Nation's Cities - March 5, 2012

NATION’S CITIES WEEKLY 5
FROM NLC’S BLOG
Innovation and Cities – Reframing the Dialogue

by Chris Hoene

This is the first installment in
a blog series that will be posted at
www.CitiesSpeak.org
These are tough times
for cities, economically and
politically. Our own research
points to a period of managed
retrenchment where city leaders
are confronted with undesir-
able choices — cuts in vital
services, laying off personnel,
delaying needed infrastructure
investments, to name a few.
But, times like these often open
opportunities for innovation, to
rethink the roles and structures
of cities. “Never waste a crisis,”
as the oft-cited saying goes.
But what is innovation? An
idea? An invention of a new
practice? The word is overused
and usually lacks definition. At
NLC’s Center for Research and
Innovation, our definition is
that innovation is a process by
which new ideas are generated,
implemented in practice and
widely adopted.
Unfortunately, innovation in
cities is challenged by a national
malaise about the role of gov-
ernment or by advocates who
present city leaders with trendy
or fad-ish options, rather than
guidance for addressing issues
most likely to improve the suc-
cess of cities in the future.

Chris Hoene is director of
NLC’s Center for Research and
Innovation.
EPA Workshops Focus on Integrated Planning
by Carolyn Berndt
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is building a framework
to guide local governments in develop-
ing an integrated plan for municipal
stormwater and wastewater systems to
meet the water quality objectives of the
Clean Water Act (CWA).

One of five EPA workshops on integrated planning took place in Kansas City, Kan., at the EPA
Region 7 office. Pictured are Karl Brooks, regional administrator for EPA Region 7, left, and Joe
Reardon, mayor and CEO of the Unified Government of Kansas City, Kan., and Wyandotte County.
ogy and a flexible timeframe for imple-
mentation and the use of the National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) permit process as the main