How Micropolitan Communities Are Punching Above Their Weight Class
City Hall in Marquette, Michigan Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock.com
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In a guest post, Marquette, Mich., City Manager William Vajda discusses the increasing strength of successful smaller cities and towns.
GovExec State & Local invited William E. Vajda, the city manager of Marquette, Michigan, to write a guest post about the increasing strength of micropolitan communities. If you are a state or local public official with a great idea for a possible guest post, send us an email ...
MARQUETTE, Mich. — In an era of globally connected competition, technology has eliminated many of the traditional barriers to growth. And that has allowed micropolitan areas that embrace the new economic-development mantra of advantage, access and atmosphere to stand out.
As President Obama noted as much during his February 2011 visit to Marquette, “. . . [i]t’s in towns like this where the jobs and businesses of tomorrow will take root, and where young and talented Americans can lead. It’s towns like this where our economic future will be won.”
We’re on that path here in the largest city in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a lakeshore community with a population of more than 20,000 people. For micropolitan communities like Marquette, it’s becoming easier to punch above our weight class in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau data, as of 2012 roughly one in ten Americans lives in a micropolitan area, joining the more than eight in 10 who live in a metropolitan city. Many micropolitan areas serve as important regional centers of population and employment.
As non-rural, non-metropolitan hubs of concentrated economic activity, small cities must carefully balance development within existing business clusters while attracting new ones. Agility is the key to success, as growth is driven via a combination of traditional economic agglomeration, focused innovation and unplanned opportunity.
Marquette's historic harbor lighthouse
Marquette is a good example of a micropolitan economy on the move. The city enjoys many of the benefits of a “classic” micropolitan economy. In our case, that includes an international port connected to the St. Lawrence Seaway, a strong “town-gown” relationship with Northern Michigan University and hosting our region’s largest employer, Duke/Lifepoint Regional Healthcare System.
Nearby Sawyer International Airport provides global access, and puts Marquette within 45 minutes of major international airports in Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit, as well as 10 hours of most northern European and Asian gateway cities. As one of the largest cities on America’s “North Shore”—that shore being Lake Superior— Marquette is frequently praised for for its beautiful setting in a somewhat-off-the beaten location.
Its attraction is driven by its unique livability, walkability, bikeability and local intra- and inter-city bus connections to neighboring Ishpeming, Negaunee and other places in the surrounding county—all important elements in the “economics of place.”
Marquette's preserved ore dock
Marquette’s recent selection by the state of Michigan to become the 15th “Smartzone” is a clear demonstration of agility. “Smartzones” catalyze innovation through public-private partnerships in the state between research universities, high-technology companies, and entrepreneurs, with the express purpose of promoting business incubation and acceleration.
Marquette’s selection to serve as a co-host for this year’s Code Michigan competition, held earlier this month, highlights why the city was recognized by Michigan Chief Information Officer David Behen for “Best IT Community Engagement.” Code Michigan is an innovative statewide competition promoting greater transparency in government through improved access to state and local government data.
Participants are presented with several program challenges, as well as open access to state and local government data. Competition—and collaboration—are encouraged during the three-day codefest, and all parties pursue solutions with “the purpose of promoting citizen engagement, government efficiency, public policy, economic development and monitoring emerging issues.”
More than 20 teams participated, including students from Northern Michigan University as well as private business and other commercial organizations through Michigan and the United States. At the end of the 72-hour competition, solutions ranged from planning fishing trips to finding snowplows and reconnecting genealogists with forgotten burial locations. The results underscore the unique advantages of micropolitan areas.
Traditional economic growth in big cities typically creates higher density, higher costs of living, greater congestion and poses tougher decisions to achieve environmental balance. In a connected world, technology allows smaller cities to economically compete on an equal basis with larger ones—and can leave them better positioned to satisfy quality of life preferences for attracting contemporary workforces.
In the 238 years since the United States began, 366 metro areas and 576 micro areas have developed, serving as the homes for nine out of every 10 Americans.
How rural areas become micropolitans and from there metropolitan cities remains the focus of continued study. Leaders of successful micropolitan areas understand the need to make the most of natural endowments, and to invest in capabilities that create economic agility.
As stated by President Obama during his visit here three years ago: “To attract the best jobs, the newest industries, we’re going to have to out-innovate, out-educate, out-build. We’re going to have to out-hustle the rest of the world.”
That’s become more and more second nature in successful micropolitan communities.
About the Guest Contributor: William E. Vajda currently serves as the city manager of Marquette, Michigan, and has enjoyed a widely varied and unique career, including roles within the U.S. government, NATO, state and local government and private industry. He served in the White House supporting U.S. defense and intelligence activities, as well as supporting key program transitions between presidential administrations. He served as the Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Department of Education, and was a member of the Federal CIO Council Executive Committee, and co-Chair of the Council’s Best Practices Committee. Vajda was appointed to the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service and served as the associated director for IT and acting chief information officer with the National Security Agency, and while a member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service, Vajda served for four years with the Internal Revenue Service, holding positions as the deputy assistant commissioner for Systems Development/Deputy CIO, as well as the Acting Assistant Commissioner, International, including service as the U.S. Competent Authority.
(Top image via Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock.com, second image via MaxyM / Shutterstock.com, third image via Steve Wood / Shutterstock.com)