Hi there. I'm Tony.

Head of Community at Scalepath. Cofounder of the Norwalk Oyster newsletter and city directory, and of New Work Cities, a social infrastructure studio.

A member of the Mayor's Council on Culture and Civic Belonging, a Community Connector with the CT Collaborative to End Loneliness, and a member of Sustainable Streets Norwalk's leadership team.

Follow me on Substack

My blog on rebuilding belonging in American cities.

Tony Bacigalupo

Featured

Civic Engagement

From handing out flyers to a 60-person task force

What started as solo tabling at the Saturday market evolved into joining a 60+ person city task force and doing deeper civic work together.

Engaging Neighbors to Build a Community Directory

Last year, I put together a directory of groups you can join and spaces you can visit in Norwalk. This year, I’m updating it - but this time around I’m not doing it alone.

“What are you doing alone that you could be doing together?” with Join 101

Tony Bacigalupo shares his journey of deciding to turn welcoming new neighbors into a collective effort by resurrecting the local club directory (in print!) and starting a “New in Town” IRL meetup in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Community Ties: The Search for Community

Host Jack Pavia interviews me about my local work in this episode of Nancy on Norwalk's Community Ties podcast.

Why I Threw Myself Into Norwalk’s Local Election

We really can make a difference in local elections. Creating that positive feedback loop between effort and outcome is going to be valuable if we want folks to get more civically engaged.

A Very Special Coworking #34 - We’re all creating this together — with Tony Bacigalupo from New Work Cities

I reflected on how a simple joke about working from home in 2005 changed my life—eventually resulting in me leading the charge to open Manhattan's first coworking space, New Work City.

Resurrecting the Club Directory

Club Directories used to be a normal part of civic life. Thanks to some fab partners at the City of Norwalk, I was able to bring this back for my new hometown.

Past Projects

I led the charge to build Manhattan's first coworking space—and had a damn good time doing it.

Civic Engagement

From handing out flyers to a 60-person task force

What started as solo tabling at the Saturday market evolved into joining a 60+ person city task force and doing deeper civic work together.

Participatory civic design: You can do it, too!

The folks behind the Manresa Island project are holding public feedback sessions as they finalize their master plan for the site.

I met some real-life Wombles!

I stumbled upon a volunteer trash pickup crew in London—and learned about the mystical cartoon critters their group is named after.

Bike Party Norwalk

I got roped into hosting a weekly social bike ride every Friday throughout the summer here in Norwalk. I'm so glad I did.

Board Game Night: Harder to win than you'd think

I thew a "super casual board game night"—find out what I learned.

New to Town Meetup - February 2025

Moving to Norwalk with my wife gave me a perfect chance to try an idea I'd been nurturing for many years: the New to Town Meetup.

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Are you planning to doomscroll the next four years?

The algorithms will be glad to feed you 1,461 days of outrage. But they’ll only take the attention you let them have.