Can a 'New Localism' Help Cities Transcend Gridlock?

In a time of national dysfunction and, frankly, gloom, our best hope for our society lies in our cities and metropolitan areas. That’s the message of the newly released book The New Localism, by Bruce Katz, the noted urbanist at the Brookings Institution, and Jeremy Nowak of Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation. Based on their detailed research into urban trends and initiatives in the United States and around the world, with case studies of Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Copenhagen, and other cities, the book describes the shift from outmoded hierarchical models of national governance to more flexible, networked, multi-stakeholder models of local and metropolitan governance.

I talked to Katz and Nowak about the book and their optimistic take on the future of cities. Our conversation has been edited for length and flow.