Economic Development
Bruce Katz is vice-president of the Brookings Institution and co-author of The Metropolitan Revolution, which chronicles how cities and metro areas in the US are fixing their economies from the bottom up. He spoke to New Start about the shift of power from central government to local networks doing it for themselves.
Can you give some examples of the ‘metropolitan revolution’? Ten years ago places like New York City thought that subsidising sports stadia was the smart thing to do. Now they are shifting to a radically different kind of economic model. In New York City they’ve just attracted two world-class universities to the heart of Manhattan. They’re setting up an institutional platform for innovative growth as opposed to fuelling consumption or real estate growth. Elsewhere, in north- east Ohio, they have created a network of philanthropists and business leaders to help small and medium sized manufacturers toughen up their business plans and retrain their workforce for the twenty-first century. Portland has focused on its expertise in sustainability solutions and on exports. It sees the world as a network of trading cities and is creating new connections with other metropolitan areas around the world. Houston is building a network of 21st century settlement houses to integrate immigrants into the mainstream. The great recession was a wake up call. Smart metro leaders are going back to basics, restructuring our economy from one based on consumption, debt, house-building and financial engineering to one fuelled by innovation and production, powered by low carbon, driven by exports, foreign direct investment and immigration. They are helping workers get the skills they need for an economy based on production and innovation. This is a completely different model and it’s cities and metros that are creating it.
The fast evolving role of Leps took an interesting turn last week when the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills asked them to advise on the development of new assisted area maps for 2014-2020.
