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E-Commerce
The Ford Mustang Mach-E cruises down a London road choked with traffic, using its onboard AI system to avoid jaywalkers and cyclists, and navigate roadwork as it drives to its destination.The autonomous vehicle from British startup Wayve Technologies is on a test run ahead of the U.K. government’s robotaxi trials set to launch in the spring. Tech companies including U.S. company Waymo and China’s Baidu also plan to take part in the pilot program, making London the latest arena in the global robotaxi competition.While self-driving cabs aren’t new, London’s ancient road layout and busy streetscapes could pose special challenges for the technology.There’s also skepticism from London’s famed black cab drivers, who must pass a grueling training course known as “The Knowledge,” which requires memorizing hundreds of routes and takes years to complete. They’ve previously opposed technology that’s disrupted their industry, and protested the arrival of Uber.Self-driving taxis are “a solution looking for a problem,” said Steven McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, which represents black cabbies.He doubts that robotaxis would have any advantage on London’s road network, which is laid out in a convoluted spiderweb that dates back to Roman times unlike the grid layout in American cities like San Francisco and Phoenix where Waymo operates.The British capital is notorious for being one of the world’s most congested cities and its streets are already clogged with other modes of transport, including private cars, buses, motor scooters, bicycles and electric rental bikes.McNamara and many others have noted that robotaxis face another challenge from pedestrians crossing the streets. While jaywalking is illegal in the United States and many other countries, it’s not an offense in Britain.“It’s virtually impossible to drive anywhere (in London) without somebody walking in front of you,” McNamara said. In London, with a population of nearly 10 million, he wondered “how these cars are going to deal with those volumes of people?”The robotaxi companies say there’s room for the new technology.“I think Londoners are going to love autonomous driving. It’s going to be another choice alongside the Tube, cycling, walking, “said Wayve CEO Alex Kendall in a recent interview at the company’s workshop.Wayve is teaming up with Uber for the taxi trials, which are part of Britain’s move to adopt national regulations for self-driving vehicles. The nation is seeking to position itself as a world leader in the technology.Chinese tech company Baidu is also teaming up with Uber, as well as its ride-hailing rival Lyft, to operate its Apollo Go autonomous vehicle service in the London pilot.Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet, will also take part and plans to launch a London passenger service by the third quarter of 2026, company representatives told reporters last month.Waymo officials sought to ease concerns that the company would suddenly flood London streets with robotaxis, noting that it has operated 1,000 total vehicles in San Francisco since going into full service in 2024.“We’re not here to replace anyone,” Waymo spokesman Ethan Teicher said. “We’re here to add another option for people who will choose to take black cabs or other modes of transportation when it suits them and choose to take Waymo, when it makes sense.”Waymo’s self-driving Jaguar I-Pace sedans have been spotted doing test runs around London. Wayve’s Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles have also been doing road tests with human backup drivers sitting behind the wheel, ready to intervene if needed.On a recent demo ride for The Associated Press, Wayve’s Ford steered automatically through a three-mile (five kilometer) loop in North London without any problems.Cruising down a straight and open stretch of road, the car maintained a steady pace of 19 miles (30 kilometers) per hour, a tick under the speed limit.A traffic light changed as the car approached, forcing it to brake firmly and lightly jolting the passengers forward the only moment that the driving was less than smooth.Kendall said Wayve takes a different approach from traditional self-driving technology. It doesn’t rely on “high definition” maps and “hand-coded” safety systems rules written by programmers anticipating every scenario.Instead, it uses an AI trained on millions of hours of data gathered by its cars to learn and understand how the world works.“This is the key thing for self-driving, because every time you drive on the road, you’re going to experience something different,” Kendall said. “You can’t rely on a self-driving car being told how to behave in every scenario it encounters.”He said Wayve is positioning itself as a technology company providing hardware and software that can be added to any vehicle to make it autonomous. It signed a deal with Nissan in December to build self-driving cars that will go on sale in Japan and North America by 2027.Kendall wouldn’t reveal any more specific details about the robotaxi service it will operate in collaboration with Uber, such as pricing.Waymo, which has its own app to hail rides, will have “competitive” prices and fares will be in line with the market, officials said last month, while adding that it is often able to “demand more premium pricing.”Experts say there’s a role for robotaxis in Britain, but it might be a niche one.They’re best poised to fill gaps in Britain’s public transport network, such as serving villages that have lost bus services connecting them to bigger towns and cities because of budget cuts, said Kevin Vincent, director of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Automotive Research at Coventry University.There will still be demand for human drivers, especially from out-of-town visitors and tourists, he said.If you find a “cab driver who knows the area, you can ask him questions. You feel confident and comfortable you’re going where you need to go,” which is a service that won’t be easily replaced in the short term, Vincent said.Self-driving taxis can’t replicate the human touch, said Frank O’Beirne, who has been driving black cabs for 14 years.For example, one of his recent fares was a pair of blind passengers going to touristy Leicester Square. He ended up parking at a cab rank and walking them across the street to their destination, a Chinese restaurant that turned out to be in the basement of a casino.“They would never have found that, ever, (on their own),” said O’Beirne. “There’s nothing like us. I can’t see the space where autonomous taxis can operate, really.” Kelvin Chan, AP Business Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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