Our Work
We organize our work around three impact areas: fiscal systems; land markets and opportunities; and climate, land, and water.
Our Vision
We envision a world where prosperous cities and regions provide essential public goods and services through coordinated land use planning and public finance; where efficient and equitable allocation of limited land resources supports thriving communities; and where stewardship of land and water resources ensures a livable future.Â
Learn how we work to achieve our vision.
Our Global Reach
We have locations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Phoenix, Arizona; and Beijing, China, but our work has a global scope.
Centers and Initiatives
We have several centers and initiatives that focus on specific topics and issues related to our three thematic areas, such as water management, conservation, scenario planning, and more.
Accelerating Community Investment
Accelerating Community Investment improves the practice of public finance to help philanthropies, mission-aligned investors, and broader capital markets engage public development, housing, and infrastructure finance agencies.
Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy
The Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy advances integrated land and water management to meet the current and future water needs of Colorado River Basin communities, economies, and the environment.
Center for Geospatial Solutions
The Center for Geospatial Solutions uses geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and other technologies to provide people and organizations with actionable insights for managing land and water resources.
Claremont Lincoln University
Claremont Lincoln University offers degrees and certificates that draw on Lincoln Institute research, advanced practices, and toolkits—integrated with ethical leadership principles—to help leaders and their communities address pressing social, economic, health, and environmental challenges.
Consortium for Scenario Planning
The Consortium for Scenario Planning offers a community of practice that includes access to technical assistance, educational resources, and a network of fellow innovators.
I’m HOME Network
The Innovations in Manufactured Homes (I’m HOME) Network promotes manufactured housing as a safe, secure, and affordable path to home ownership, with a focus on home quality, land tenure and security, financing, and land use and zoning.
International Land Conservation Network
The International Land Conservation Network is a global network that connects organizations and people who are accelerating voluntary private and civic sector action that protects and stewards land and water resources.
Making Sense of Place: The Lives of Cities
Making Sense of Place: The Lives of Cities is a series of documentary shorts and other multimedia content exploring how three US cities and their residents are dealing with sustainability, spatial inequality, and fiscal health.
Master’s in Land Policy and Sustainable Development (Spanish Language)
The Lincoln Institute and Spain’s National University of Distance Education (UNED) have joined to develop a graduate program that addresses the current urban reality. Offering an international and comparative perspective, this unique one-year online program covers the legal frameworks and tools that support urban planning—as well as fiscal, environmental, and participatory components.
Remaking Local Economies
Remaking Local Economies is a research initiative that aims to produce policy guidance for city leaders who want to implement equitable, healthy, and prosperous economic development.
Underserved Mortgage Markets Coalition
Founded in 2021, the Underserved Mortgage Markets Coalition is a group of leading affordable housing organizations that seeks to hold Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accountable to their founding purpose: to bring housing finance opportunities to American families traditionally underserved by the private market.