News Release

Brookings Institution Launches Metropolitan Policy Program

July 6, 2004

In a significant change to its organizational structure, the Brookings Institution announced today that the former Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy will become the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, effective immediately.

The new enterprise becomes the fourth major program at Brookings, joining Economic Studies, Foreign Policy Studies, and Governance Studies. It is the first new program established at Brookings since 1948.

The restructuring reflects the rising importance of metropolitan issues both in the United States and overseas.

“From Pittsburgh to London to Beijing, the leaders I meet with increasingly want to talk about the health of cities, and they look to Brookings for answers,” said Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution. “In that sense, the Metropolitan Policy Program already enjoys an international reputation as a unique model for research, analysis and public education.”

The mission of the new Metropolitan Policy Program will remain largely the same as it was when the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy was inaugurated in December 1996.

Since then, the center has published more than 180 research reports, and emerged as a leading source of cutting-edge analysis on the demographic and economic trends shaping cities and metropolitan areas. The Metropolitan Policy Program will continue to develop integrated policy solutions that can be promoted by business, civic, and political leaders to improve the economic, financial, and social health of their communities.

“Today, both domestically and abroad, we find that governments are struggling with the effects of demographic change, economic restructuring, decentralized development, shifting patterns of poverty, and ever-increasing congestion,” said Bruce Katz, vice president and director of Metropolitan Policy. “Our goal is to empower leaders with a new understanding of the trends and policies affecting cities and metropolitan areas, large and small, and to help make that new understanding lead to fundamental reform.”

The Metropolitan Policy Program will remain under the leadership of Katz and Deputy Director Amy Liu. The program will continue to conduct local, regional, and state trend analyses in the United States and increasingly in the United Kingdom; promote local and regional economic competitiveness; work with community-focused organizations to strengthen neighborhoods; help working families build assets; and seek to influence metropolitan growth patterns to help communities grow in more inclusive and sustainable ways. The program will also continue to place a special emphasis on the challenges in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program is redefining the challenges facing metropolitan America and
promoting innovative solutions to help communities grow in more inclusive, competitive, and sustainable ways.
Learn more at brookings-edu-2023.go-vip.net/metro.

About Brookings

The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. Our mission is to conduct in-depth, nonpartisan research to improve policy and governance at local, national, and global levels.