PEIRCE: Why is metropolitan regionalism — citistate-type connective thinking, — a “hot” topic in America today? Is it because few people expect federal or state governments to pull metro areas’ chestnuts from the fire? Is it because communities see they’ll sink or swim based on regional economies? Or continued strong flows of population flowing in? Or traffic horrors and a rush to alternatives like toll roads or new rail transit lines? Is there a critical driver in “smart growth” agendas which people hope just might lead to more sustainable and livable metropolises? Are agendas of government merger, routes out of fragmentation and stalemate, ready to explode in number? Will classes and races talk, will issues of equity get a hearing? Is a new “language” of regionalism arising? Or are we seeing a series of accumulated connections — energy to the arts, university technologies to workforce training, affordable housing to air quality to open space agendas — now driving expanded region-wide conversations and alliances?
Lots of questions, few definitive answers. But I did make a try in a talk for an EPA regional planning and visioning conference held in Washington in December. The Alliance for Regional Stewardship has posted the text of my remarks on its site. Your reactions will be welcome!