23-04-2007

CEOs for Cities is best described as an ‘idea lab’. We test ideas in order to see what the next generation of American cities will look like. We were established at the end of 1990s. In that decade American cities were changing rapidly, but a lot of these changes were left unnoticed.

It was Paul Grogan’s book ‘Comeback Cities’ that led to creation of CEOs for Cities. In the opinion of Grogan, city government, business and grass roots organisations need to work together to successfully face the challenges confronting American cities. He therefore has actively approached all kinds of urban leaders to join forces. One of the results of his activities has been the foundation of CEOs for Cities. Through its research CEOs for Cities maps what works for cities to become and stay successful. 

The greatest challenge is to produce enough talent to keep up with the changes that are rapidly taken place. This is not just an economic challenge, but also a social challenge. In order to be successful, all layers of society must be enabled to reach their creative potential.

There is, of course, an environmental challenge as well. In my opinion, cities are the answer to environmental problems. Cities are not the problem, cities are the solution. With their high density they make alternative modes of transport feasible, such as walking, biking and efficient public transport.

You can see that American mayors are now involved in some sort of environmental competition. They all aspire to become the greenest city in the US. Right now, the public seems to be more ready to judge ‘wild ideas’ on their actual potential. For example, the idea of vertical farming in urban areas would not haven been taken seriously even two years ago. Right now, these kind of solutions can count on the interest of many urban leaders and professionals. 

European nations and the US are different nations with different roots. It is in the American tradition to celebrate diversity whilst maintaining a strong identity as an American.

Immigration holds a lot of benefits for our cities. However, some American urban communities do face challenges from immigration. But these are mostly smaller, demographically more stable communities. In some cities and towns any form of diversity is considered threatening.

In most American cities, immigration is warmly welcomed by urban leaders. City growth happens through immigration. Currently, if a city does not receive immigrants, the city does not grow. Immigration holds more benefits for cities. Apart from fuelling population growth, immigration brings economic growth as well. Growth of economic opportunity follows population growth. Even more, most immigrants have an incredible work ethic and an extraordinary drive toward entrepreneurship. This leads to a tremendous number of start-up companies run by immigrants.

Another benefit of widespread immigration into America is that it helps our already established businesses to better serve global markets. Immigration has diversified our domestic market. The domestic market is more and more resembling the global market. This gives American businesses ample opportunity to get to know the needs and demands of the global market.

Cities hold the solution to integrate immigrants into society. We recently published our study of portal neighbourhoods (big city neighbourhoods that receive disproportionally high numbers of immigrants – EUKN). In these neighbourhoods, immigrants acquire the skills to successfully operate in American societies. Immigrants are still able to speak their own language in these neighbourhoods, but they are also able to improve their proficiency in English. These neighbourhoods are called portal neighbourhoods because people do not reside in those neighbourhoods for long periods of time. They are immigrants’ first stop in American society. Portal neighbourhoods might need special policy treatment. For example, in these neighbourhoods it does not make much sense to promote home-ownership, as is general American policy. Here it would be more effective to provide good and cheap rental accommodation. 

Currently every city seems to want to be a creative city. Cities end up competing for the same scarce resource, namely talent and the young highly educated. Do you see chances for cities to strive for more realistic goals?

The way many cities pursue the notion of the ‘creative city’ might not be wise. They have lost sight of an important nuance. Not every city can be a creative city in the sense of an ‘artistic city’. Every city has its own assets, its own history and traditions it can capitalise on. Cities should think about creativity in terms of enabling the potential of all citizens. Schools, businesses and public institutions all have a role to play. This is imperative. 

Well, the first thing I need to say is: ‘Get out of your car!’. We need to build walkable cities, and stimulate alternative modes of transportation, from public transport to biking. The should be real alternatives, however. They need to be easy, comfortable and affordable. Cities are again the solution. Because of their higher density, they are most likely to be walkable and to be able to provide efficient and affordable public transport. City design can decrease car dependency. Another important issue is to be environmentally sensitive in building practices. Buildings can be more energy efficient.

Cities should enable and reward their citizens to do the right thing. We should encourage our citizens to be part of the sustainability movement. You can do this not only by offering alternative modes of transport, but also by introducing an effective and convenient recycling system, or informing people how they are performing on their energy use and providing information on the neighbourhood average.

As I already mentioned, city leaders are really taking the environmental challenges seriously. This has lead to competition between American cities to implement the most ambitious sustainability plans. This competition is a great development. 

I would like to start by giving them a big ‘thank you!’. American citizens in general and urban leaders in specific have learned a lot from visiting European cities. Returning from Europe, they felt growingly dissatisfied with our own urban areas. In this way, European cities have served as a source of inspiration. They have fuelled the changes in thinking that have started to reform our ideas of what a city is and what it could be.

European cities show us the way on environmental issues. American cities can teach European cities on how to address diversity issues. We both have our traditions and our historic framework. It is hard to change a city design that stimulates car use. The buildings and roads are already there. The same goes for cultures and traditions that might be in the way of a truly open and diverse society. These things do not change over night.

The most important thing is that we learn from each other. The more we engage in debate and exchange visions, the more we can point each other in the right direction.