February 27, 2008, Houses of Parliament

"Blueprint for American Prosperity" - Speech by Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution

Hosted by Clive Betts MP, All Party Urban Development Group

Chaired by Faisal Islam, Channel 4 News

Panel: Howard Davies, London School of Economics; Dermot Finch, Centre for Cities; Liz Peace, British Property Federation.

Bruce Katz, Director of the Metropolitan Policy Programme at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, and one of the leading US experts on urban development, gave a keynote speech to a Centre for Cities/LSE event hosted by Clive Betts MP, Chair of the All-Party Urban Development Group, in the House of Commons on Wednesday 27 February. Dermot Finch has covered the event on his blog here. 

At the start of this US Presidential election year, Bruce presented a compelling case for a new national agenda for the US- a Blueprint for American Prosperity - to give cities there the tools and rules they need to prosper. US and UK cities are very different in many ways, but face a familiar set of challenges around housing, transport, jobs, globalisation, migration, economic disparities and environmental pressures.  In the debate which followed, a strong consensus emerged on the new devolved powers cities need in order to grow their economies, and the need for greater trust between city leaders and businesses.