Last week Greater Ohio Policy Center hosted a “Shrinking Cities” Roundtable in Dayton, Ohio. The goal of the meeting was to rethink the roles of federal, state and local governments to collectively address “shrinking cities” challenges, and in particular to inform formulation of emerging federal policies and programs and align them with state policies and local innovations. Participants included a cross section of perspectives from multiple states as well as national experts. During the meeting, participants discussed what constitutes a shrinking city, the central needs and strength of those places, and ideal federal, state, and local policies to address the needs of those distressed cities. More in depth discussion focused on the topics of unique interest to shrinking cities including revitalizing neighborhoods, building on economic assets, addressing land management issues, fostering regional collaboration, and promoting environmental sustainability.
Ken McCall from the Dayton Daily News wrote an interesting article about the meeting entitled, “What can cities like Dayton do to stop shrinking? Organizers look for ideas on how to form federal, state policy to help these cities.” Check it out for his take on the day. And please share your comments here on our blog about the kinds of policies that are needed in order to tackle the challenging issues that Shrinking Cities face. We will integrate your feedback into our resulting policy brief to encourage officials to ensure that as new policies and programs are formulated that they are aligned at the national, state and local level.