Research

Article
by Bruce Katz · September 26
Why the Future Looks Like Pittsburgh

As cities around the country rush to respond to Amazon’s RFP for its new HQ2, it’s worth remembering that urban economies aren’t built by winning a contest; they are grown methodically by building on a region’s strengths.

Article
by Bruce Katz · July 24
Shifts in responsibility show how power resides in cities

As we finish our upcoming book, The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism, Jeremy Nowak and I are beginning to highlight the norms of city-driven growth, governance and finance that are emerging across the globe to resolve some of the most world’s complex challenges.

Policy Brief
Brexit, London, & UK Urban Markets · June 27
Brexit, London, & UK Urban Markets
icon-policy-brief

While there has naturally been focus on the impact of Brexit on London, last week’s vote to leave the European Union is a bitter pill for all the major cities across the United Kingdom. In a dynamic familiar to observers of current American politics, the vote broke down along an urban and rural divide. The “Remain” coalition largely consisted of some of the UK’s largest cities—Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, and Edinburgh—while even those who unexpectedly voted to leave—Birmingham and Sheffield—did so by a very thin margin.

Article
by Bruce Katz · June 1
The (Secret) Copenhagen Model for Regenerating Cities

Thirty years ago, the city of Copenhagen was experiencing 17.5 percent unemployment, an outmigration of population, the loss of manufacturing, the decline of taxing capacity, and an annual budget deficit of $750 million. Today, the city has been transformed into one of the wealthiest (and happiest) in the world.

Article
by Bruce Katz · May 9
Want to solve short-termism? Invest in Cities

We are hearing a lot about short-termism this political season. Hillary Clinton has called for an end to the “tyranny of short-termism” and the focus on quarterly earnings reporting in corporate America. Recently, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren came out in favor of a bill to limit activist hedge funds, which they claim value short-term returns over long-run sustainable growth.

Article
by Bruce Katz · February 9
The hard impact of soft power

In May, Britain will hold elections for metro mayors in six metropolitan areas as part of a broader push toward devolution. Most focus has been on the formal powers the nation is devolving to this new position.

That is appropriate: the power of U.S. mayors owes much to the fact that city governments have the ability to raise taxes and other local revenue and to set their own budgets. They also have the responsibility to appoint the heads of multiple influential agencies and authorities and the freedom to innovate locally while reaping the benefits of smart governance.