Manhattan Institute Presses Policy Innovations for 'The Next Urban Renaissance'

A new book from the Manhattan Institute, available for free download, argues that cities will have to full embrace experimentation and evaluation to be true laboratories of innovation.

1 minute read

October 15, 2015, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Edward Glaeser pens the Foreword to a new book, The Next Urban Renaissance, available for free from the Manhattan Institute:

"What public-policy innovations can make cities better places to live? A large number of American cities—from New York to San Francisco—have experienced remarkable rebirths over the past 30 years. But their success has made housing less affordable and traffic congestion worse. Even America’s most successful cities contain large numbers of poorer citizens left behind by the urban renaissance. Can creative public policy reduce the downsides of density and improve economic opportunity in urban America?"

According to Glaeser, the book offers a collection of essays on these subjects, but with an eye toward the private sector: "The common theme of the papers is to innovate, evaluate, and leverage the remarkable private talent that is so abundant in America’s great cities. Public capacity is sharply limited; the ingenuity of urban entrepreneurs seems practically boundless. Local governments should be more entrepreneurial and do more to use the talents of the entrepreneurs around them."

Thursday, October 15, 2015 in Manhattan Institute for Policy Research

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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