"Although more than 80 percent of Americans live in cities or their suburbs, urban issues have not received substantial attention in recent presidential elections.
Some campaign experts attribute that to the fact that cities are reliable blocs of Democratic votes, so candidates from both parties tend to focus on suburban and rural voters.
But Bruce Katz, vice president of the nonpartisan Brookings Institution, said an 'urban agenda' should not be viewed just as funding to fight crime and poverty. He said the focus should be on supporting broad metropolitan areas, which can flourish as hubs of innovation and productivity.
'My view of the world is that for the United States to compete globally, we have to have very smart strategic investments in human capital in innovation and infrastructure,' he said."
