A Competitive Vision For Cities

What makes a city competitive? The people of Louisville and Jefferson County are asking that question as they prepare for the nation's largest consolidation in more than 20 years.

1 minute read

August 18, 2002, 5:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


Consolidation is impossible today in U.S. cities of any significant size. At least, that was the conventional wisdom until last year when the people of Louisville, Kentucky and the surrounding Jefferson County voted to merge their governments. It was a surprising end to the third attempt at consolidation there.To prepare for new regional government, Mark Muro and his colleagues at the Brookings Institution's Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy have just published a report called, "Beyond Merger: A Competitive Vision for the Regional City of Louisville."Mark Muro will talk about his findings and how they define a broader agenda for cities throughout the nation. Mark is a senior policy analyst with the Center. Before joining Brookings, Mark was with the Morrison Institute at Arizona State University working on similar public policy issues. Listen live Sundays at 9 a.m. central on the WKNO FM Stations, NPR for the Mid-South. And hear Smart City again Tuesdays at 9 a.m. Or listen to archived shows online anytime.

Thanks to Sheila Edmundson

Saturday, August 17, 2002 in Smart Growth America

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