CEOs for Cities has released a great video by Edward Glaeser about the importance of cities today. Glaeser is an economist at Harvard and the author of the popular recent book Triumph of the City. Among his points in this video is that localities must “attract and train smart people and then get out of their way.”
Glaeser said cities today must make themselves appealing to young entrepreneurs whose American Dream might not involve a white picket fence. To accomplish this, he said we need a level playing field at the national level that is currently tilted by the home mortgage interest deduction that “bribes Americans to leave urban apartments and move to suburban homes.” He also said we must rethink highway policies that induce auto travel. Check out the CEOs for Cities vimeo page for more interesting videos.
I just finished his book over the Holiday.
It’s a great read and both etertaining and educational. The points he makes are right on, and if even half of them were instituted, would both save our country huge sums of money while saving our cities at the same time.
That said, I’m sure no one in any position of power in the City of Louisville has even heard of this book, much less read it.