Are Metros the Saving Grace for the National Economy?

America is moving back to its cities. A majority of people on this planet live in metropolitan areas with one million people moving to cities and metros every five days. In the U.S., the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas account for two-thirds of the nation’s population and generate 75 percent of national GDP. This is more than a trend, according to Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley of the Brookings Institution … this is a revolution. In The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy, Katz and Bradley claim that metropolitan areas are leading the nation in reform and innovation, and challenging the traditional federalist hierarchical structure that places federal and state governments on top with local and metropolitan areas at the bottom.

The first half of the book examines four case studies in the “living laboratory” of metropolitan innovation economies. They begin with New York City and how the mayor’s office and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) worked together to identify assets within the city to shift toward a technology-based economy after its financial sector collapsed in 2008. Northeast Ohio similarly reshaped the region’s crippled economy by building a network of foundations, business leaders and civic organizations to reinvent their manufacturing sector. The authors then turn to the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area to tell the story of four votes that shaped how the city of Denver and its suburbs integrated geographically and psychologically to build Greater Denver. Finally they look to Neighborhood Centers in Houston and how they used appreciative inquiry to identify their assets to build successful community centers.

Following the accounts of these four cities, Katz and Bradley identify three “megatrends” they claim will shape the future of the metropolitan revolution. First, they argue there is the movement toward “innovation districts” or small enclaves in a metro region where anchor institutions, firms, incubators, transportation, and housing work to attract entrepreneurs in a strategic mix of innovation and urbanism. In the context of globalization and global trade, the authors then contend that we are shifting focus from countries and companies to metropolitans, particularly as domestic demand has failed U.S. firms. Finally, they assert that metros are the new sovereign with a model of collaborative federalism in which metros can take greater ownership of their economic and community development. Readers are left with five steps the authors deem “essential” for leaders to bring about the metropolitan revolution. They involve building networks, setting visions, finding game-changing initiatives, financially supporting efforts, and sustaining focus.

The lessons in the book and the steps provided are relatively simplistic: identify your assets, focus on compromise, build your network. The book comes across as a love letter to metropolitan areas and a manifesto for them to lead the nation to economic and political revival. Within the first pages, the authors go so far as to state that there is no “national economy,” rather that there is a network of metropolitan economies. Yes, a number of metropolitans are working to start new initiatives and diversify their resources, but federal and state governments are still the greatest investors in metropolitan areas. Aside from one page of modest recognition of their support, the majority of the book paints states and the federal government as bumbling, bickering idiots, leaving those working for regional, state and federal efforts with a sour taste in their mouths. Some criticisms may be warranted, but local and municipal governments often face a different political landscape. Valuable lessons lie in the case studies of the four featured metropolitans, where successive accounts of these cities’ strategy development might inspire leaders to undertake innovative, economic approaches to reform their own metropolitan areas.