Columbus Metropolitan Club, Columbus Urban Growth Corporation, Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council

The City of Columbus must have the leadership and a workable mechanism involving all surrounding communities to manage growth for the benefit of the entire metropolitan area. Leadership means bringing people together to work collaboratively, selflessly and productively toward the good of the greater community. Nationally, many communities are experimenting with new forms of metropolitan governance to address issues of infrastructure, transportation and land use planning. The Columbus metropolitan area must join that trend.

According to speaker Bruce Katz, "If we want to celebrate a true urban revival sometime in the next century we need to break out of the city-only strategies that we have pursued for the past 30 years and develop and embrace a larger metropolitan agenda. Therein lies the promise and the challenge."

Richard Moe took that idea further: "Local governments must cooperate in developing strong regional strategies for using already developed land more efficiently, making thoughtful choices about where new development should go and not go, and setting up regulatory mechanisms that are fair, clear, consistent, rational and far-sighted. The answer to sprawl is sound land-use planning and revitalization of older communities."