What We Do
Mike Zuckerman
IFTF Fellow
Mike is a self-described culture hacker and true pioneer at the intersection of the sharing economy, innovation ecosystems and urban revitalization. Although Mike has been working with IFTF as an affiliate since 2014, he recently accepted a fellowship to help uncover and study new paradigms for restoring vulnerable places and spaces, such as post-disaster sites, informal refugee settlements, and decaying urban neighborhoods. With particular interests in sustainability and urban tactical development, Mike has experience in challenging communities to rethink, redeploy, and redistribute underutilized resources where they are needed most.
Inspired after a trip to the White House for the 2013 National Day of Civic Hacking, Mike founded [Freespace]—a temporary space for lasting change in San Francisco. [Freespace] has become a template for cities around the world to redeploy resources to effect real change in communities. Mike has recently returned from Idomeni, Greece, where he spent the last four months working with the migrant relief efforts the refugee camps. Mike was able to help facilitate and broker private and public partnerships to work together to rehab a former textile factory into living spaces for 140 people. Elpida, a new refugee center in the industrial sector of Thessaloniki, has provided hope and improved living conditions for these refugees in a place where no other NGO was able to provide this kind of support. Mike will be a key voice in helping us develop our Cultural Prosperity Initiative.