The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy (Brookings Focus Book)

Across the US, cities and metropolitan areas are facing huge economic and competitive challenges that Washington won’t, or can’t, solve. The good news is that networks of metropolitan leaders – mayors, business and labor leaders, educators, and philanthropists – are stepping up and powering the nation forward. These state and local leaders are doing the hard work to grow more jobs and make their communities more prosperous, and they’re investing in infrastructure, making manufacturing a priority, and equipping workers with the skills they need. In __The Metropolitan Revolution__, Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley highlight success stories and the people behind them. · **New York City**: Efforts are under way to diversify the city’s vast economy · **Portland**: Is selling the “sustainability” solutions it has perfected to other cities around the world · **Northeast Ohio**: Groups are using industrial-age skills to invent new twenty-first-century materials, tools, and processes · **Houston**: Modern settlement house helps immigrants climb the employment ladder · **Miami**: Innovators are forging strong ties with Brazil and other nations · **Denver** and **Los Angeles**: Leaders are breaking political barriers and building world-class metropolises · **Boston** and **Detroit**: Innovation districts are hatching ideas to power these economies for the next century. The lessons in this book can help other cities meet their challenges. Change is happening, and every community in the country can benefit. Change happens where we live, and if leaders won’t do it, citizens should demand it. Across the US, cities and metropolitan areas are facing huge economic and competitive challenges that Washington won't, or can't, solve. The good news is that networks of metropolitan leaders – mayors, business and labor leaders, educators, and philanthropists – are stepping up and powering the nation forward. These state and local leaders are doing the hard work to grow more jobs and make their communities more prosperous, and they're investing in infrastructure, making manufacturing a priority, and equipping workers with the skills they need.In The Metropolitan Revolution, Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley highlight success stories and the people behind them.· New York City: Efforts are under way to diversify the city's vast economy· Portland: Is selling the'sustainability'solutions it has perfected to other cities around the world· Northeast Ohio: Groups are using industrial-age skills to invent new twenty-first-century materials, tools, and processes· Houston: Modern settlement house helps immigrants climb the employment ladder· Miami: Innovators are forging strong ties with Brazil and other nations· Denver and Los Angeles: Leaders are breaking political barriers and building world-class metropolises· Boston and Detroit: Innovation districts are hatching ideas to power these economies for the next centuryThe lessons in this book can help other cities meet their challenges. Change is happening, and every community in the country can benefit. Change happens where we live, and if leaders won't do it, citizens should demand it.The Metropolitan Revolution was the 2013 Foreword Reviews Bronze winner for Political Science. Inside Flap 2 Title Page 6 Copyright Information 7 Table of Contents 8 Foreword 10 Acknowledgments 14 A Revolution Unleashed 18 Part I: The Living Laboratory: The Metropolitan Revolution Today 32 New York: Innovation and the Next Economy 34 Denver: The Four Votes 58 Northeast Ohio: The Post-Hero Economy 81 Houston: El Civics 105 Part II: The Future of the Metropolitan Revolution: Ushering in the Metro Age 128 The Rise of Innovation Districts 130 Toward a Global Network of Trading Cities 161 Metros as the New Sovereign 188 A Revolution Realized 209 Notes 226 Selected Bibliography 262 Index 268 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 aro .. Argues that the new American economy must be driven by exports and powered by cleaner energy and indicate that metropolitan areas should lead the way in this new economic landscape