Equity, Growth, and Community presents data, case studies, and emerging narratives on 11 metro regions on what’s happening with different types of multi-sector collaborations – places that are successfully working together, places working through conflict, and places somewhere in between.

These approaches -whether planner-led, business-led, conflict-driven, or high tech/high road-centered – offer a range of strategies instructive for other metro regions grappling with similar issues. Benner and Pastor have grouped the case studies into four types, organized into the chapter headings listed below.

Read on for excerpts from the book to preview the findings for each metro region, and explore lists of leaders and organization in each region who informed this research. (By the way, have you noticed the running “theme” across the metro regions’ chapter titles? Bonus points if you can spot it! Let us know by using the Twitter hashtag #GrowingTogetherMetro)

In this chapter, Benner and Pastor looked at two cases where explicit planning processes were created to create shared knowledge communities: the Salt Lake City and Sacramento metro regions. In Salt Lake, the authors lifted up the work of a nonprofit group called Envision Utah that was instrumental in creating a shared regional consciousness on population and housing growth strategies. For the Sacramento region, they highlighted the local council of government’s “Blueprint process” which helped residents come to a shared understanding on issues of transportation, land use, and housing development.

Learn more about planning epistemic communities in Chapter 4 of Equity, Community, and Growth >>

In this chapter, the authors featured three cases where regional stewardship was driven by business elites: the Grand Rapids, Charlotte, and Oklahoma City regions. Although elite-driven development efforts brought vibrant regional growth to formerly struggling cities, this approach did reveal its limitations – particularly in Grand Rapids and Charlotte – when it came to addressing issues of equity. In Oklahoma City, however, Benner and Pastor observed the notable efforts of elite leadership to move beyond ideology toward more inclusive, sustainable growth in the face of economic challenges.

Read more about elite-driven regional stewardship in Chapter 5 of Equity, Community, and Growth >>

In this chapter focusing on the role of conflict in collaborations, the authors looked at the Greensboro, Fresno, and San Antonio metro regions. How do conflict and advocacy fit into collaborative knowledge sharing – and when does it lead to inclusion becoming firmly rooted in the regional decision-making fabric? In the cases of Greensboro and Fresno, Benner and Pastor saw increasing fragmentation between competing and distant social actors in the region. However, San Antonio proved to be a case where what began with observable conflict later became a well known “culture of collaboration.”

Learn more about conflict-informed collaborations in Chapter 6 of Equity, Community, and Growth >>

With their bustling information technology industries, the Silicon Valley, Raleigh-Durham, and Seattle regions are at the forefront of the new “knowledge economy.” In Chapter 7, Benner and Pastor examined different patterns of collaboration, growth, and social equity in these innovation and technology-driven regions. In Silicon Valley, they found that past gains in pairing growth with equity have stalled in recent years as incomes rose dramatically, along with increasing inequality and stagnant job growth. The Raleigh-Durham and Seattle metros on the other hand, have shown both substantial economic growth and above average indicators of social equity. What do these contrasts suggest about the role of knowledge communities rooted in new knowledge economies?

Read more about collaboration in the new economy in Chapter 7 of Equity, Community, and Growth >>