Over the next two weeks, Next City will unroll short profiles of 77 people, places and ideas that have changed cities this year. Together, they make up our 2012 Disruption Index. Forefront subscribers can download the Index in full as a PDF, complete with beautiful designs and graphics by Danni Sinisi. Readers who make a $75 donation to Next City will have a full-color printed copy of the Index mailed to them.

Cranking out urban policy from the very top is, understandably, a major challenge. So it’s somewhat unsurprising that the Obama administration has so far struggled to develop many specifically city-focused national policies. But it’s not for want of trying, nor of having the right people to do it. One of them, Domestic Policy Council Special Assistant Derek Douglas, may have been the best suited to accomplish something in the White House.

But in late 2011, Douglas decided to leave the White House behind and scale efforts down to what may be a more manageable level. Now vice president for civic engagement at the University of Chicago, Douglas has the chance to put his many years of urban policy expertise to work. Focusing specifically on his employer’s connection with the surrounding South Side neighborhood, Douglas is working to make sure the university’s vast resources and investments are good for the city at large in addition to the academic institution. Through strategic partnerships with the City of Chicago and various small local banks, Douglas is already helping to put the university’s dollars to work on projects that have an impact beyond the ivory tower.

Nate Berg is a writer and journalist covering cities, architecture and urban planning. Nate’s work has been published in a wide variety of publications, including the New York Times, NPR, Wired, Metropolis, Fast Company, Dwell, Architect, the Christian Science Monitor, LA Weekly and many others. He is a former staff writer at The Atlantic Cities and was previously an assistant editor at Planetizen.