Urban activism Katz's interest in urban planning began during his travels, leading him to study at the urban design firm of
Jan Gehl in 2011. In 2012 he and
Ilya Varlamov co-founded the
City Projects Foundation aimed at improving the urban environment through the use of modern
urbanism data. On March 4, 2022, the activities of all branches were suspended indefinitely. By that time the foundation had had over 30,000 supporters, including almost 4,000 from Moscow.
Election campaigns Katz has managed numerous opposition political campaigns, including: • 2012: As campaign manager for
Ilya Varlamov's mayoral campaign in
Omsk, Katz spearheaded a strategy that garnered significant attention but ultimately resulted in Varlamov withdrawing due to the impossibility of collecting the required number of signatures. • 2013: Serving as the deputy campaign manager for
Alexei Navalny's
mayoral campaign in
Moscow, Katz played a pivotal role in a campaign that garnered significant public support and unexpectedly received 27% of the vote, establishing Navalny as a leading opposition figure. This campaign employed innovative strategies and relied heavily on public donations and volunteer support. • 2014: Katz ran for the
Moscow City Duma, receiving 23% of the vote but failing to secure a seat. • 2015: Katz served as campaign chief of the "
Civic Initiative" party's campaign for elections to the
Kaluga Regional Duma, led by
Andrei Nechayev, Russia's first Minister of Economy who is now in opposition. • 2016: As campaign manager for
Dmitry Gudkov's campaign for the
State Duma, Katz ran a campaign that, despite Gudkov's loss, won the prestigious "Pollie award" for its innovative use of digital platforms. • 2017: Katz co-founded the United Democrats project (also known as
Political Uber), designed to support independent candidates in the Moscow municipal elections. The project provided resources and training to candidates who opposed Vladimir Putin, leading to the election of 267 deputies. As a result, opposition candidates won the majority of seats in Moscow's central districts. • 2019: Katz managed
Darya Besedina's successful campaign for the
Moscow City Duma. This campaign, notable for its significant
fundraising success (over 18 million rubles), helped Besedina become one of the few opposition candidates to secure a seat in the Moscow City Duma. • 2019: Also in 2019, Katz served as a chief of
Yabloko party campaign for
Saint-Petersburg municipal seats. As a result of the campaign, 99 people were elected deputies in 31 districts of the city, up from zero in the previous election. • 2020: Varlamov and Katz's
City Projects Foundation endorsed 63 pro-urbanist candidates for city council elections in various regions of Russia. Seven of these endorsed candidates won their elections. • 2021: Katz served as campaign manager for
Anastasia Bryukhanova's campaign for the State Duma. Сampaign was financed through fundraising, with over 20 million rubles raised for signature collection alone. Bryukhanova won the State Duma election according to paper ballots but lost due to the results of remote electronic voting. == YouTube channel ==