The Growing Impact of Brookings' Bruce Katz

This cover piece from Next American City profiles Bruce Katz, founding director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, who the magazine calls the "oracle of urban policy".

2 minute read

April 9, 2010, 6:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


The piece looks at how Katz's work to highlight the importance of urban policy and metropolitan improvement strategies has come into vogue, and how the impact of his work at the Brookings Institution can be seen across the country, from the local level to the national stage.

"It's not hard to find evidence that Katz has hit prime time. After years of behind-the-scenes work, the 50-year-old wonk from Brooklyn has become America's oracle for cities, the policy prophet on everything from public housing to bike lanes to Great Recession urban economies. During a single week in December, Katz was quoted in a New York Observer article on office leasing rates and an Entrepreneur.com post critiquing the Obama administration's job-creation program. That week he also spoke to a Senate subcommittee, heard from the president at a Brookings event and co-authored a widely dissected article in The New Republic about the reinvention of Detroit. (The article's subheading touted the three-page feature as "a plan for solving America's greatest urban disaster," which gives a clue to the wide berth of authority the media gives Katz.) Months later the cycle is no different: One day he's alongside U.S. Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood at a panel discussion on national infrastructure policy, and two days prior he was on a D.C. podium with former Talking Heads singer David Byrne, an avid cyclist, for a talk on the future of urban transportation. A picture of the event shows the compact, bespectacled policymaker sitting behind the wiry, gray-haired musician like a proud doctoral adviser."

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 in Next American City

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 9, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Aerial view of downtown San Antonio, Texas at night with rotating Tower of the Americas in foreground.

San Antonio and Austin are Fusing Into one Massive Megaregion

The region spanning the two central Texas cities is growing fast, posing challenges for local infrastructure and water supplies.

July 3, 2025 - Governing

White park shuttles with large Zion logo on side and red rock cliffs in background in Zion National Park.

Since Zion's Shuttles Went Electric “The Smog is Gone”

Visitors to Zion National Park can enjoy the canyon via the nation’s first fully electric park shuttle system.

3 hours ago - Reasons to Be Cheerful

Chart of federal transportation funding comparing Biden and Trump administration spending.

Trump Distributing DOT Safety Funds at 1/10 Rate of Biden

Funds for Safe Streets and other transportation safety and equity programs are being held up by administrative reviews and conflicts with the Trump administration’s priorities.

4 hours ago - Transportation for America

Close-up on yellow and black TAXI sign on top of beige car in central Munich, Germany.

German Cities Subsidize Taxis for Women Amid Wave of Violence

Free or low-cost taxi rides can help women navigate cities more safely, but critics say the programs don't address the root causes of violence against women.

5 hours ago - Bloomberg