The New Localism
Power is shifting downward from nation-states to cities and regions; and horizontally, from government alone, to the networks public, private, and civic leaders that naturally lead these places. In their new book, The New Localism: How cities can thrive in the age of populism, urban experts Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak reveal where the real power to create change lies and how it can be used to solve our most serious social and economic challenges.
In their recent book, “The New Localism,” Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak argue that cities and counties will be tested as never before in the coming years. They will need to innovate and reform—to pursue new strategies for growth and finance—in a fiscal environment dominated by rising health-care and pension costs. In these circumstances, the quality of metropolitan governance will matter more than ever.
Katz believes cities have a unique ability to galvanize action inside and outside of government at the grass roots level. In the absence of federal or state leadership on education, “new localism” is the most promising path forward.
Three years later, Mr. Katz said he was “hard-pressed to come up with a city that’s not thinking about how either the hubs around the universities or these very distinctive parts of the city, usually around waterfronts, where there’s legacy from older industrial space can be converted to other purposes.”
Katz argues in his forthcoming book, the new localism, Barcelona and Madrid are called to counteract the external loss of prestige of the Catalonia and Spain brands. With mayors of the same political sensitivity in front, the two capitals should increase their collaboration, especially in the cultural section.
