Strong and diverse regional economy: A diversity of major “export” industries, low reliance on durable goods manufacturing, and a relatively small gap between the incomes of high- and low-income residents help a region withstand or avoid negative economic shocks.
Large shares of skilled and educated workers: Workers with skills and higher levels of formal education have greater capacity to learn new skills and adapt to the changing needs of an economy. Regions with high percentages of highly-educated people are better able to withstand or avoid negative economic shocks.
Wealth: A community with funds, whether government, private, philanthropic, or individual, can help provide adaptive cushion and resources to invest in rebuilding, reconstruction, reforms, and needed capacities.
Strong social capital: A community with strong attachment to place, strong citizen participation and community engagement, and social cohesion between groups and individuals is more resilient.
Community competence: The ability of a community to solve problems, identify creative solutions, have nimble policies and institutions, and build strong political partnerships can all be critical tools to help a metro area adapt to and rebound well from a shock.
Thriving after the (economic, social, and natural) disaster after the storm in the seven-county, Post Katrina, Post Oil Spill, Post Recession New Orleans region means building a more prosperous community as defined by the following goals.
- Quality economic growth that boosts productivity, spurs innovation and entrepreneurship, and generates quality jobs and rising incomes;
- Inclusive growth that expands educational and employment opportunities, reduces poverty, and fosters a strong and diverse middle class;
- Sustainable growth that conserves natural resources, maintains environmental quality, and increases the safety of the area; and
- High quality of life for residents and businesses that often includes a package of strong amenities and quality public services, like good schools and safe streets.
Do these or similar goals seem make sense for the Jacksonville Region?
Selected key actions for a more resilient New Orleans that may apply to the Jacksonville Region.
Responding to the BP Oil Spill and the Great Recession
- Diversify and strengthen the key regional “export” sectors of the economy. Tap into the area’s expertise in energy and higher education research capacity on renewable energy; challenge and encourage the growing network of entrepreneurs to identify bold, sustainable business ideas that strengthen core industries; and accelerate the transition to innovation-fueled, knowledge-based industries.
- Expand international export capacity to help grow existing industries and the number of good-paying jobs. Invest in innovation in key industry clusters to increase the quality of the goods and services produced in the region for sale to other regions and abroad; modernize the port and multimodal freight strategy to help move a greater volume of goods; or help small and mid-sized businesses reach global customers.
- Empower the area’s many institutions of higher education to help retrain and improve the quality of the workforce for growing sectors of the economy. The relatively high share of workers with low education levels and skills may be holding back the transition to more robust and knowledge-based industries and hindering workers’ pathways to wealth-creating opportunities.
- Continue to nurture an “open society” where engagement, networks, partnerships, and collaboration continue organically
- Maintain citizen participation as the community transitions from “crisis” to the mundane task of implementation
- Expand local “wealth” (e.g., tax base, private investment, philanthropy, individual) to match outside resources and sustain a level of self-reliance
- Diversify and strengthen the economy’s export sectors and increase the share of its skilled and educated workers
What can the Jacksonville Region learn from New Orleans’ seven-county region?
Read more at https://gnocdc.s3.amazonaws.com/NOIat5/Overview.pdf An overview of Greater New Orleans: FROM Recovery to Transformation by Amy Liu and Allison Plyer of the Brookings Institute
The publication in this posting cited five characteristics of a resilient region that were based on a review of related studies. Though the publication did not provide much detail regarding those studies, one has to assume they were valid and thorough. Regardless, the cited characteristics of resiliency seem appropriate and make sense. Though it is debatable as to whether Jacksonville has all of these characteristics, two emerged as being worthy of serious consideration. Those characteristics were “Large shares of skilled and educated workers” and “Community competence”. As I pondered these characteristics, I recalled Peter Rummell’s points regarding the importance of an educated populace and consistent, visionary leadership. While Jacksonville has many well-educated and skilled workers, it does not have a large share and this characteristic is not pervasive. Though Jacksonville has had some good leaders, there have been inconsistencies between leaders and the lack of a common vision for the city. When thinking about Jacksonville and its competence, the words “nimble” and “creative” do not emerge with frequency. With the specter of financial bankruptcy looming in the background, one can only hope that Jacksonville will eventually exhibit the ability to solve difficult problems.
ReplyDeleteThe publication seems to provide a thorough and thoughtful analysis of the situation in New Orleans. The proposed roadmap for the future development seems to be anchored to factual information and accurately tailored to address noted weaknesses and seize on opportunities. Though this is a good roadmap for New Orleans, only parts of the plan seem applicable to Jacksonville. Keep in mind that much of what has happened, and will happen, in New Orleans was necessitated by the physical and mental damage wreaked by natural and man-made disasters. As a result of its disasters, New Orleans has experienced the infusion of considerable funds for use in supporting its recovery. No such disasters have occurred here in Jacksonville and there are no substantial infusions of funds on the horizon. While it seems appropriate to select elements of the New Orleans plan for application here, one should be cautious about drawing too many parallels between the two cities.
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