David Edwards

CEO, Purpose Built Communities

David Edwards headshot
David Edwards, CEO of Purpose Built Communities, is interested in how complexity science can be applied to redefine how the problem of intergenerational urban poverty is addressed in our cities. Distressed urban neighborhoods are complex adaptive systems out which emerge the outcomes that we worry about: high crime, under performing schools, health disparities, and low levels of economic mobility. Through an improved understanding how these “neighborhood effects” generate these outcomes, we can perhaps design more effective interventions.

Mr. Edwards is  looking to partner with academics, private sector leaders and other community development practitioners interested in applying complexity science to deepen our understanding of the relationship between neighborhood conditions and improved social outcomes.Purpose Built Communities is a non-profit organization that provides pro-bono support to local leaders interested in implementing a model for neighborhood revitalization originally pioneered in the East Lake community of Atlanta, GA. The mission of Purpose Built Communities is to break the cycle of intergenerational urban poverty by creating the vibrant, thriving, neighborhoods needed to promote the healthy development of children and families. Purpose Built Communities has 28 neighborhood revitalization projects underway and another 50 in development across 34 US states.

Keywords: Community development, neighbourhood transformation, poverty eradication