Executive Summary

Lessons from the Past for Urban Policy in the Era of Trump

The stunning election of Donald Trump as president throws the future of urban policy into doubt. During the campaign he promised to bring new jobs and improved infrastructure to the inner cities, but so far he has furnished no details. Some of the strategies carried out by cities and states in the past may offer the incoming administration some guidance.

 

 

What the Heck is Going On with Local Economic Development?

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I'm amazed how little is written about what goes on at the state and local levels.

Most of us work in a community or at the state level and our daily professional lives are a lot more complicated than simply "creating jobs/clusters", "preparing knowledge-based workers" or "developing disruptive entrepreneurs". OK--there is the usual flood of blogs describing new policy issues, incredibly brilliant programs, and cutting-edge economic development strategies. But there is precious little about what it is like to work in sub-state economic development. There is seldom anyone who writes about how things get done locally and how a local economic developer can function effectively. That is what this issue is about.

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