The new localism How cities can thrive in the age of populism

Billed as a response to populism, this book acknowledges the validity of some populist complaints, like the challenges from economic restructuring and rising income inequality. It argues for addressing such concerns principally through cities, developing new capabilities to solve problems locally. Katz and Nowak say that cities need to create new governance frameworks, develop new techniques for mobilizing their citizens and find innovative ways to finance themselves. They cite the example of Pittsburgh, which promoted the transition from steel to knowledge-economy specialties like robotics. Indianapolis is praised for its Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, an entity set up by business, university and foundation leaders to tackle economic development initiatives in a way that would transcend political boundaries and electoral cycles. And from Europe, Copenhagen's City and Port Development Corporation is offered as a shining example of how to use municipal real estate assets to finance infrastructure, notably Copenhagen's subway system. The challenge is that these solutions are of necessity particular to each city, requiring a careful assessment of local assets, politics, etc. And some level of leadership capability must already be in place to pull them off. Still, with the federal government missing in action, there's little alternative to cities having to do the difficult and time-consuming work. Whether they can succeed in time to fend off populist insurgency remains an open question.

An argument for decentralized government at the urban and municipal levels, where interesting economic and political trends are shaping up in the bargain.Urban studies scholar Katz (Centennial Scholar/Brookings Institution; co-author: The Metropolitan Revolution, 2013) and community investment leader Nowak (Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, Drexel Univ.) observe that power of various kinds is "drifting downward from the nation-state to cities and metropolitan communities [and] horizontally from government networks of public, private and civic actors." This comes as a result, at least in some measure, of cities actively campaigning to recruit industries that require high skill levels and education in order to achieve productivity. Kansas City is a case in point: its civic leaders within and without government are in agreement that they want five things to happen, including building "a workforce for tomorrow" and "making the city the most entrepreneurial in America." Many things have to happen to bring about such developments, including forging political alliances and investing in urban infrastructure. Beyond that, the authors show that leading urban areas in the "new localism" movement are those that have invested in "innovation districts," or clusters of business development mixed with academia and, often, government. A good example is Erie, Pennsylvania, where the strong presence of the insurance industry and cybersecurity think tanks has led to a hybridization in risk management, "following the path of customization and alignment." Financial innovation is necessary to fund such development, but cities are often wealthier than they think; as the authors note, cities are very good at reckoning how much they owe but not how much they own. To this end, they counsel putting "public asset corporations" to work in developing long-term strategies and capturing public wealth that can be reinvested in making cities better places to liveas increasing numbers of people around the nation and world have concluded they are.Of great interest to urban activists and workers at the interface of the public and private sectors, with much food for thought for investors as well. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.