‘Size does matter’

– Smaller cities in the United States have beaten heavyweights such as Miami, Dallas and Atlanta to become more racially and economically inclusive, a report published yesterday found.

A cluster of small cities such as Fremont and Santa Clara in California and Naperville in Illinois ranked top for their inclusion efforts, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organisation.

The report analysed 274 of the country’s largest cities over three decades.

Although economic inclusion and racial inclusion do not always trend together, the report did note a correlation, with economically healthy cities tending to be more inclusive than economically distressed ones. “Size does matter. There is something to [cities] being the right size – large enough to fund services, but small enough to pay attention,” one of the report’s authors, Erika Poethig, said.

“I think that being slightly smaller in a growing metropolitan area or a state that is doing well economically certainly helps your ability to adopt more inclusive practices and policies,” she said.

The report found that an economic downturn in a city could prove to be a useful time to put in place opportunities that promote greater racial and social inclusion.

Rich and poor countries alike are tasked with creating sustainable and inclusive cities by 2030 under global development goals agreed in 2015. – Reuters

London