• Global – continually promoting global perspectives, links & competitiveness
• Self-reliant – relentless use of local leadership, institutions & resources to solve problems
• Pragmatic – committed to focused, innovative & feasible problem-solving
• Entrepreneurial – courage to reform institutions & leverage assets to seize opportunities
• Futuristic – disciplined focus on long-term vision, strategies, investments & results
• Collaborative – participatory, interactive & open civic dialogue & problem-solving

• Though most of 20^th Century, our reliance on federal & state government increased
• During 1980s & Reagan’s New Federalism, federal government’s role began to wane
• Since then, burgeoning federal debt has limited federal fiscal flexibility
• In recent years, nationalization & toxicity of politics created need for new approach

• Big socio-economic changes (e.g., demography, equity gaps, urbanism & globalism)
• Fiscal stress & hyper-partisanship undermining faith in government top-down solutions
• Rising anger toward global elites, civic institutions, immigrants & other groups
• Growing embrace of faux populism & simplistic, short-sighted solutions
• Countervailing search for new approach to governance & problem-solving

• Pittsburgh – informal civic, business, labor, charity & university alliance spurred big civic investments (e.g., $1.5 billion via Pittsburgh Regional Asset District over 20 years)
• Chattanooga – dynamic public-private collaboration produced tangible benefits (e.g., 140-acre Innovation District, high-speed Gig City network & smart energy grid
• Indianapolis – networked governance model—city-county merger (Unigov) + formal civic group (Central Indiana Corporate Partnership)—provides regional platform for assessing problems, tapping assets (e.g., pension funds), crafting solutions & selling initiatives
• Cleveland – Greater Cleveland Partnership (successor to foundation-funded Cleveland Tomorrow) has provided strategic leadership for region since 2004
• St Louis – 501c3 entity created by academic, health & cultural entities to develop 200-acre innovation district (Cortex) with state & city support
• Philadelphia – after 1990s Naval Yard closure, created public-private Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation to acquire Naval Yard, issue tax credits & tax-exempt bonds & spur renewal (e.g., over $1 billion in investments & 12,000 employees)

Copenhagen – created publicly-owned, privately-managed public asset corporation to acquire urban core area, update zoning, borrow funds, build transit line & other infrastructure & raise funds for future phases (e.g., harbor renewal & transit expansion)

• Populistic anger could increase pressures for replacing or reforming civic institutions
• Outdated, top-down ways could give way to new, localized models of governance & finance sharing power & responsibilities across civic networks
• Metro areas that modernize structures, build new civic networks, monetize assets & unlock capital could provide models for other areas
• New Localism could offer most radical restructuring of federalism since New Deal

• Organization – create formal, well-funded civic network structure to facilitate networked local governance across boundaries (e.g., region, metro, city, CBD & district)
• Governance – restructure government, unify public asset management, create new structures to finance & carry out initiatives & strengthen public-private partnerships
• Collaboration – organize diverse stakeholder group, build community engagement mechanism & develop neighborhood service agenda & initiatives
• Diagnosis – Assess current situation & local institutions, prioritize problems to be solved, define risks & identify potential improvement opportunities
• Planning – forge ambitious vision based on risks & opportunities, define measurable outcomes & adopt long-term investment strategies
• Marketing – build community-wide consensus for change, nurture collaborative culture & aggressively promote initiatives, locally & globally (e.g., innovation districts)

For anyone who cares about government & community progress, we urge you to read this important & timely book. It provides a great foundation for understanding the forces contributing to New Localism as well as best practices & proven strategies for implementing New Localism as a governing philosophy in your state, region or community.