Economic Architecture The Podcast

What happens when a city decides that an innovative solution to flooding is the only path forward? Ravi Bhalla, former mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, joins host Stuart Yasgur to discuss how the dense, low-lying city on the Hudson, which flooded regularly until Superstorm Sandy forced a rethink, built a more resilient future with green infrastructure and “resiliency parks,” and how it paid for them through creative financing, including municipal bonds and a public-private partnership. He also shares why many communities get stuck at implementation, and why resilience is a nonpartisan issue that is best communicated in terms of safety and affordability.

Though Hoboken’s resilience investments were government-led, Stuart highlights the parallels to Economic Architecture: changing the strategic landscape so that more stakeholders have a stake in creating public value.