Cities, Technology, the Next Generation of Urban Development, and the Next Administration

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My topic today is Cities, Technology, the Next Generation of Urban Development and the Next Administration. It’s a challenge, as we cannot know who will be the next President. One could look to prediction markets or polls but this campaign is as predictable as a game of basketball pitting the best offense in baseball versus the best defense in football. Both major party candidates will be playing in a different game than the one that got them to the final round. Further, not in my lifetime has there been an election in which the political variation is so great. The Presidency, Congress and the Courts could all shift, with a wide ideological delta. Nonetheless we can know some things about the next four years related to this conference. First, we know American cities will lead the economy, as cities do around the world. Second, the cities that will lead the most are those who take the greatest advantage of the macro-trends that create economic growth, social progress. Third, while the current short-term, news cycle driven attention span and resulting dysfunction in DC may well continue, cities will continue to actually take long-term actions. Fourth, more cities will focus on the gigabit/connected cities opportunity. In that light, we should set an agenda for how the next administration can move the country forward by helping the cities that want to lead in this century’s city led, global information economy.


Cities, Technology, the Next Generation of Urban Development, and the Next Administration