Mayor Richard Daley

Creating Smarter Cities

Peter Scheer, Meredith Whitney, Mayor Smith, Mayor Richard Daley, Rick Caruso, Dan Bitterman, John Graff, Esther Dyson

JPMorgan Chase and the Brookings Institution launched a five-year Global Cities Initiative to address the fiscal and infrastructural challenges posed by rapid urbanization and the shift toward a mobile, internet-driven economy. Experts including Meredith Whitney, Rick Caruso, and Mayor Richard Daley advocated for private-public partnerships and the privatization of public assets to fund infrastructure and solve unsustainable pension systems. The panelists concluded that municipalities must adopt hybrid financing models and consolidate pension funds to remain globally competitive while avoiding the negative feedback loops of tax hikes and business exodus.