Vice President at the Brookings Institution Bruce J. Katz on the Metropolitan Revolution

Cities will lead and governments will follow in this century, according to Bruce Katz, founder of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. Katz joined Jerold Kayden, Frank Bachus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Gerald Frug, Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School for a conversation on September 25, 2013 to discuss how cities and metros are emerging as the leaders in the quest for economic revitalization in America – and across the globe. His presentation centered on the findings of his new book, “The Metropolitan Revolution,” published in the summer of 2013.

Looking at the United States, Katz noted that the entrenched partisan system was struggling with failed compromises and increasing polarization, on top of enormous budget cuts and rapid growth of an aging population. The effects of this stalemate created “a pressure on cities.” Where the government had failed, cities are stepping up to re-conceptualize sustainable change and development that begins with self-instigated action, he said. With the goal of creating a “recession-proof diversified economy” Katz said cities had invested in infrastructural improvements and human capital rather than development for the sake of consumerism. Katz argues it is “productivity and growth that drive consumption, and not the other way around.” Above all, Katz’s “revolution” is one that goes “back to the basics”: to develop the right inventions in skills and progress – a necessary foundation for a metro of the future.

Katz applauded Northeast Ohio, New York City and Portland for their respective successes. As the 28^th most populous city in the United States, Portland, Oregon has been able to flourish as an export powerhouse. Katz attributes this to the mass development of sustainable technology that has allowed other sectors to grow as a result. In Ohio, Katz identified economic prosperity as a product of collaboration. In the Northeast region of the state, larger businesses have been working in tandem with philanthropic groups to guide smaller manufacturing firms, preparing them for “competing on the global stage.” All across the nation, networks are seeking out changes that would significantly enhance economic performance, and find creative means towards implementation. Cities and metropolitan areas need to “focus on what’s working” as a roadmap for the direction of future development, Katz suggested.

This sense of positivity is emulated in the spread of metro-started economic and political initiatives that Katz envisions for decades to come. “I live in the land of American optimism” Katz stated, “I want to believe and catalyze positive energy around the United States and then have that become the new standard for collaboration.”

The visit of Bruce J. Katz continued our semester full of events sponsored by the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Like the Future of Diplomacy Project on Facebook and join us on Twitter to stay up to date.