Improving the Local Landscape for Innovation (Part 1): Mechanics, Partners and Clusters

Abstract

The following was originally published by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government as part of its Occasional Papers Series.

Cities across the nation increasingly face the challenge of doing more with less. Persistently high unemployment and poverty levels are driving heightened demand for public programs and services while rising personnel costs, aging infrastructure and downward economic pressure constrict public coffers. Because local government officials are responsible for direct service delivery, these leaders are rethinking the institutions and processes responsible for delivering basic services such as protecting residents, educating children and sheltering the homeless. Across the country, promising efforts to achieve greater efficiency and greater impact with fewer dollars are taking hold. New York City’s Michael Bloomberg, New Orleans’s Mitch Landrieu and Oklahoma City’s Mick Cornett are just a few of the current city mayors recognized for driving transformational approaches to local challenges (Avlon, 2012). But their high-profile reforms did not happen overnight. Effective mayors set the stage for future innovation by explicitly devoting attention, time and resources to spurring new ways of thinking about local government.