Rockefeller’s estate in Sleepy Hollow, New York was the perfect place to have a three-day discussion, a few days before Halloween, on the current situation in America’s metropolitan areas. Congress is bewitched, the public is spooked, and public budgets are being beheaded. Eek!

The opportunity to stay in Kykuit, Rockefeller’s mansion and now an historic site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, was a great personal experience and reminded me that wealth was widely distributed throughout American history. The estate was once 3,000 acres but is now only 300 acres, the remainder a state park or still in the family.

Across a majestic view of the Hudson River and its valley is a unique geologic feature, the Palisades, a nearly 20-mile line of steep cliffs along the west side of the river. To prevent development on the top of the Palisades, the family purchased 18 miles of the bluff and gave it to the state for a linear state park. Small public tours are given of the Rockefeller estate and its gardens. The old coach house is now the conference center. I admit that while walking back from the coach house to the home late at night, I did keep listening for the sound of horses’ hooves. Washington Irving is buried nearby, and his spooky stories were much on my mind.

The biography Titan describes Rockefeller’s rise from an accountant for a kerosene company to one of American wealthiest men. His use of monoply power to drive competitors out of business by using profits from one region to subsidize a loss in another region led to America’s antitrust laws.

It also led to a discussion of an article in the New York Times the morning of the conference. The Chinese have purchased the best technology from around the world to build a desalination plant in Tianjin. The plant is operating at a loss. When questioned, a representative of the plant said that the loss was acceptable since it was a state-owned company. The purpose he noted was to learn the technology so that China could manufacture the plants in this industry of the future. Of course if a state-owned company sells the plants at a subsidized cost, the competitors go out of business. A WTO action would take years and even if a tariff was awarded, there would be no one left to protect (read solar panels). Titan must have been required reading in Chinese business schools.

The meeting was hosted by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and organized by Neal Peirce, a national journalist, with his colleagues Farley Peters and Curtis Johnson of the Citistates Group. The 25 participants included the former mayors of Detroit and Indianapolis, the director of the Atlanta Chamber, staff from the Chamber executives association, senior academics, journalists, and representatives from The Ford Foundation, National League of Cities, and federal agencies. It led to a great discussion and recommendations on metropolitan America.

The focus of the discussion after three years of recession and slow growth turned from urban sprawl to economics and competitiveness. The story on China was a segue into a new global economy. The changed circumstances for the United States over the past 30 years, as technology and global competition have accelerated, have cities and metro areas all over the country searching for new strategies and partnerships to assist their economies. A significant topic was discussing education, such as the degree that our schools are not preparing our youth with the basic skills to participate in the job market. The need for skilled workers also led to a discussion of our dysfunctional immigration policy: The attraction of the best and the brightest to America has been a foundation of our success; now we send them home to compete against us.

While the geographic foundation of an area’s ability to compete was recognized as the metro area, the messiness and fragmentation of our government system was central to the discussion. The general consensus was that structural reform was difficult and the areas of the country that would be more successful were those that developed the least messy systems. Small steps were important. The creation of Sound Transit, The Prosperity Partnership, and the Trade Development Alliance were examples of coordinating steps in our Seattle region that I gave as local examples.

There was significant concern about the environment and how to include its importance with a public that is greatly concerned about jobs. The Atlanta Chamber president, Sam Williams, spoke about the winners and losers in the competition. The metros that will be winners in a technology economy will be those that attract and retain talent; a metro with dirty air and water and an image of smokestacks will be a loser. A clean environment is critical to future economic success.

What about the role of state governments in creating competitive metros? Cities, counties, and metros are created by state government. Few states with the exception of Oregon and Minnesota have created strong metro organizations. The feeling was, with state governments distracted by their budget issues, locals need to weave together their own solutions. There was a recognition that business leadership was essential to pushing the local governments in the metro areas to work together and collaborate. In Seattle, the Trade Alliance partnership was created by leadership from the business community.

But how to raise the local game? How to get metro areas into the world series of job competition? Some steps: First, each area should develop an honestly frank business plan or economic strategy. That plan should recognize the economic crisis but be aspirational. That plan should include a strong focus on how to employ the less educated in the metro, creating a fair and productive economy. Second, states should give incentives for metro collaboration. Third, foundations like Ford and agencies like HUD should pass around information on successful models.

A book 10 years ago depicted our country as a common market of metro economies. Together they are the national economy. It is clear that some metros will be winners and some will be losers. Our Seattle region has been doing well in this competition, so far. But our local business, government, and education leaders need to work quickly, outrunning the sound of approaching hoof beats. We should be scared.

Bill Stafford, a member of the Citistates Group, was the president of the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle for the past 20 years. This article was adapted from the Seattle region website Crosscut.  Views expressed in his article are his own and not those of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, its trustees, or its staff.

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The year was 450 A.D. Rome was besieged by imports. The people were unemployed as low-cost goods from the Germanic tribes and the Mongolian hordes flooded the empire.

Emperor Romulus Augustus Obamatus summoned Praetor Lockatus. “You are responsible for Rome’s competitiveness; why cannot we employ our citizens? Why are our chariots made in Nara, our sandals in Gongju, and our togas in Pingcheng? The Germanic tribes sell us our tools. Even our wine is from the Franks in Gaul. Our papyrus is from Egypt and our tin is from Britannia while our olive oil is from Iberia. There is rumbling in the markets. I fear for the future of Rome. What is your advice?”

The meeting led to the proclamation of a Roman Export Initiative (REI). The Roman government would assist the small and mid-size shop keepers to sell their products from Egypt to Hibernia. The Roman government would also assist major business. A State of the Empire Speech was presented to the Senate, outlining the threat and how Rome must now invest in education, research, and infrastructure, including repair of the aqueducts and roads that tie the empire together. Obamatus said that the Empire had become complacent since the Punic Wars and did not see the rise of economic competitors.

Some members of the right side of the Senate were aghast at the Emperor’s approach. These Senators were Equites from rural villages and patricians who did not want to pay taxes. The patricians’ wives wore flaxen hair imported from Germany.

Senator Paulacus rose to speak. He said that Rome’s economy must be only defended by private business. There was no role for government in assisting our exports. “What is good for Wallforum is good for Rome.” We must eliminate the Roman Commercial Service and allow market forces to work. We must worship Mercury, the god of commerce, and seek his guidance in our decisions. “And furthermore,” he intoned, “we must only spend our coins on the legions to maintain the empire. We must allow our patricins to retain their wealth to spend it wisely on their villas. We must eliminate the debt and not increase it for ple bian services.”

Lockatus rose to respond. He eloquently argued that other nations use government economic strategy, incentives, and tools to attract investment and sell into Rome. “We can no longer ignore what our competitors do to penetrate our markets. The Mediterranean has changed and we must adjust to the new realities.” Lockatus noted that some countries have stolen our chariot designs. They make cheap sundials and put our brand on them. Their companies are even government owned. They peg their currency to the argenteus. Rome must adjust or decline and may even fall.

Lockatus faced Senator Paulacus and met his challenge. Sadly, some our biggest companies no longer say they are Roman companies; they now say they are Mediterranean companies. They are no longer tied to our community. They move their work outside of Rome for cheap or slave labor and transport their wares on fast galleys made in Greece to our ports. You go to the dock and you see full urns made in North Africa arriving and empty urns leaving. The Roman government must be a leader in keeping Rome competitive and employing our citizens.

Senator Murryus rose to speak about a conversation with the Persian ambassador. Ambassador Darius observed that the Roman leadership and citizens failed to observe what is happening in the rest of the world, always looking inward. They follow the gladiators but not the economy. The ambassador joked that Rome did not even notice the approach of a military threat until someone reported a large group of elephants in the suburbs.

A group of new Senators called the “Muslum” party named after a popular Roman honeyed wine drink, supported Senator Paulacus. They advocated eliminating most the government and allowing individual business to provide the service. They noted the success of the privatized Rome fire service and its admirable new business model: If your villa caught on fire, the fire service arrived and bargained with you for the sale of your home and when they had bought it, put the fire out.

The Senators enjoyed good rhetoric and lyre music but some thought they smelled smoke. They could have been listening to fiddle music but it was not invented for 1000 years.

Bill Stafford has been the president of the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle for the past 20 years. He noted apologetically with its first publication on Seattle-based “Crosscut” website: “This historical essay is written with apologies to the University of Washington history department which after current budget cuts will only focus on American history between the Civil War and WWI.”

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Do you know the best survival strategies when an earthquake hits? Would you know how to prepare for a tornado, lean into hurricane-force winds, escape from a smoke-filled room? If fire hit your home, would you know how to use that fire extinguisher you bought years ago?

The earthquake in Haiti, followed in close order by major seismic eruptions in Chile, Okinawa and Taiwan, should be a wake up call for a re-examination of readiness across the globe. We Americans should learn to be a little less obsessed with terrorism, much more about preparedness. The reality is that an earthquake or monster storm or wildfire epidemic could spell disaster for many more of us.

There’s a lot cities can do about this. And I got my first clue sitting on a plane to Fukuoka, Japan, as part of my work organizing the annual international city study missions of the Trade Alliance and Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The city, I discovered in my reading
materials, listed a disaster training center as a tourist attraction.

What could that be about? So on arrival in Fukuoka, I made a Sunday afternoon stroll to see what the center was all about. To my amazement, there was a line of families in the parking lot waiting to enter. I toured the facility and complimented one of the workers on parents bringing their children for training. She said, “That is not correct, sir. The children are bringing their parents. All school children must annually visit the center. They like it so much, that they bring their parents on the weekend.” The facility is run by the Fukuoka fire department.

Every major city in Japan, I learned, has an experienced-based disaster training center run by the city government. There is nothing like this in the United States. My discussions with local Red Cross and other officials suggest the American system is simply not effective. But the professionals I talked with were genuinely excited by the Japanese approach.

We brought our Seattle delegation to the Fukuoka center as part of the study mission. A sample of what they saw:

In one room there’s an interactive screen the size of a wall in one’s home. In the corner of the screen is a waste paper basket. Against the wall are four red fire extinguishers. Paper in the waste basket catches fire. The fire begins to spread. Four children run to get the extinguishers and spray them on the fire. If done properly, the fire goes out. If not, the room burns up!

It turned out that none of the over 74 Seattle delegates had ever used a fire extinguisher before, although all of them had one in their home.

Another room is set up as a kitchen, with a table, four chairs and a gas stove. Four of our delegates sat at the table. The room began to rock and shake to simulate either a 5.0 or a 7.0 earthquake. One turned off the stove while the others dove under the table and held onto the table legs. Afterwards, one of our business delegates said he would bolt his home to the foundation on his return to Seattle.

The center allows one to escape a smoke-filled room, learn about floods, experience typhoon-level winds, examine a medivac helicopter, and practice CPR. We discussed home safety precautions, smoke detectors use, and other day-to-day safety tips.

A U.S. Navy base in Japan uses a center near Fukuoka for the certification of baby sitters. Training for care givers from retirement homes and hospitals, school teachers and day care provider staff is possible. Every new Toyota employee in Fukuoka must go through the center.

Back home, prompted by what we’d seen and experienced in Fukuoka, the Seattle City Council appropriated $75,000 to hire a firm to do a feasibility study, visiting other Japan centers to flesh out its possible recommendations. We concluded the best metro site for the center would be at Seattle Center, which receives 12 million visitors annually. The facility could also be connected to the Pacific Science Center to add the science of fire, earthquakes or floods. We received contributions from insurance companies, hospitals and others to complete a phase two study. We also concluded that the Japanese approach was a perfect national demonstration for Homeland Security.

We asked Fukuoka to invite the Secretary of Homeland Security to visit its facility. It’s said in the Orient that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Perhaps President Obama, on his next trip to the Far East, should take along his Homeland Security advisers — and just as important, a delegation of mayors from across America — to visit the Fukuoka facility. The next step could be a series of demonstration projects in interested cities nationwide. The cost would likely be a fraction of what we spend checking bags and padding down passengers in airports every day — and in the long run, infinitely more important.

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Do you know the best survival strategies when an earthquake hits? Would you know how to prepare for a tornado, lean into hurricane-force winds, escape from a smoke-filled room? If fire hit your home, would you know how to use that fire extinguisher you bought years ago?

The earthquake in Haiti, followed in close order by major seismic eruptions in Chile, Okinawa and Taiwan, should be a wake up call for a re-examination of readiness across the globe. We Americans should learn to be a little less obsessed with terrorism, much more about preparedness. The reality is that an earthquake or monster storm or wildfire epidemic could spell disaster for many more of us.

There’s a lot cities can do about this. And I got my first clue sitting on a plane to Fukuoka, Japan, as part of my work organizing the annual international city study missions of the Trade Alliance and Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The city, I discovered in my reading
materials, listed a disaster training center as a tourist attraction.

What could that be about? So on arrival in Fukuoka, I made a Sunday afternoon stroll to see what the center was all about. To my amazement, there was a line of families in the parking lot waiting to enter. I toured the facility and complimented one of the workers on parents bringing their children for training. She said, “That is not correct, sir. The children are bringing their parents. All school children must annually visit the center. They like it so much, that they bring their parents on the weekend.” The facility is run by the Fukuoka fire department.

Every major city in Japan, I learned, has an experienced-based disaster training center run by the city government. There is nothing like this in the United States. My discussions with local Red Cross and other officials suggest the American system is simply not effective. But the professionals I talked with were genuinely excited by the Japanese approach.

We brought our Seattle delegation to the Fukuoka center as part of the study mission. A sample of what they saw:

In one room there’s an interactive screen the size of a wall in one’s home. In the corner of the screen is a waste paper basket. Against the wall are four red fire extinguishers. Paper in the waste basket catches fire. The fire begins to spread. Four children run to get the extinguishers and spray them on the fire. If done properly, the fire goes out. If not, the room burns up!

It turned out that none of the over 74 Seattle delegates had ever used a fire extinguisher before, although all of them had one in their home.

Another room is set up as a kitchen, with a table, four chairs and a gas stove. Four of our delegates sat at the table. The room began to rock and shake to simulate either a 5.0 or a 7.0 earthquake. One turned off the stove while the others dove under the table and held onto the table legs. Afterwards, one of our business delegates said he would bolt his home to the foundation on his return to Seattle.

The center allows one to escape a smoke-filled room, learn about floods, experience typhoon-level winds, examine a medivac helicopter, and practice CPR. We discussed home safety precautions, smoke detectors use, and other day-to-day safety tips.

A U.S. Navy base in Japan uses a center near Fukuoka for the certification of baby sitters. Training for care givers from retirement homes and hospitals, school teachers and day care provider staff is possible. Every new Toyota employee in Fukuoka must go through the center.

Back home, prompted by what we’d seen and experienced in Fukuoka, the Seattle City Council appropriated $75,000 to hire a firm to do a feasibility study, visiting other Japan centers to flesh out its possible recommendations. We concluded the best metro site for the center would be at Seattle Center, which receives 12 million visitors annually. The facility could also be connected to the Pacific Science Center to add the science of fire, earthquakes or floods. We received contributions from insurance companies, hospitals and others to complete a phase two study. We also concluded that the Japanese approach was a perfect national demonstration for Homeland Security.

We asked Fukuoka to invite the Secretary of Homeland Security to visit its facility. It’s said in the Orient that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Perhaps President Obama, on his next trip to the Far East, should take along his Homeland Security advisers — and just as important, a delegation of mayors from across America — to visit the Fukuoka facility. The next step could be a series of demonstration projects in interested cities nationwide. The cost would likely be a fraction of what we spend checking bags and padding down passengers in airports every day — and in the long run, infinitely more important.

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Once upon a time in a lost world, urban regions worried about their neighbors and occasionally other cities around the nation. In today’s interconnected web of a global economy, where talent, capital and ideas are on the move like professional soccer players, an urban region like the greater Seattle area doesn’t just look to Portland, Ore., or even San Francisco. Instead, we must cast a global eye.

In 2008, the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) and Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle developed the first‑ever International Regions Benchmarking Consortium. It’s a network of sophisticated city‑centered metropolitan regions that find it mutually beneficial to compare and learn from each other through economic and social data statistics and in‑depth research into specific issues of common interest. They range from Fukuoka in Asia to Helsinki in Europe to Melbourne “down under.” Others include Barcelona, Dublin, Munich, Stockholm, Vancouver and Daejeon, South Korea. Seattle of course is included, and Microsoft and Boeing each provided substantial funding to launch the effort.

The consortium came out of the International Study Mission program of the Trade Alliance–a sort of a traveling university in which we yearly take several dozen of our civic and government leaders to see, first-hand, how another urban region around the world is competing in the global economy. On a study mission to Barcelona we were struck by how a conservative state government, a liberal city government, a socialist labor leadership and business all came together around a common economic strategy for the region. Coming back from Barcelona, our region created a Prosperity Partnership to bring various interests of the region together around a common goal.

Soon that partnership sought to benchmark our region against other urban regions. Then we soon realized we needed to do this with international urban regions as well. And thus the International Benchmarking Consortium was born. We discovered that although there are some benchmarking efforts within Europe there are none across continents on a regional level. Analyzing data across so many systems is a challenge and a pioneering effort. But it’s happening now at a grassroots level among our participating regions.

Now the consortium’s 10 urban regions have begun to meet yearly at a conference focused on a common theme. Mayors, business people, educational leaders and other civic leaders of the various regions attend. The first year we met in Seattle around the issue of “Innovative Regions.” This November, the regions met in Barcelona on the theme of “Creativity and Talent.”

There’s broad agreement among the regions of the consortium that to remain prosperous they must attract talented people to enter their workforces–both from within their own countries and from other countries. Then, having built a highly skilled workforce, they need to take smart steps to retain those talented people, to dissuades them from moving elsewhere. The benchmarking consortium commissioned a report (PDF–written by Michael Luis of Luis & Associates) to better understand the dynamics of voluntary migration among highly skilled individuals, and then to provide tools to build a workforce attraction and retention strategy. We also conducted a survey of talented people in all ten regions to gauge what factors most attract and retain them to a region.

Here are the key findings that emerged:

1. Migration is critical for future economic success. Especially in the developed world, with natural population growth approaching zero in most regions, the only way to grow is to attract in‑migrants.

2. Economic opportunity takes precedence over lifestyle. Although lifestyle considerations are becoming increasingly important, most people place the highest priority on job opportunities. Simply enhancing the quality of life of a region will not, by itself, contribute to economic or population growth beyond an increase in resident retirees.

3. But once a region is able to offer high opportunity, then quality of life becomes a major factor as they compete with other regions.

4. “Superstar” regions have both high productivity and high quality of life. Superstar regions can maintain a virtuous cycle where the presence of high‑productivity employers attracts a pool of high‑value talent, and, in turn, that pool of talent attracts more employers.

5. Migration decisions have a push and a pull component. Before deciding where to move, people need a compelling reason to leave the region where they currently live (the “push”). Superstar Regions can “pull” high value workers by offering better employment opportunities, a more attractive lifestyle, or both.

6. Households trade off housing costs and commute times against wages and amenities.

7. Amenities can be packaged into “scenes” that appeal to specific demographic groups. These can range from the most avant garde music and arts scene to the most conservative, child‑oriented or retirement‑focused scenes.

What we’ve found is that the 10 benchmark regions have been successful economically and have, for the most part, grown faster than their nations. Part of the reason for the success is they look outside their narrow geographic boundaries. They are competing in the game as it exists–not as it once was.

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For 17 years I’ve been privileged to organize Seattle region delegations of dozens of business and civic leaders on study missions to citistates around the world.

Such heavyweight global regions as Shanghai, Munich, Dublin, Hong Kong, Helsinki, Melbourne, London, Singapore, and most recently Abu Dhabi and Dubai, have all been targets of our missions. The effort, still unique among U.S. regions, has been led and coordinated by my organization, the Trade Development of Great Seattle, an affiliate of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

What each visit has underscored for us is how central cities’ hopes, fortunes, and place in the world are tied to those of the entire metro regions around them.

In the 1970s, the vision of metro regions as national and world players was just in its birth — sparked by such mayors of the era as Wes Uhlman of Seattle (for whom I handled intergovernmental relations) and Thomas Bradley of Los Angeles.

Authors and analysts have helped the effort — among them Robert L. Bish with his book on the public economy of metropolitan areas, Bill Barnes’ writings on the common market of North America, and Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson’s concept of major metro regions as the citistates of the modern world.

Currently, the work of Bruce Katz and his colleagues in the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program has focused the compelling need for national development policy grounded in metro regions’ economic strength.

Thomas Cochran, veteran executive director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, says Americans should focus less on the Gross Domestic Product measure, more on the Gross Metro Product (GMP) of our regions. The New York region’s total — $1.2 trillion dollars — is larger than India’s. The combined output of the “top 10″ U.S. metros, he notes, is greater than that of 37 states.

While we’re legally a nation of states, says Cochran, “our economy functions as a conglomeration of metro areas” — a fact that federal policies “do not yet acknowledge.”

Cochran talks of a new political alignment: “I have large counties,” he told a recent “Meeting of the Minds” conference in New York, “calling me and saying we’d like to join the Conference of Mayors. We ‘gotto get down’ and do the politics, form a political operation to demand” more responsive federal policies. “I’m going to start talking to urban county leaders,” he asserts.

The reality I see is that Americans, for too long, have remained oblivious to the increasingly competitive nature of the global economy — competition, hitting us from powerful metro regions worldwide, confronting workers, managers and owners in every office, factory and living room in America. Our jobs and businesses are now challenged on every front from software to airplanes, international education to automobiles, beef to medicine.

Our federal government, working collaboratively and responsively with the regions that are the core of our economic strength, needs to respond. President Obama, himself an urban man, ought to grasp this. A potentially key figure in his efforts should be his new Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke, who saw the challenge first-hand as a member of our Trade Alliance’s board of directors for seven years (before advancing to the Washington state governorship).

Why a national effort? To me our metropolitan areas resemble the ancient Greek city states, which only united when the Persians, under King Darius, marched across their borders. Global competition is today’s equivalent of Darius, whose attacks awoke the Greeks to the danger they were in.

The federal government needs to respect the economic powerhouse of the regions, but also help them see opportunities and forge strategies.

Before other communities, our Greater Seattle region — 80 communities including Seattle, Tacoma, Everett and Bellevue — was obliged to confront global realities. We found one of every three of our jobs (sparked by such industries as Boeing and Microsoft) was tied to the international economy. We staged our study missions precisely to keep and advance our competitive edge. The Barcelona visit in 2002 led us to create a metropolitan “Prosperity Partnership” that today is mapping our competitive course.

Every U.S. metro now needs a strong global strategy, with the federal government helping us to pull jointly, not separately.

Put another way, just as the urban policy of the United States is becoming metropolitan policy, so must metropolitan policy — to keep the United States competitive globally — become national economic policy.

Wes Uhlman used to quote Benjamin Franklin, who, as he signed the Declaration of Independence, said “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly, we will all hang separately.” Franklin also created a drawing of a snake representing the 13 colonies with the slogan, “Join or Die.” Today, his drawing would best be titled — “Cooperate, or Decline.”

William Stafford is president of the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle. His e-mail is tdags@seattlechamber.com.

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America’s relations with the Islamic world, and the Arabian area specifically, are one of the most important in our nation’s future. While foreign policy is the responsibility of national governments, relationship building actually falls to people and urban regions who find themselves at the forefront of building these relations. The Greater Seattle region has begun building a friendship bridge to the Middle East.

We–the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle and the Greater Seattle Chamber–have been mounting yearly International Study Missions of civic and business leaders of our citistate for many years. Recently we organized an annual International Study Mission program to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Our goal, as always: to study an urban region overseas to learn about how it competes in a global economy. The trips are a “traveling university,” with the student body encompassing the civic leadership of the Greater Seattle region.

The visit to the UAE was suggested by Boeing, with a goal of enhancing our leaders’ understanding of that part of the world and strengthening relations with it. We wanted to study the UAE’s successes and challenges, as well as to learn more about each other. Our delegation found the people of these two emirates to be warm and friendly and as interested in us as we were in them.

You’ve probably read about Dubai in the news–a city of indoor snow skiing, rapid growth and Texas-like fondness for all things large. But, Abu Dhabi is equally important, even if it does not receive as much public relations notice.

Abu Dhabi has 9 percent of the world’s oil reserves and could be expected to sit back and rake in the revenues. But, it’s a forward thinking place and is already preparing for a post-oil world. Masdar City in Abu Dhabi is an effort to create a zero carbon emitting city within the city, using new technologies and techniques in energy, recycling and building. It is a remarkable effort, even more so since it is occurring in a major oil producing state. The Masdar officials were interested in the Seattle region’s clean technology efforts and there is already talk of possible partnerships.

Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi’s airline) and Emirates Air (Dubai’s airline) are both ambitious enterprises which are expected to more than double their current fleet by 2015. Etihad is the fastest growing airline in aviation history and–from our perspective–a great customer of Boeing aircraft.

DP World manages the maritime activities of Dubai and has port operations all over the world. Dubai’s port is already one of the world’s largest and its aim is to be one of the globe’s four largest port complexes.

One way Dubai tries to achieve excellence is to partner with the world’s best. A key approach: building sector-specific cities within Dubai. For example, Dubai now has an Internet City, a Knowledge Village and a Health Care City. Group sector-specific companies and institutions are promoted in all these cities. Dubai leaders build these sectors by partnering with institutions they regard as the best around the world, as a step toward attracting other companies and encouraging growth. When they decided to build Health Care City, for example, they drew up a list of the top ten health care facilities in the world. They then called the top two–the Cleveland Clinic and John Hopkins–and offered to partner with them. Both of these institutions now manage health care facilities in Health Care City.

Dubai, which does not have much oil to speak of, takes such measures out of necessity, working aggressively to diversify its economy. The city has succeeded to a large measure, even in light of the recent worldwide economic downturn.

Our delegation was interested to see how both Abu Dhabi and Dubai have created and implemented long-term strategies for their urban regions, and how those strategies have led to success. They had resources, it is true. Black gold is a handy currency to have in your wallet. But many other countries and regions also have oil resources but have not achieved the success of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The United Arab Emirates is that rare combination of ample resources, strategic vision and ability to get things done. It’s a reminder that successful urban regions, whether in the United States or overseas, are well-advised to formulate smart long-term strategies.

The key to achieving success with Dubai and Abu Dhabi is relationships. We met with some of the most important leaders in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, including Seattle University graduate Mohamed Bin Ali Alabbar, now chair of Emaar Properties, one of the largest development companies in the world. UAE Prime Minister and Vice President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum met with our delegation and presented us with a personally signed book of his poetry.

Urban regions around the world, we have learned, are confronted with remarkably similar types of challenges. We have also found that we have much to learn from each other. Mohammed Omar Abdulla, Undersecretary for the Abu Dhabi Department of Planning and Economy spoke to our group during the mission. He had been to the Puget Sound area a year ago and spoke of building “a friendship bridge” between our two regions. Our recent trip put down some more planks on the bridge. In the coming weeks, months and years, we will construct more of the bridge bringing a distant land and different culture ever closer to our three ports and the entire Puget Sound region.

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