City Leaders Should Expand Educational and Training Programs

The world has become urban and is becoming even more so. Cities and their regions present vast opportunities that attract growing numbers of people. To take advantage of those opportunities, however, people need the education and the skills to participate in the local work force. This is especially true in cities with strong technology and medical bases.

The lack of education and skills is a major cause for inequalities in metropolitan regions around the globe. These inequalities are especially profound for people from rural communities with little formal education who migrate to cities and experience deep unease and frustration.

To address these inequalities, city leaders should expand educational and training programs. In addition to helping individuals who lack adequate preparation for the job market, such programs offer the long-term benefit of creating seedbanks for innovation. New ideas and technologies, in turn, help sustain and revitalize urban economies.

Frederick (Fritz) Steiner is Dean, Paley Professor, and Co-Executive Director of The McHarg Center, Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, and a Penn IUR Faculty Fellow. Previously, he served as Dean of the School of Architecture and Henry M. Rockwell Chair in Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin for 15 years.

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