Citistates Report: Boston Unbound

The Greater Boston region has all the qualifications to become one of the most rewarding places on earth to live, work, learn and prosper in the 21st century, according to a report by two of the nation's leading experts on metropolitan regions, Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson... The threat to this rosy scenario, the authors warn, is Boston's sense of assumed superiority. They say, 'We cover US regions regularly; we never encountered another place so apparently disinterested in learning new best practices from others. The local attitude seems to be, Boston and first are synonymous. Why bother with lesser places, practices.'... Assumed superiority, "A sense the Boston region is so far ahead that it has no need to check on lean and hungry competitors -- from Charlotte to Seattle, Atlanta to Austin, Bangalore, India, to Canberra, Australia." Peirce and Johnson urge Boston leaders to mobilize the region's inherent skills and assets to cope with an array of looming scourges, ranging from shortfalls in skilled labor to energy cutoffs and public health emergencies. [Editor's note: The link below is to a 2MB PDF document.]

Thanks to Chris Steins