Thriving in the global economy -- cities learning from each other

"The bottom line is not dictated by the economy, it is determined by our need for clean water, clean air and healthy food from soil," declared Dr. David Suzuki, the Canadian scientist, environmentalist and award-winning broadcaster who opened today's session of the International City/County Managers Association annual conference in Montreal.

The theme of this year's conference is "Thriving in the Global Economy." Suzuki emphasized that economic sustainability derives from environmental sustainability. He noted that both "economy" and "ecology" come from the same Greek word for "household." The management of our household (economy) and the study of our household (ecology) are both rooted in our home: planet earth.

Suzuki traced the evolution of life beginning 4 billion years ago. "If I could push a button and transport us back to that time, we could not survive beyond a few minutes because the atmosphere before plants was filled with carbon dioxide." It was only the spread of plant life around the planet that eventually infused oxygen to the level that animals like us can survive.

Modern humans are just 150,000 years ago -- and would not have been particularly impressive in our debut. "We were the scattered clusters of naked apes in a world teeming with animal life, including woolly mammoths and giant sloths." He attributed our explosion into planetary dominance to the size of our brain -- and our ability to envision a future. He argued that the advantage of foresight is exactly what we are neglecting today as disturbing environmental trends send warnings about danger ahead.

The talk set the tone for three days of speakers, workshops and committee meetings that brings more than 2000 city managers and other public professionals together to compare notes, sharpen their skills and focus their attention on common problems. I'm here to learn. I also serve on the organization's "Sustainable Communities Advisory Committee" and on the Editorial Advisory Board for ICMA Press, which publishes a wide range of books, reports and training materials as well as Public Management Magazine. Today I hosted a roundtable session on Community Design that included participants from the U.S., Canada and New Zealand and tomorrow I will be doing the same for a discussion of "social media" -- like blogs, Facebook and Twitter and how these emerging technologies reshape how local government communicates with our citizens.

In these tight fiscal times, I'm conscious of the expense of this kind of training experience -- and wonder whether these kinds of conferences may be as endangered as the daily newspaper in the driveway. Attendance is down significantly this year. It appears to be less due to fewer cities participating than to fewer participants from each city. City Managers in year's past often brought potential leaders in their organizations to expose them to the wide range of issues facing cities large and small. More of us are taking advantage of video conferences, teleconferences and online training to keep current in our field and sharpen our skills. Adjusting to this trend, this was the first year that many of the annual conference's sessions were webcast.

There is also the challenge of time away from work and family -- although in the age of email on smart phones, work is frequently right there in your pocket. We're spending much less on training and conferences -- and economizing in small ways. I skipped the conference hotels and found a less expensive option a 15 minute walk from the conference center.

Yet the opportunity to hear, meet and interact with some of the most creative and successful professionals in the field of local government is still worthwhile. With more than 3 billion people now living in cities around the planet, it turns out we face common problems even if how we tackle them is vastly different. Learning from each other is part of tackling those challenges -- and I'm looking forward to applying what I've learned.