A Visit from Europe’s Green Capital 2011, Hamburg (Germany) to Boston, MA, March 6-9, 2012
The World Class Cities Partnership was pleased to welcome Hamburg, Germany as its ninth member during a signing ceremony at the Massachusetts State House on March 9th. The ceremony was attended by a delegation from Hamburg, Europe’s Green Capital 2011, whose visit is described...
read moreAn Innovation Snapshot: Three Engaging Hours in Boston’s Innovation District
By Mark O'Toole, Managing Director, Public Relations and Content Marketing,HB Agency Several weeks ago, I decided to stay in Boston between a morning meeting and evening event rather than return to my office on the 128-corridor. Armed with a laptop, iPad and phone, I hunted out space where I could be productive. I spent the afternoon immersed in Boston’s Innovation District and discovered the geographic convergence of groups that care about, report on and participate in Greater Boston’s innovation community. Typically, these groups now sit in the same building or even the same room and create synergies that can’t happen at the occasional event, over the phone or through social channels. Additionally, I discovered that Boston’s international business community wants to learn what Boston is building, with other countries’ representatives participating in our new scene and often contributing to it as robustly as homegrown businesses.
read moreCities, Metros Respond to a New Global Economy
Neal Peirce | Mar 19 2012 | citiwire.net
While hyper-partisanship and ugly derogation of opponents infect Congress and national politics, we needn’t despair. In fact, “The United States is really awash in quality leadership.”
That’s the case made by Bruce Katz, Brookings Institution vice president and founder director of its Metropolitan Policy Program.
“Everywhere you turn, at the city, at the metropolitan or state scale,” he contends, “you find either individual leaders, or more likely networks of leaders, who tend to put place over party and ideology.”
It’s true — facing real local problems, partisanship fades. As New York Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia famously remarked, “there is no Democrat or Republican way to pick up garbage.”