Neal Peirce

US cities looking abroad

Washington Post Writers Group, Feb 10, 10.

Are we ready to retire the old bugaboo that any American mayor better think twice before visiting a foreign city — that the press back home will pillory him or her for “junketeering”?

Just possibly. “Gotcha” stories about foreign travels are still feared by mayors. But they’re dangerous anachronisms. Our cities’ economies and wellbeing actually require inventive foreign connections. Trade opportunities and enriching local economies still top the list. But new considerations are flooding in — for example the well-advertised global competition for the footloose young professionals, looking for “live” local scenes and cultural diversity.

The hands-down American regional leader on learning from abroad has been Seattle with its array of highly export-oriented firms. For 17 years Seattle has sent sizable delegations (70 or more) of business, political and civic leaders to see first-hand how a major foreign city and region really “clicks.” I’ve personally accompanied three of those visits — to Sydney, Hong Kong and Berlin — and discovered they’re significant eye-openers. Recently Seattle delegations have visited such cities as Fukuoka and Abu Dhabi — hardly our grandparents’ world city list.

In contrast to yesteryear’s idea that we Americans “know it all” and don’t need foreign input, there’s growing awareness — appreciated by boardrooms and city halls, growing more slowly in popular awareness, that today’s global standard for successful leadership is “go look.”

Last year my colleague Tim Campbell, board chair of the Urban Age Institute, conducted a survey of 16 high-income world cities. Every one of them had sent out high-level delegations to metropolises in other countries. All the cities were engaged in at least nine visits a year, with some making as many as 30.

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Note to readers — an excellent companion commentary, by Bill Barnes of the National League of Cities, may be found at the NLC website. The article has a mega-view of U.S. competitiveness in these times, and also pays appropriate credit to our Citistates Group colleague, Bill Stafford, for his years of foresight articulating the need for American urban regions to position themselves for the challenges of the new global economy.

Full story: Cities Look Abroad to Prosper at Home
Source: Citiwire.net, February 7, 2010

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