Why Cities Have Become Centers of Policy Innovation

Kansas City Mayor Sly James explains why cities set themselves apart from state and federal governments

As of 2016, the US Census Bureau estimates that more than 80% of the US population now live in urban areas. Americans have become, by and large, city slickers.

Of course, that doesn’t mean most Americans live in super-dense areas like Manhattan, but if you think about it in terms of the development of public policy, city governments are playing an important role in the day-to-day lives of the vast majority of Americans. And while the federal government seems perpetually stuck in partisan gridlock, many municipal leaders have embraced their role as incubators for policy innovation.

In this episode of PolicyCast, Kansas City Mayor Sly James, a Visiting Fellow at both the Institute of Politics and the Ash Center, explains why cities are able to set themselves apart from state and federal governments in responding to modern governance problems. He also speaks to the value of data-driven decision making; his experience enticing Google to pilot their high speed internet service in Kansas City; and the ongoing attempts to attract Amazon’s 2nd headquarters.

Each week on PolicyCast, Host Matt Cadwallader (@mattcad) explores the ways individuals make democracy work by speaking with the world’s leading experts in public policy, media, and international affairs about their experiences confronting our most pressing public problems.