Competing in the Global Market
To thrive in the new economy, strong local 'place' is essential

When I hear all these “new economy” types talk about “it isn’t about place anymore,” I think they mean well.  But when I hear it, I start seeing red – because of course place still matters.

In fact, a sense of place perhaps matters more now than ever.

Economists are basically pointing out that increased mobility and technology have made where you work less important as more and more jobs are tied to the Information Age and virtually instant communication is available worldwide via the Internet.

So yes, this new era does give us more chances to settle wherever we want and still be connected to other places in order to do work and communicate with others.  

In that sense, place doesn’t matter.  

But where you actually do choose to live, and the quality of life it affords, clearly does matter.

In that sense, paying attention to strengthening local places becomes all the more important in fitting into the new global economy.  

As one theologian has observed, the more “planetary” our lives become, the more necessary small communities are.

It is not that the premise of the “new economists” isn’t based on fact, or that it isn’t basically sound.  There is no doubt that some of us – and I stress “some” – are able to live and work anywhere we choose.

Therefore, the logic goes, in order to attract the type of talented people who presumably will create the wealth we need, we must pay more attention to attracting them through quality of life factors.

At the same time, the idea goes, we also pay less heed to those attributes that were “place” bound – things like available muscle for heavy industry jobs, or cheap land, or rivers.  

While these were all major factors in priming the economic development pump in the Industrial Age, they grow less and less important as the Information Age takes hold.

We are told that we must emphasize education – particularly science and math – so that we can be up to speed with the new economy and also keep dreaming up technological marvels.  

It is that kind of brainpower, in fact, that many cite as the only way America can compete with China and India (known in some circles as an ominous economic threat called “Chindia”).   

While I agree in part with the new economy premise, it falls short of offering a solution, just as so many other one-track themes do.

Great places are, of course, all about formal education. But, there is an often overlooked but vital aspect to education - namely, educating people on the importance of having a strong sense of community and recognizing its systemic relationships and the responsibility we have to nurture them.  

The Kentucky Council on Post Secondary Education clearly understands the importance of this.  One of its five goals is to determine how higher education will work with communities.

It is also encouraging to note that such stewardship of place is becoming national in scope, launched by the higher education community to stress the idea that without strong local places we cannot compete in a global economy.

There needs to be greater understanding that federal and state governments need to cultivate stronger partnerships with local government, which understands the needs and challenges of its community far better than any other government body.   

There needs to be a healthy debate on the proper role of government and the role of local decision-making in creating the kind of communities that can adapt to this fast-changing, unpredictable world.

There needs to be more discussion on the need for leadership that is bold and visionary.

In many ways, we are facing this brave new world with tired old systems and timid thinking.

With the new economy, it’s high time we came up with a new and broader understanding of what is needed to thrive. To get our place in the economic sun, strengthening the sense of local place is essential.

Sylvia L. Lovely is executive director and CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities.
editorial@lanereport.com

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