Bruce Katz

Bruce Katz received the 12^th Heinz Award in the Public Policy category for re-imagining the function and value of cities and metropolitan areas and profoundly influencing their economic vitality, livability and sustainability.

An innovative leader in the field of progressive urban policy, Mr. Katz’s vision and impassioned insights are helping reshape and revitalize many of our nation’s cities. He is the founding director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, an initiative that over the past decade has helped cities grow in more inclusive and sustainable ways.

After graduating from Yale University Law School and serving as an associate at a Washington, D.C. law firm where he specialized in housing and urban development, Mr. Katz took a more active role in shaping public policy from inside government. He served as counsel and eventually staff director of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs and, later, as the chief of staff and senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Recognizing that there was an enormous void in the public policy arena concerning America’s cities and their future, Mr. Katz went to the Brookings Institution in 1996 where he founded the Metropolitan Policy Program, formerly the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. In addition to providing research and policy analysis on issues related to the nation’s urban core, the Metropolitan Policy Program builds partnerships with planners, economists, environmentalists, political scientists and demographers, all with the goal of improving the vitality and livability of America’s cities.

From these alliances emerge teams of experts who analyze the latest market and demographic trends in a particular region using five key strategies: fixing the basics, building on competitive assets, creating healthy neighborhoods, investing in working families and promoting balanced metropolitan growth patterns. Policy recommendations are turned into practical solutions, focusing on green space revitalization, property tax reforms, transportation efficiency, earned income tax credits and job creation. Using this approach, the program has begun to transform the urban landscape in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maine and elsewhere throughout the nation.

Last year, the Metropolitan Policy Program released a study on the nation’s “first suburbs,” those areas that bloomed after World War II. Up next, Mr. Katz and his colleagues will present a “transformative agenda for U.S. cities,” which will set forth how to put cities on a healthier course by reclaiming underused waterfront, channeling land use with transit and developing green infrastructure.

Working tirelessly in and out of government over the past 15 years, Bruce Katz has fostered new perspectives, created new collaborations and brought new life into America’s cities. Through his effective leadership, metropolitan areas are re-emerging as vibrant centers of commerce, housing and culture.

Note: This profile was written at the time of the awards’ presentation.