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Restoring Prosperity

Most Ohio cities are struggling for economic health and quality of life. An important partnership between the Brookings Institution and Greater Ohio has produced a report and programming initiatives for cities in Ohio. The rest of this UPDATE will focus on this important issue. A new report written by Jennifer Vey, Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing America's Older Industrial Cities, has been recently published by the Brookings Institution, Metropolitan Policy Program.

The report stresses that while cities in general are in a "come-back" mode, some cities are not keeping up. Most American cities are showing growth in population, employment, and real-estate value. Many more people are choosing urban life over suburban life. However, of the 302 largest cities in the U.S., 65 are falling short on eight indicators of economic health and quality of life.

In Ohio, the report identifies nine "older industrial cities" characterized by deindustrialization and the attendant slow or declining economic growth. These nine (Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Lima, Mansfield, Springfield, Warren, and Youngstown) contain 1.3 million of the state's 11.4 million residents. All of these, except Cincinnati, are in metropolitan areas with weak economies.

The Brookings report offers not only an analysis of the data, but also "provides a framework for understanding how to restore prosperity in America's struggling cities, particularly those in the Northeast and Midwest." The report offers an action agenda for state and local government, business, and civic leaders to "leverage their many assets," so they, too, can take advantage of the current opportunity for cities.

The report suggests that this agenda "should have five primary objectives:

• Fix the Basics
• Build on Economic Strengths
• Transform the Physical Landscape
• Grow the Middle Class
• Create Neighborhoods of Choice

According to Brookings, the challenged cities in Ohio have assets that can be built upon: historic properties and concentrations of medical and educational facilities (24 four-year colleges, 28 two-year colleges, and 58 hospitals and significant cultural, recreational and natural areas). Brookings suggests that local leaders must work towards more transparent and efficient policy that is business friendly and hospitable to innovative thinkers and stakeholders that can lead to long term revitalization in each city. But, they assert, local action needs complementing support form regional alliances such as first-suburbs coalitions, regional marketing, metro-planning, and government efficiencies and consolidations. And, Brookings asserts, state officials must find ways to re-focus programs to prioritize urban initiatives.

Brookings concludes its executive summary: "For the first time in many decades, there is reason to be truly optimistic about the future of America's older industrial cities. Advancing beyond hope, however, requires a vision of the possible - and the will to acheive it."

Retrieve the document from Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program's website: http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20070520_oic.htm

The partnership between Greater Ohio and Brookings is described at: http://greaterohio.org/policy/restoring-prosperity.html

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Created: 2008-04-08, Updated: 2008-04-30