Best practices for economic development in metropolitan areas in post-recession eras

Metropolitan areas have established themselves drivers to the national economy, and contributors to the overall global economy. For instance, of the 3 million U.S. jobs created in 2014, 94 percent were produced in metro areas. As citizens leave rural areas to find work and prosperity in more urbanized centers, policymakers in these regions are beginning to recognize that their policies and strategies have the tendency to resonate further than intended. The Great Recession of 2007-09 devastated many local economies as regional areas found themselves unprepared as they picked up the pieces from their broken economy. This report argues that metro areas, while still producing collaborative economic development plans, need to also reflect upon previous post-recession eras and proactively prepare for the next national turndown. While no metro area is recession proof, policymakers and stakeholders have a responsibility to insulate their areas as best as possible from proceeding recessions and this concern is often an afterthought.