The Work of Cities

Are cities relics of an earlier era? In this book, Susan E. Clarke and Gary L. Gaile contend that contrary to this conventional wisdom, cities are growing in importance. Far from irrelevant, local governments are vital political arenas for the new work of cities empowering their citizens to adapt and serve as catalysts for the global economy. Using Robert Reich's "The Work of Nations" as a point of departure, the authors argue that globalism coupled with increasing disparities of wealth and power, changes not only the work of nations but also the role of communities. Clarke and Gaile begin by detailing the transformation of the United States to a postindustrial economy situated in a "global web". They then examine the emergence of local entrepreneurial policy choices in the context of economic and political restructuring and in the absence of federal resources.