The Metropolitan Revolution ─ How Cities and Metros are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy

The United States must remake its economy if it is to achieve sustainable prosperityin a world that continues to transform at a dizzying pace. Americans must move from an economy driven by domestic consumption, debt, and financial engineering to one that is driven by exports, powered by cleaner energy, fueled by innovation, and is rich in opportunity. Movement toward such an economy, in the view of Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley, must be led by metropolitan areas.

The Metropolitan Moment details the most important attributes of America's nexteconomy, with a chapter devoted to each. For example, as wealth increases innations such as China, India, and Brazil, greater U.S. emphasis on exports wouldcapitalize on rising global demand. Aggressive investment in, and movement toward,a low-carbon economy will present new opportunities for the energy sector andthe industries that feed it, as well as improving the health and quality of life forresidents. Greater innovation in other areas as well must be pursued, supported,and sustained if we hope to see real growth in the long term. Taken together, thesedevelopments will help increase economic opportunity for all, reversing the longtrend of increased inequality that can dispirit and even destabilize a society.

The final section explores the unfortunate disjunction between the economic powerof metropolitan areas and their legal powerlessness. Despite their obvious importance,they technically do not even exist in state law. Katz and Bradley explain howstates can help build the foundation of the new economy, and a big part of that isadequately supporting their metropolitan economic engines. They also explain thefederal government's role in this transformation ?what it can do to help, and what itshould not do.

Katz and Bradley call for a view of America based on reality, not nostalgia. The"real America" is not the romantic small-town version of days gone by. Rather, it isa complicated, multi-ethnic, globally connected metropolitan nation that will powerits citizens through the 21st century. The sooner America realizes what it really is, thesooner it can begin rebuilding itself.

Bruce Katz is vice president and founding director of the Metropolitan Policy program at the Brookings Institution. Before joining Brookings he served as chief of staff to then-Secretary of HUD Henry Cisneros. His books include Reflections on Regionalism (Brookings, 2000). Jennifer Bradley is a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy program at Brookings Institution, where she is codirector of the Great Lakes Economic Initiative. Before joining Brookings she was director of the Federalism Project at Community Rights Counsel (now known as the Constitutional Accountability Center). A former journalist, she has written for the New Republic and the Atlantic Monthly.