Urban Trends and the Urban Age

By 2008 Raleigh will emerge as one of the top 50 cities in America, and the northern anchor of the Atlantic Piedmont megaregion. The lecture touched on the following questions:

• What are the top issues that Raleigh faces as the 21st century unfolds?
• How can we accommodate growth?
• How can cities position themselves in the new global economy?
• What can Raleigh learn from other emerging 21st Century cities? What are their best practices?
• What is the roadmap to the future?
• How are other megaregions planning for sustainability, multinucleated cities, transit, demographic trends and density?

Paul Farmer, Executive Director & CEO, American Planning Association-Opening Remarks

OUR PRESENTER
Bruce Katz is the Vice President at the Brookings Institution and Founding Director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The Metro Program seeks to redefine the challenges facing cities and metropolitan areas. Mr. Katz regularly advises leaders and policy makers on the competitiveness of metro areas. His recent publications include Redefining Urban and Suburban America, Volumes 1-3, ed with Robert E. Lang.

Mr. Katz discussed the profound demographic, economic, social, and cultural forces reshaping the nation and how these forces are giving cities a key competitive advantage for the first time in decades. To continue this trend, he argued that cities must make transformative investments, multi-dimensional efforts to remake the urban physical landscape, stimulate economic growth, improve fiscal vitality, and advance social equity.