Some thoughts on New York City (my home town and where I live today), the collapse of our economic system, and leadership (where influence can be more important than domination/control)...
When New York City's political and civic leaders developed PlaNYC 2030, the world was a very different place. In a time of general prosperity (well, at least the appearance of such from a budgetary point of view), it made sense for these leaders to think in terms of making sure that their city alone would be ready for the increased demands of an extra million or so inhabitants.
Call this the "mechanistic approach" to sustainable city planning. "We'll make sure New York City - our part of the world - is taken care of, while the rest of the world takes care of itself." And, on the surface, it makes sense. After all, why should New York City's leaders worry about places beyond its borders? These leaders control New York City, not anyplace else.
Welcome to 2009. PlaNYC 2030's budgetary assumptions have crashed, along with the global economy. New York City's political leaders are talking about closing subway and bus lines, fire stations, and cutting other costs. And they are talking about putting tolls on bridges, taxing sugary sodas (forgetting that artificial sweeteners can negatively affect people too), and other new ways to raise revenues. It's a "the house is on fire" strategy, and I don't blame them for thinking this way (even if trying to get more money from the people who already live here feels a bit like trying to "squeeze water from a stone").
But it's short term thinking at best. New Yorkers deserve more. They deserve thinking that's long term and - even more critically - innovation based. They deserve thinking that takes into account the fact that New York City is still the Capital of the World (even if, most recently, that meant leading the world down the Hell hole that was Wall Street's insane economic vision). They deserve a plan for their city's future that is systemic, not mechanistic, in its design. Here's what I mean:
New York City is not an island unto itself. It is an integral and very key part of the global sociopolitical economic system. People from literally every nation on Earth live here. The United Nations is headquartered here. Major news, entertainment, publishing and other critical communication and information related industries are based here. New York City's mayor has historically been called "the only mayor in America who has a foreign policy". What happens here matters to the rest of the world. As a result, rather than just being on the receiving end of the collapse of our global economic system, New York City has the capacity to push for the redesign of that system: to be a proactive, intellectual force for creating a new global economic system that is capable of producing the global prosperity for all that - if you believe what the world's leaders say at places like the UN and the World Economic Forum - is what the world really wants. Global prosperity for all. It's possible, but not by doing what we've been doing. It's going to require thinking differently!
New York City can push for this redesign by (a) bringing the finest designers and innovators together, (b) communicating the resulting new strategies for getting us out of this mess to the rest of the world, and (c) helping implement those new strategies by the actions we take locally.
To do this, New York City's leaders will have to think not of what they have the power to control but of what they have the power to influence. Shaping public opinion by communicating new options. The power of education, of new knowledge, insights, and wisdom. The power that comes from empowering others, not having power over others. This is what New York City has the capacity to do. New York City's political and civic leaders can be an intellectual force on the world stage, out of which will ultimately come all the financial resources we need to survive the very difficult times ahead. How will that last part happen? Because a redesigned system will be one where peace-making is a much stronger part of our global culture than war-making, freeing up both financial resources and the creative power of true, global collaboration with countries such as Russia and China. Yes, I'm talking about the post-cold war "peace dividend" some of us have wondered if we'd ever see.
We can have this, if designers and innovators lead this effort, not economists. Here's an explanation why, from nearly 17 years ago:
On December 8, 1991, The New York Times published "Fresh Face" by Leslie H. Gelb, a seminal essay on how "As old national security strategies fall away, the United States must look to new experts and new disciplines for the coming global make-over." What Mr. Gelb knew then - that "Carrying the baggage of their experiences, most foreign policy officials are experts on the past." - is still true today. To design a new global economic system, we must look for experts not in free market capitalism, but in sociopolitical (or cultural) development. That's because economists understand the mechanics of what works or doesn't work about an economic system. But sociopolitical development experts understand the "why" of an economic system's design: the source of the design of the system.
It's the culture, stupid. That's the core challenge of our time. Our culture is what determines the kind of economic system we have. Right now, ours is based on "more consumption is always good, even if we violate ethics to achieve that aim" plus "competition is always good". We need a new system based on sustainability (or "use what you really need") and "collaboration between all members of the human family".
It costs very little to bring people together and to then create a strategy for communicating what they figure out. New York City has the people and communications infrastructure for doing so in place right now, including an entertainment community that's capable of making learning all these new ideas fun.
As the home of Wall Street, I believe New York City bears an extra level of responsibility for the mess the whole world is in. If it plans for its future by planning to save the world, New York City can both take responsibility for having championed a dangerously flawed economic model and help lead the world to the sustainable future that's capable of rising like the Phoenix from the ashes of the collapsed system of the past.
New York City's civic and business leaders will be meeting on February 3rd to talk about the future. I'll be at this event and will let you know if they have recognized how much influence they could have if they wanted it.
For instance, Billionaire Bloomberg has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars to serve his agenda: to bring the Olympics to New York, to build an unwanted West Side stadium, to get local restaurants to reduce fats in the foods they serve, to appease the ultra-rich Yankees by buying an unneeded new stadium for them, to cater to greedy CEOs, etc. He has also allowed some city treasures, such as Two Columbus Circle, to deteriorate and then be reclad inwhat seems to be left-over bathroom tiles from some shoddy mall project.
We need a person with practical experience in budgeting, not some selfish ninny who wants a personal fiefdom. We need someone who actually cares about the taxpayers (who are not, of course, the overpaid executives to whom Mr. Bloomberg caters).