Reviews

In a time of national dysfunction and, frankly, gloom, our best hope for our society lies in our cities and metropolitan areas. That’s the message of the newly released book The New Localism, by Bruce Katz, the noted urbanist at the Brookings Institution, and Jeremy Nowak of Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation. Based on their detailed research into urban trends and initiatives in the United States and around the world, with case studies of Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Copenhagen, and other cities, the book describes the shift from outmoded hierarchical models of national governance to more flexible, networked, multi-stakeholder models of local and metropolitan governance.

Many of America’s cities are struggling. Once-strong communities have experienced post-industrial collapse, rampant unemployment, and brain drain. Crumbling infrastructure, the opioid crisis, and a host of lesser pathologies have contributed to instability and frustration among citizens and leaders.

For four decades now cities in the United States have been inventing new institutions and collaborations to get things done, reacting to a sense of crisis and the inadequacy of existing capacities. Philadelphia’s Center City District is a great example.