Brookings: Series - Metropolitan Recovery and Spending Priorities

The Metropolitan Revolution : How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy

Jennifer Bradley and Bruce Katz — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Brookings Institution Press 2013 300pp.

Synopsis:

A revolution is stirring in America. Across the nation cities and metropolitan areas, and the networks of pragmatic leaders who govern them, are taking on the big issues that Washington won’t, or can’t, solve. They are reshaping our economy and fixing our broken political system.

The Metropolitan Revolution is a national movement, and the book describes how it is taking root in New York City, where efforts are under way to diversify the city’s vast economy; in Portland, Oregon, which is selling the “sustainability” solutions it has perfected to other cities around the world; in Northeast Ohio, where groups are using industrial-age skills to invent new twenty-first-century materials, tools, and processes; in Houston, where a modern settlement house helps immigrants climb the employment ladder; in Miami, where innovators are forging strong ties with Brazil and other nations; in Denver and Los Angeles, where leaders are breaking political barriers and building world-class metropolises; and in Boston and Detroit, where innovation districts are hatching ideas to power these economies for the next century.

Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley highlight these success stories and the people behind them in order to share lessons and catalyze action. This revolution is happening, and every community in the country can benefit.

The Tour:

The Metropolitan Revolution is going on the road. Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley will appear with metropolitan leaders across the country to discuss the book and local innovations underway in each place. The tour will include stops in Berkeley, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Washington, DC and more.

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Praise for The Metropolitan Revolution:

“The Metropolitan Revolution upends conventional wisdom and makes the case for how our cities and metros are leading American change and progress: they are transforming our national economy, political conversation, and collective destiny from the bottom up like never before. A must-read for anyone working toward a brighter future for our cities and our nation.”
—Mayor Cory Booker

“The Metropolitan Revolution builds on twenty years of studying metropolitan areas and hundreds of thousands of miles traveling to them around the globe, and the result is an exciting guide to the new world economy - urban, networked, innovative, collaborative, and driven by human potential.”
—Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Henry G. Cisneros

“Being mayor of Chicago is the best job I’ve ever had in public life. Katz and Bradley totally get it: the real power to change America lies in our cities and metros.”
—Mayor Rahm Emanuel

“With paralysis in Washington, public policy solutions will come from successful metropolitan regions, the clinical trials of our future. We are well into this journey, but never has it been explained with such insight and analysis until The Metropolitan Revolution.”
—Governor Jon Huntsman

“Just when ‘by the people, for the people’ seems like an anachronism, cities are giving it new meaning, fueled by twenty-first century technology. Every citizen needs to understand the metropolitan revolution. If we change cities, we change the country.”
—Jennifer Pahlka, Founder and Executive Director, Code for America

“This book captures the energy and excitement bubbling up in cities across America. This is ‘do it yourself’ urbanism of the highest order, and it is altering our landscape and our country.”
—Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation

“Through real-world examples, The Metropolitan Revolution brings to life how America's cities and suburbs drive innovation to solve problems and seize opportunities. This book is a call to action beyond Washington, where metro leaders join together and simply get stuff done.”
—Mayor Scott Smith

“The Metropolitan Revolution is compelling reading on how our federal system is a powerful advantage in global competitiveness. This book is indispensable for business and elected leaders on realizing the economic potential of metropolitan areas for their citizens and the country.”
—Treasury Secretary, Robert E. Rubin

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jennifer Bradley

Bruce Katz

Downloads

Ordering Information:

{BE4CBFE9-92F9-41D9-BDC8-0C2CC479A3F7}, 978-0-8157-2151-2, $29.95 Order
{B98DCBB0-3580-4D55-ABD4-AB91E00585E6}, 978-0-8157-2152-9, $29.95 Order

Urban and Regional Policy and Its Effects : Volume 4

Nancy Pindus, Margaret Weir, Howard Wial and Hal Wolman, eds. — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Brookings Institution Press 2012 320pp.

The mission of the Urban and Regional Policy and Its Effects series is to inform policymakers, practitioners, and scholars about the effectiveness of select policy approaches, reforms, and experiments in addressing the key social and economic problems facing today’s cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas.

Volume four of the series introduces and examines thoroughly the concept of regional resilience, explaining how resilience can be promoted—or impeded—by regional characteristics and public policies.

The authors illuminate how the walls that now segment metropolitan regions across political jurisdictions and across institutions—and the gaps that separate federal laws from regional realities—have to be bridged in order for regions to cultivate resilience.

Contributors include:

Patricia Atkins, George Washington University;

Pamela Blumenthal, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development;

Sarah Ficenec, George Washington University;

Alec Friedhoff, Brookings Institution;

Kathryn Foster, University at Buffalo, SUNY;

Juliet Gainsborough, Bentley University;

Edward Hill, Cleveland State University;

Kate Lowe, Cornell University;

John Mollenkopf, Graduate Center, City University of New York;

Mai Nguyen, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;

Manuel Pastor, University of Southern California;

Rolf Pendall, Urban Institute;

Nancy Pindus, Urban Institute;

Sarah Reckhow, Michigan State University;

Travis St. Clair, George Washington University;

Todd Swanstrom, University of Missouri, St. Louis;

Margaret Weir, University of California, Berkeley;

Howard Wial, Brookings Institution;

Harold Wolman, George Washington University.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Nancy Pindus

Nancy Pindus is a senior fellow in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute.

Margaret Weir

Margaret Weir is a professor of sociology and political science at the University
of California, Berkeley.

Howard Wial

Hal Wolman

Downloads

Ordering Information:

{9ABF977A-E4A6-41C8-B030-0FD655E07DBF}, 978-0-8157-2284-7, $32.95 Order
{B98DCBB0-3580-4D55-ABD4-AB91E00585E6}, 978-0-8157-2285-4, $32.95 Order

Metropolitan Business Plans: A New Approach to Economic Growth

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:30:00 -0400

Event Information

April 11, 2011
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM EDT

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

For more than a year, the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings has been working to pilot the concept with leadership consortia in three diverse metro areas, each pursuing a bold economic strategy to jumpstart their regional economies: Northeast Ohio to transition its manufacturers into the next economy, Minneapolis Saint Paul to stimulate entrepreneurship, and Puget Sound to carve a niche in energy efficiency technologies.

On April 11, Brookings hosted a forum to introduce the metropolitan business planning concept and unveil the economic visions and strategies from these three regions. Bruce Katz, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program, offered opening remarks on the value of business planning, followed by speakers from each pilot region. Federal, regional, and private sector leaders anchored the implementation session.

Following each panel, the participants took questions from the audience.

Video

Transcript

Event Materials

Participants

Panelists

The Honorable Chris Coleman

Mayor, City of St. Paul

The Honorable R.T. Rybak

Mayor, City of Minneapolis

Eric Schinfeld

Project Manager for Economic Development
Puget Sound Regional Council

Brad Whitehead

President, Fund for Our Economic Future
Northeast Ohio Pilot Program

Derek Douglas

Special Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs, Domestic Policy Council

Daniel Malarkey

Deputy Director, Washington State Department of Commerce

Kim Nelson

Executive Director, eGovernment and Director, U.S. Public Sector’s State and Local Government Solutions
Microsoft

The Honorable Ray Stephanson

Mayor, City of Everett
President, Puget Sound Regional Council

The Honorable Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)

U.S. Senate

Metropolitan Business Plans: A New Approach to Economic Growth

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Event Information:

April 11, 2011, 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM EDT

In the face of serious fiscal stress, U.S. cities and metropolitan areas face major economic challenges that demand innovative solutions. Metropolitan business planning—which adapts the discipline of private-sector business planning to the task of sharpening regional strategy setting—seeks to address these issues and offer pragmatic and catalytic solutions in a time of austerity.For more than a year, the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings has been working to pilot the concept with leadership consortia in three diverse metro areas, each pursuing a bold economic strategy to jumpstart their regional economies: Northeast Ohio to transition its manufacturers into the next economy, Minneapolis Saint Paul to stimulate entrepreneurship, and Puget Sound to carve a niche in energy efficiency technologies. On April 11, Brookings hosted a forum to introduce the metropolitan business planning concept and unveil the economic visions and strategies from these three regions. Bruce Katz, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program, offered opening remarks on the value of business planning, followed by speakers from each pilot region. Federal, regional, and private sector leaders anchored the implementation session. Following each panel, the participants took questions from the audience.

Metropolitan Business Plans: A New Approach to Economic Growth