Our Outlook roundtable with decision-makers was addressed by Bruce Katz, author of the Metropolitan Revolution, who advised: 'don't be a cheap date' when demanding greater powers for cities.
We were all pleased that the publication of our Cities Outlook earlier this week generated a lot of comment and debate in the cities community and the press. The high point of my week, however, was at the very start, when we had a small roundtable with Bruce Katz who leads the Metropolitan Policy Programme at the Brookings Institution. Bruce was in London after a few days talking innovation districts in Sheffield and Manchester, and a select group of senior public and private decision-makers drawn from across the UK.
Katz said that his latest visit to the UK had further convinced him that ‘Whitehall should not be making decisions at the level of granularity such as what skills policy is best for Birmingham’. Whilst this is rapidly becoming the accepted wisdom in the UK as devolution to cities and city-regions gathers pace, it’s always useful to hear the perspective of outsiders.
Katz pointed out that the recent ‘near collapse’ of governing in the US Congress due to partisan disagreements has not hurt the US economy – and suggested that the vacuum has been filled by a coalition of local governments, businesses, universities, and civic organisations. They have proceeded to find funding for infrastructure development, implement skills policies, and learn from each other about what can be done to meet metropolitan needs.
This reflects the fact that cities in the US have greater control over more of the levers that they need – and have been extremely efficient at rallying partners to fill in the gaps. Katz said that the role of mayors in the US has become less about execution and more about convening stakeholders in collaborative efforts. While cautioning about replicating the American model, which has a myriad of shortcomings, he was clear that the professionalism of the players at a city level is helpful. He was surprised at how many of the local politicians in the UK are part-time, and poorly compensated.
Katz was adamant that a paradigmatic shift in the mechanisms of government is needed to respond to the paradigmatic shift that is happening in the world economy. Flexibility and responsiveness are the key to success now.
He finished by reminding us that national political parties can be relied upon to revert to the status quo after an election. Which means that those of us arguing for devolution must continue to hold the Government’s feet to the fire after the election as well as before, and to be ambitious in what we ask for – ‘don’t be a cheap date’.
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