The Nation City: Why Mayors Are Now Running the World

“The Nation City” is a book about how power and progress have moved in recent decades from federal and state governments to cities. The chief beneficiaries of this “paradigm shift,” the book argues, are mayors who are connected to one another, open to new ideas and skilled at collaboration.

Rahm Emanuel was the two-term mayor of Chicago. Before that, he was a congressman and chief of staff for President Barack Obama. Most recently he was U.S. ambassador to Japan.

The big ideas for Urban Atlanta:

1. It is a good time for mayors and other local leaders to work on things they can influence, like city services, school performance, economic development, downtowns and neighborhoods. They should not look to Washington or the state government for direction or even much assistance.
2. Success in these things depends on a new approach, one that aims high, offers clear visions and benefits, involves many interests and builds public support. We have many willing partners in Urban Atlanta who could help, from universities and foundations to a strong business community and engaged citizens.
3. What could be a project as transformative in Urban Atlanta as the restoration of the Chicago River? Two possibilities: a new approach to redeveloping underused and abandoned properties and revitalizing public spaces, including turning long-buried waterways into parks.
4. Emanuel’s Chicago Star Scholarship program, which offered two years of tuition-free college education to Chicago public school students with good grades, could be a model for Urban Atlanta. It would build social mobility as it keeps talented first-generation college students in the Atlanta area.
5. Similarly, Emanuel’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund could be a model for Urban Atlanta by linking development in highly successful parts of the city with commercial areas in struggling neighborhoods. These neighborhood commercial districts could encourage entrepreneurship and aid social mobility as they build walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods.