How to make

a city great
A review of the steps city leaders around
the world take to transform their cities
into great places to live and work
Shannon Bouton
David Cis
Lenny Mendonca
Herbert Pohl
Jaana Remes
Henry Ritchie
Jonathan Woetzel
How to make
a city great
Half of the worlds inhabitants3.6 billion
peoplelive in cities. The proportion is the
highest in mankinds history, and it is growing
fast. By 2030, 60 percent of the population5
billion peoplewill be city dwellers. The ways
in which cities develop and cope with such
rapid urbanization are of huge importance to
citizens. But they matter to others too. Cities are
the main source of global economic growth and
productivity, and they account for most resource
consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Urban development therefore matters to the well-
being of all the worlds occupants.
The formidable task of managing growing cities
in ways that support and drive economic growth
while reducing pollution and safeguarding
resources led McKinsey & Company to launch, in
2011, the Cities Special Initiative (CSI). The aim
is to help those in the public, social, and private
sectors to make informed decisions about city
development strategies, and to help them build
the skills to implement those strategies. This is
not a new space for McKinsey. Research by the
McKinsey Global Institute into the economics of
urbanization, collaboration with think-tanks such
as the Urban China Initiative, and client work with
city leaders, private developers, and city service
providers all testify to McKinseys engagement in
urbanization. This latest report by the CSIHow
to make a city greatexamines what it takes to
advance a citys performance.
Various studies have looked at how cities
perform in economic, environmental, and social
terms, and ranked them accordingly. Such
studies help us to understand the elements of
a great city. But they do not tell us what their
leaders do to make them great. Moreover, an
absolute measure of performance risks masking
the efforts that have helped some cities to rise
from low down the rankings.
This research starts to fill that gap. Through
analysis, case studies, and interviews, we
sought to learn what mayors and other leaders
do to make their cities better places in which to
live and work. The findings make clear there
is no single method. Rather they suggest that
successful leaders find a balance between three
areas. They achieve smart growth, which means
securing the best growth opportunities while
protecting the environment and ensuring that all
citizens enjoy prosperity. They do more with less.
And they win support for change by delivering
results swiftly. The report describes some of the
managerial practices they deploy.
We are grateful to the city and community leaders
who talked to us in detail about their visions,
philosophies, successes, and failures. Their
experiences form the basis of our findings
and, we hope, will inform others in their task of
improving the cities in which so many live, and
upon which so many more depend.
Jonathan Woetzel
Director, McKinsey & Company
Foreword
How to make a city great
is written by experts and
practitioners in McKinsey
& Companys Cities
Special Initiative along
with other McKinsey
colleagues. To send
comments or request
copies of this publication,
contact us at:
[email protected]
Copyright 2013
McKinsey & Company.
All rights reserved.
This publication is not
intended to be used as the
basis for trading in the
shares of any company or
for undertaking any other
complex or significant
financial transaction with-
out consulting appropriate
professional advisers. No
part of this publication may
be copied or redistributed
in any form without the
prior written consent of
McKinsey & Company.
Contents
Introduction
Achieve smart growth
Do more with less
Win support for change
Acknowledgements
1
5
19
27
35
vii
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
1
What makes a great city? It is a pressing
question because by 2030, 5 billion
people60 percent of the worlds
populationwill live in cities, compared
with 3.6 billion today, turbo-charging the
worlds economic growth.
1
But for the leaders
who govern cities, the challenges are tough.
Those in many developing nations have to
cope with urbanization on an unprecedented
scale. Those in developed nations, where
growth prospects are weaker, wrestle with
aging infrastructure and stretched budgets.
All are fighting to secure or maintain their
competitiveness and hence the livelihoods
of residents. All are conscious of the quality
of life enjoyed by present citizens. And all
are aware of the environmental legacy they
will leave citizens of the future if they fail to
find more sustainable, resource-efficient
ways of expanding their local economies and
managing their cities.
A citys performance has to be measured in
a way that reflects all of these concernsthe
strength of the economy, social conditions,
and the environment. Various studies
have looked at these three measures of
performance either separately or together,
and ranked cities accordingly.
2
But while such
studies can help us understand the elements
of a great city, they do not tell us what city
leaders actually do to make their cities great.
What drives a citys performance? Moreover,
an absolute measure of performance can
overlook the fact that each city has a different
starting point; a relatively low ranking for a
city that had an extremely low starting point
would mask the efforts and innovations that
helped such a city make significant progress.
Therefore, to understand performance, it
is important to consider not only current
measures but also the trajectory of change.
With this in mind, we undertook the
research presented in this report. We
developed and analyzed a comprehensive
database of urban economic, social, and
environmental performance indicators,
interviewed 30 mayors and other city leaders
in city governments on four continents, and
synthesized the findings from over 80 case
studies that sought to understand the steps
city leaders had taken to improve a whole
range of processes and services, from urban
1 United Nations,
Department of
Economic and Social
Affairs. World
Urbanization
Prospects - The 2011
Revision. http://esa.
un.org/unup.
2 For example, the
Mercer Quality of
Living Index, the
Siemens Green
City Index, and the
McKinsey Global
Institutes Urban
Performance Index.
Introduction
Exhibit 1
Cities can
transform
themselves into
great places to live
and work by doing
three things
Adopt a strategic
approach
Plan for change
Integrate environmental
thinking
Insist on opportunity
for all
Assess and manage
expenses rigorously
Explore partnerships
Introduce investment
accountability
Embrace technology
Craft a personal vision
Build a high-
performing team
Create a culture of
accountability
Forge stakeholder
consensus
Achieve smart growth Do more with less Win support for change
2
the research
This report is the result of extensive research conducted over the course of a year by McKinsey teams around the world.
The research reviewed data measuring city performance along economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Three
sources were particularly helpful in this respect: the Mercer Quality of Life Index, the Siemens Green City Index, and
MGIs Urban Performance Index. We also drew on MGIs Cityscope databasewhich includes data on demographics,
household structure, and income, and national economic and demographic dataand on Chinas 2010 and Indias 2011
censuses.
Simultaneously, we conducted extensive interviews with city leaders, other public servants, and community leaders in
over 30 cities around the world to capture their experience, learning, and advice. We added to this by examining more
than 80 case studies of cities that had improved their performance, developed from literature, the news media, and Web
searches. While the report leans heavily on the data and other information collected, the synthesis and prioritization of
the insights are ours.
This report is the most recent in a growing body of work by McKinsey and the MGI on cities and urbanization. For further
reading on the topic, please see the following reports:
Preparing for Chinas urban billion (March 2009)
Indias urban awakening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth (April 2010)
Urban America: US cities in the global economy (April 2010)
The urban world: Mapping the economic power of cities (March 2011)
Building globally competitive cities: The key to Latin America (August 2011)
Urban world: Cities and the rise of the consuming class (March 2012)
Infrastructure productivity: How to save $1 trillion a year (January 2013)
These and other articles on urban development are available on mckinsey.com.
About
planning to financial management and social
housing (see sidebar About the research).
Whatever their starting positions, cities can
change. Singapores rise from a colonial harbor
to a world-class city in just a few decades and
New Yorks turnaround from the economic
decline of the late 1960s and 70s are just two
examples. The wide range of measures city
leaders in our research used to drive change
makes it hard to assess the impact of each
measure quantitatively. Yet some common
themes emerge. Leaders who make important
strides in improving their cities, no matter their
starting point, do three things really well: they
achieve smart growth, do more with less, and
win support for change (Exhibit 1, previous
page). This report describes some of the
managerial practices that enable leaders to do
these things successfully.
3
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
4
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
5
All city leaders want their local economies to
grow. Economic growth, however, does not
automatically deliver a better quality of life for
citizens and can often harm the environment.
Indeed, many cities find they have to take
expensive remedial action to fix problems
caused by growth itself. It is better, then, not
to assume that all growth is good, but to learn
what smart growth looks like.
Smart growth depends upon a strategic
approach that identifies the very best growth
opportunities and nurtures them, planning so
the city and its surroundings can cope with the
demands growth will place on them, integrating
environmental thinking, and ensuring that all
citizens enjoy their citys prosperity.
ADOPT A STRATEGIC APPROACH
While all city leaders look for ways to promote
their citys prosperity, what marks the best
among them is the strategic manner in which
they pursue that goal. Simply offering tax
breaks to entice newcomers or deciding
without sufficient analysis that the citys future
lies in the latest nascent industry, be it clean
technology or biotechnology, is unlikely to
have much impact. A more rigorous approach
is required to identify the citys best growth
prospects. This is not to suggest that city
governments should get overly involved in
business. Rather, their leaders vision for the
city should be colored by a sound assessment
of where the citys competitive advantages
lie, so they can identify potential clusters of
companies that can power growth. Cities
must then support growth by making targeted
investments and offering a client service to
businesses to help them flourish.
Identify competitive clusters
Different cities have different starting points.
But each needs to decide which sectors can best
support growth and focus on those. Economic
growth is likely to be stronger if clusters of
companies from a sector or sectors develop.
3

Their physical proximity to one another will
lower supply costs, improve R&D collaboration,
and assist the building of an appropriately
skilled workforce, among other benefits.
A first step therefore is to identify a citys
competitive advantages. The exercise might
reveal that existing clusters have potential
to be strengthened or that new ones can be
nurtured. Cities in the southeastern United
States, including Atlanta, Savannah, and
Nashville, have succeeded in attracting foreign
automakers because of their core strengths:
talent, proximity to centers of innovation and
higher education, good transport, and low
input costs. London, meanwhile, has succeeded
in forming a new high-tech cluster known as
Tech City as a result of a national government
initiative to foster growth. Within three years in
a small part of the citys East End, the number
3 Michael Porter,
Location, competition,
and economic
development: Local
clusters in a global
economy, Economic
Development
Quarterly, 2000,
Volume 14, Number 1,
pp. 1534.
Achieve
smart growth
of digital and creative companies in the cluster
grew from 11 to 300.
Invest to support growth
Targeted public-sector investment may be
required to attract business to the city. As
the city of New York pointed out in its 2011
Sustainability Plan, Todays mobility of people
and capital has created fierce competition
among cities. Were competing for the best
ideas and the most capable workforce. To thrive
economically, we must create a setting where
talented entrepreneursand the businesses
they growwant to be. In response, the city
has set no fewer than 400 targets to be met by
the end of 2013 to improve public safety, green
areas, mobility, and much more.
Such improvements require investments of
varying degrees. Dubai has invested hugely
in infrastructure to transform itself into an
international business and tourist center that
is now home to the worlds largest port and
the offices of 120 of the Fortune Global 500.
The activities thus generated account for 25
percent of Dubais annual GDP and for 20
percent of foreign direct investment for the
entire United Arab Emirates. On a different
scale but no less targeted in its intent, the state
of Georgia in the United States spent $14.5
million to build a job-training facility in West
Point for would-be automotive workers to help
secure an investment by car manufacturer Kia.
According to Chris Cummiskey, commissioner
of Georgias Department of Economic
Development, Our people went over to Korea
to see how [Kia] runs a manufacturing plant.
Then we replicated that, set up an onsite training
center, sorted through 30,000 applications,
found the best, and trained more than 1,000
people. On the first day, the company opened at
100 percent efficiency.
4
The job-training facility
has since trained all 3,000 employees hired by
Kia at its plant in West Point.
The city of Bogots investment to attract IT
companies was on a smaller scale but no less
important to attracting business. Lack of
English-language skills was perceived as an
obstacle for the IT sector, so we worked with
the Economic Development Secretary to
tackle it, said Adrianna Suarez, director of the
citys investment promotion agency, Invest
in Bogot. In 2008 we developed a program
4 Georgia Department
of Economic
Development,
Georgia quick
start, Competitive
Advantages:
Workforce, http://
www.georgia.
org/competitive-
advantages/
workforce/Pages/
workforce-
training.aspx.
6
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
7
called Talk to the World to certify English-
speaking people. Right now, 10,000 people are
certified as English speakers, helping investors
to find talent.
Think client service
Cities can help attract companies and
organizations to their chosen clusters by holding
regular conversations with industry leaders;
forging connections between businesses,
investors, and talent; and organizing road
shows and conferences. Mayors can play a
leading role, using their convening power and
connections and leading trade delegations that
travel to target regions. Mike Bell, mayor of
Toledo, Ohio, in the United States, succeeded
in attracting Chinese companies to his city
even though Toledo ranks 182nd in Forbess
2012 Best Places for Business and Careers.
The mayor pitched Toledos advantages
affordability, manufacturing know-how, and
central location at the intersection of two major
interstate highwaysand made three official
visits to China with this pitch. His reward
was Chinese investment worth more than
$6 million, a new metalworking plant for a
Chinese company, and the promise of further
investment worth $200 million.
5
But it is not only about shouting a citys wares.
Key to successful economic development
campaigns is the attitude that investors and
businesses are the citys clients and the city
must do what it can to help them thrive. Our
main question is, how can we, the city, serve
them well? commented Marcelo Haddad,
president of the investment promotion agency
Rio Negcios in Rio de Janeiro. Bogots
investment promotion agency provides
free investment support services including
fact-finding visits to the city, administrative
support to apply for permits and comply with
regulations, and programs to develop a trained
workforce. Between 2010 and 2011, foreign
direct investment in Bogot increased by 27
percent. The UK government made legislative
changes to entice companies to Londons
Tech City, making it easier to issue visas to
those running entrepreneurial companies and
updating intellectual-property rights laws.
5 America and China:
Working partners,
The Economist,
August 25, 2012,
http://www.
economist.com/
node/21560875.
Some cities engage still more deeply,
believing that an important way to drive a
citys economic growth is to home in on local
companies that demonstrate high growth
potential, as opposed to supporting all small
businesses or focusing only on trying to attract
new ones. The Edward Lowe Foundation, a US
organization that promotes entrepreneurship,
sees this as an often-overlooked element of
what it calls economic gardening. It might
entail connecting high-growth companies
with those that can offer strategic advice on
how to develop new markets or refine their
business models, for example.
6
PLAN FOR CHANGE
Smart growth means planning for what lies
ahead. The world has many examples of cities
that have expanded rapidly without any kind
of planning. The result is chaotic at best, but
too often it also impedes further development
and is detrimental to citizens quality of life
and the environment. City leaders therefore
need to be forward looking, planning for
growing and changing populations and the
impact on transportation, schools, hospitals,
and many other aspects of city life. They also
need to make sure those plans can be adapted
over time to reflect the changing needs of the
city. The most effective cities adopt a regional
perspective and make the planning process
inclusive and flexible.
Adopt a regional perspective
Good city leaders think about regional
growth, not just city growth, for as the
metropolis expands, they will need the
cooperation of surrounding municipalities
and regional service providers. Without it,
the result will likely be local competition
and conflict, over- or underinvestment in
infrastructure because of concerns about
who pays for what and who benefits, and
confusion over roles and responsibilities.
An example of the need for cooperation
is Chinas Pearl River Delta region,
which has five competing international
airports in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai,
Macau, and Hong Kong, all within an
area of 39 square miles (100 square
kilometers). The consequencesdelayed
flights, extra fuel costs, and concerns
6 Edward Lowe
Foundation,
Economic gardening:
An entrepreneur-
oriented approach
to economic
prosperity, 2012,
http://edwardlowe.
org/edlowenetwp/
wp-content/themes/
implementprogram/
downloads/
infosheets/
EconomicGardening.
pdf.
8
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
9
about safetyled to an agreement in
2012 aiming for more collaboration.
A regional planning model helps overcome
such conflicts and so promotes growth not
only in the city but also in the entire region.
In Germany, the city-state of Berlin is
surrounded by the state of Brandenburg. The
two states inevitable impact on each other
has shifted their relationship from informal
collaboration to more formal arrangements,
to the extent that they have a significant
number of joint authorities, courts, offices,
institutions, and agencies. One such joint
organization, the Joint Spatial Planning
Department, lays out land use policies and
transportation guidelines for the whole
region, which are followed by the two states
own planning organizations. Similarly,
the US city of Portland, Oregon, set up a
Metro Council to oversee regional planning.
Cities and counties in the region have
representation on the council, but all have
given up much of their own planning power
in order to meet regional planning goals with
the engagement and support of communities
throughout the area.
Make planning an inclusive process
City planning needs to be a dialogue between
parties, not an outcome dictated by any single
party. Top-down planning alone, by a remote
regional or metropolitan authority, cannot
hope to address local concerns adequately,
while a bottom-up approach led by smaller
bodies risks unnecessary duplication and
overlap, particularly in transportation and
utility services. Smart growth therefore
ensures a planning process that combines the
two, and good planners are adept at managing
the process that enables it.
The French region of Ile de France (essentially
the Paris metropolitan area) adopted this
approach in 2008, when municipal and
county leaders came together to develop
a regional plan that set targets to be met
by 2030. A framework coordinates public
policies on transportation, open space, land
use, social inclusion, and housing; regulates
local plans (for example, by prescribing
density requirements); and oversees the
location of regional infrastructure and
transport. The views of local associations and
public institutions have resulted in thousands
of modifications. San Franciscos approach
to planning also takes care to involve citizens.
The Trans Bay Redevelopment Project, for
example, appointed a citizens advisory
committee and has held three large facilitated
workshops to gather local input on the design
of the development.
Keep it flexible
Cities are increasingly adopting flexible urban
plans that serve as frameworks into which they
fit projects proposed at a local level. These
plans are akin to a set of guiding principles to
help planners to assess new proposals, rather
than documents that determine the future
once and for all. As a result, they evolve along
with the citys changing needs while ensuring
that the city continues to make progress
toward long-term targets.
This kind of flexibility requires a great deal of
skill, and cities that excel at urban planning
have multidisciplinary planning departments.
San Franciscos planning department works
in this flexible way. The department, which
employs some 100 people skilled in areas
including urban planning, economics, and
transportation, has a live plan based on
principles that promote the citys vision of
protecting, preserving and enhancing the
citys economic, social, cultural and aesthetic
values. The plan does not, however, specify
precise usages for specific plots. Project
proposals are instead assessed case by case
with the principles in mind.
INTEGRATE
ENVIRONMENTAL THINKING
The way city leaders integrate the
environment into economic decision making
is vital to smart growth. Already, cities
produce 70 percent of global greenhouse gas
emissions, largely from energy consumption
in buildings and transportation.
7
This takes
a heavy toll on the local as well as global
environment. Traffic congestion, for example,
raises the cost of doing business, while the
air pollution it generates threatens citizens
health. Lack of regard for sustainability could
threaten long-term growth prospects too, as
resources become scarcer.
8
The optimum approach to environmentally
aware growth recognizes the costs of
degrading the environment and so integrates
environmental goals into the planning
process. Vancouver, for example, has a
Greenest City Action Plan that sets targets
for 2020. In common with Copenhagen,
Europes most sustainable city according
to Siemens European Green City Index,
it aims to become carbon neutral (see
sidebar Copenhagen: Building for the
environment, page 12). Seattle has set a goal
of zero waste to landfills, as have the Belgian
region of Flanders, Kamikatsu in Japan,
and Bath in England. Planning and building
infrastructure in an environmentally
conscious way and using a combination
of pricing, regulations, and information
campaigns to encourage citizens to safeguard
resources can help achieve such goals.
Plan and build green infrastructure
At the current pace of urbanization, the
worlds cities combined will add 65 million
inhabitants a year between 2010 and 2025,
according to MGI research.
9
The resulting
demand for infrastructure will mean that
each year, for example, Indias cities will
add floor space equivalent to the entire
residential and commercial square footage
of the city of Chicago. Chinas cities will add
2.5 times that amount. Sustainable growth
will therefore depend upon investment in
infrastructure that reduces emissions, waste
production, and water use, as the way we build
and renovate our cities will determine their
ecological sustainability for decades to come.
Improving existing infrastructure, building
green districts, and making the most of scarce
land resources by building high-density
communities can all help.
Improve existing infrastructure. Most
cities have opportunities to reduce
the environmental impact of existing
infrastructure. The 2011 retrofit of New
Yorks Empire State Building transformed
the approximately 80-year-old building into
a landmark of green construction and placed
it in the top 25 percent of US commercial
office buildings in terms of energy efficiency.
The retrofit implemented cutting-edge
technologies, including windows, automated
7 UN-Habitat, Cities and
Climate Change - Global
Report on Human
Settlements 2011. http://
www.unhabitat.org.
8 McKinsey Global
Institute, Resource
revolution: Meeting
the worlds energy,
materials, food, and
water needs (November
2011), mckinsey.com.
9 McKinsey Global
Institute, Urban world:
Mapping the economic
power of cities (March
2011), mckinsey.com.
10
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
11
monitoring and controls systems, and high-
efficiency cooling equipment. The $13.2
million invested in energy efficiency reduced
annual energy consumption by 38 percent,
generating a payback period of 3.5 years and
reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 100,000
metric tons over 15 years.
10

Many cities have sought to tackle traffic
congestion and local air pollution problems by
reserving stretches of road space for buses only.
Istanbul, faced with delays in the construction
of its subway system, dedicated 26 miles
(nearly 42 kilometers) of existing road lanes
to a new bus rapid-transit system. Buses in the
system now travel the route approximately
twice as fast as cars and arrive at 30- to
45-second intervals, giving continuous service
to some 620,000 passengers a day.
11
Bogot,
Delhi, and Pittsburgh are among the many
other cities that have introduced bus rapid-
transit systems over the past two decades.
Build green districts. Many cities seek to
improve the energy efficiency of individual
new buildings and infrastructure by
requiring that they meet emerging green-
building standards. Some go further, seeking
to build entire green districts. There is
no single definition of what constitutes a
10 Johnson Controls, Empire
State Building, Products
and Solutions: Building
Efficiency, http://www.
johnsoncontrols.com/
content/us/en/products/
building_efficiency/esb.
html.
11 P. Alpkokin and M. Ergun,
Istanbul Metrobs:
First intercontinental bus
rapid transit, Journal of
Transport Geography,
2012, Volume 24, pp.
5866, available at http://
www.sciencedirect.
com/science/article/pii/
S0966692312001548.
12
Building for the environment
The city of Copenhagen has invested substantially in green infrastructure and is now ranked the most
sustainable city in Europe, according to Siemens European Green City Index.
Energy. Each district has a centralized heating system that takes waste heat from electricity
generation and uses it to heat buildings.
Transportation. The city has a world-class infrastructure for non-automobile transportation,
including an extensive and expanding subway system, bus networks, and a suburban rail system.
As a result, all residents live within about a quarter mile (400 metres) of public transportation.
Copenhagen is also known for its bicycling culture and the infrastructure that supports it. There are
241 miles (388 kilometers) of cycling routes within the city, and 50 percent of commuting trips are
by bicycle. A traffic system, called Green Wave, is being designed to ensure that cyclists will never
encounter a red light on their commute to and from work. In addition, the city aims to facilitate the
rollout of electric vehicles by installing charging infrastructure.
Water. In 2001, Copenhagen embarked on a scheme to replace its entire water main network
over the course of the century, upgrading 1 percent of the network, or 5.6 miles (nine kilometers),
each year. Water leakage is now 5 percent, compared with an average of 20 to 25 percent for most
European cities. The city has also modernized the sewage system by building rainwater reservoirs,
which store wastewater during storms until there is capacity in the sewage system, and systems to
clean the water and minimize nutrient salts and heavy metals.
Waste. As well as regulations, incentives, and information campaigns to encourage waste diversion,
the city has developed a pilot plant that separates household waste into organic and inorganic
materials and produces biogas and bioethanol. These are used as an energy supply for the citys
district heating.
Neighborhoods. Copenhagen is piloting carbon-neutral neighborhoods with energy-efficient
residential and commercial buildings, sustainable energy networks including renewable-energy
installations, and low-emission transportation systems.
Copenhagen
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
13
green district, although most aim to optimize
resource consumption at scale. Exhibit 2
(overleaf) offers examples. Transit-oriented
designs, microgrids, district heating and
cooling systems, and rainwater management
systems are all features of a green district.
In some emerging cities where there is
relatively little existing infrastructure, city
leaders have the chance to build sustainable
infrastructure from the outset at relatively low
additional cost, surpassing the environmental
credentials of even the most eco-friendly of
todays older cities. Some may even decide to
build entire eco-cities.
Build high-density communities. Land
consumption is inevitably a concern when
considering a citys growth, as land is
becoming a scarce resource, and competition
for it intense. This dictates the approach
to urban planning of the mayor of Rio de
Janeiro, Eduardo Paes. Its not about
extending boundaries, he says. Its about
regaining lost spaces. Singapore approaches
the problem methodically, identifying
plots that are underutilized with a view to
encouraging high-density development
wherever possible. New York encourages
the refurbishment of existing housing units,
sometimes splitting them into smaller units
or studios and building on rooftops.
High-density communities are a response not
only to land constraints but also to concern
about the environment, as they tend to use
fewer resourcesallowing people to walk
rather than use cars, for example. They also
tend to reduce unit infrastructure costs.
However, high-density areas need to be close
to good public transportation, so their success
usually requires the expansion and upgrading
of mass-transit systems. The city of Chicago
decided to increase the concentration of
new housing and commercial developments
around existing or extended rail lines. Its Go
to 2040 plan set the ambition that 75 percent
of residents homes should be within walking
distance of public transit by 2040.
14
Chengdu, Chinas westernmost megacity, is
building a prototype city designed for 80,000
residents who will live and work within a half-
square-mile circle, where any one location
will be no more than a 15-minute walk away
from any other. The plan aims to cut landfill
by 89 percent, wastewater by 58 percent, and
energy use by 48 percent compared with a
typical Chinese city the same size, reductions
largely facilitated by the citys design. While
the outcome remains to be seen, Chengdus
ambitious sustainability goals may prove to be
a model for future investment in environmental
infrastructure in China and beyond.
Safeguard resources
A mixture of pricing mechanisms
(both penalties and incentives),
information, and regulation can be used
to improve the use of resources.
Pricing. Zurich uses pricing to reduce the
volume of household rubbish, requiring
residents to dispose of rubbish in garbage
bags that cost around $4.25 each. As a result,
household rubbish has decreased by 40
percent, with the average Zurich resident
generating 25 percent less waste than the
average European. Singapore uses pricing
to tackle road congestion. Its electronic
road-pricing system, recognized as one of
the worlds most innovative, sets a variable
congestion charge according to prevailing
traffic conditions. As well as reducing
congestion and emissions by encouraging
drivers to take less-congested roads, join
Exhibit 2
Technologies
deployed in self-
defined green
districts
Completed
In progress
1 Transit-oriented development
2 Expected population on completion
Source: Literature searches; interviews
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How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
15
carpools, or use public transport, the
scheme generated revenue of $125 million
for the city in 2010. Plans include combining
these variable fees with a charge for the
distance traveled.
Information. Sometimes offering more
information can change behavior. When the
local authority of Les Sorinires in western
France announced a pilot scheme to charge
residents for each garbage bin they put out
for collection, it simultaneously began to
track waste volume throughout the city
and give householders data on the amount
of waste they were generating. The result?
Waste dropped by more than 20 percent, and
the volume of recycled waste rose. The plan
to charge residents was not implemented, as
it was deemed no longer necessary, and the
change in behavior has persisted.
Regulation. Green building codes can
increase energy efficiency in new buildings.
Having discovered that commercial
buildings consumed 80 percent of the citys
electricity, the authorities in Washington,
DC, implemented building codes that
require all construction projects in publicly
owned buildings to apply for Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
certification, a standard for measuring a
buildings sustainability. To encourage
owners of private and residential buildings
to seek certification, the city offers rebates
on retrofit costs and expedites the permit
application process. Washington and New
York City now have the most LEED projects
in the United States. San Francisco uses
regulation to reduce waste sent to landfills.
Residents are obliged to compost leftover
food, while construction companies have to
recycle or reuse at least 65 percent of waste
at building sites. As a result of the mandates
plus the collaboration of local waste-
recycling company Recology, 77 percent of
the citys waste is now recycled or composted
rather than sent to landfill, the highest
diversion rate in the United States.
INSIST ON OPPORTUNITY
FOR ALL
A great citys value proposition is not
confined to luring business. It offers
opportunities to all residents, seeks to reduce
inequalities, and protect the vulnerable.
According to the mayor of Boston, Thomas
Menino, My job is to make sure that
everybody has an opportunity in Boston.
More than 50 percent of our population is
made up of different minorities. We have
to look out for everyone. This includes
good education, good schools, and good
services. There are myriad ways to promote
opportunity and quality of life for all.
Our research points to three of the most
important actions:
Connect the city outskirts. Those living on
city peripheries can feel excluded and find
it hard to take up available jobs unless there
is transportation linking them to the center.
This was the case in Boston, where the train
line running between the central business
district and the southern outskirts of the city
had only three stops, leaving some of the most
densely populated and poorest city regions
three miles (4.8 kilometers) from the nearest
station on the line. The Massachusetts Bay
Transit Authority therefore committed $37.2
million to upgrade the line in 2002, adding
four new stations. Communities along the
route have since been revitalized: community
development corporations have bought
and rebuilt 1,500 housing units, developed
780,000 square feet (roughly 72,000 square
meters) of commercial space, and created
some 1,300 jobs.
Promote social integration. Progressive city
governments run schemes to integrate the
most vulnerable members of society. For
example, Chengdus Migrant Management
Office, which is a division of city government,
historically focused on controlling migrant
populations. Today it has an explicit mandate
to help migrants access the citys educational,
health, and community resources. Los
Angeles and Amsterdam run schemes to
reduce youth criminality and participation
in gangs. And Berlin runs an initiative
to improve education, employment, and
social and ethnic integration in struggling
neighborhoods. Thirty-four districts are
under the schemes management, and many
have been transformed to the extent that they
are no longer regarded as deprived.
Build affordable housing. Globally, one
billion people32 percent of the urban
populationlive in slums. Education and job
creation are the primary means of helping
these populations move into the formal urban
structure. But as living standards rise, access
to affordable inner-city housing is critical
not only to meet the housing needs of those
looking to move into the city, but also to ensure
that lower-income residents are not forced
out of the city by housing costs as the city
16
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
17
grows in prosperity. Great cities are diverse
communities. Recognizing this, the Hong Kong
government is proposing requiring developers
to provide affordable public housing as a
condition of being allowed to build commercial
properties. In Singapore, over 80 percent
of the population lives in government
subsidized housing designed to ensure access
to affordable housing for all income levels.
And in San Francisco, Hope SF, a partnership
between the city and private developers, is
transforming 2,500 distressed public housing
units on five sites into thriving, mixed-income
communities with more than 50,000 housing
units. The scheme also involves investment in
surrounding neighborhoods.
18
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
19
Few cities are awash with financial resources. On
the contrary, their budgets are under pressure.
A first step is therefore to secure all revenues
due, and do so at low cost. A high-performing tax
agency that strives to implement best practices
in all its functions will help. So too will incentives.
So Paulo has increased the collection of its
value-added tax (VAT) by 7 percent a year since
2007 by offering a 30 percent rebate on VAT paid
by consumers who submit an electronic receipt
for the goods bought. The receipt reduces the
underreporting of sales by store owners. Other
ways to increase revenues include sponsorship
arrangements such as naming rights and the
leasing of city-owned assets for private use.
London secured 50 million ($74.4 million) over
eight years from Barclays Bank to sponsor the citys
bicycle-sharing program and 37 million ($55.1
million) over ten years from Emirates Airlines to
sponsor a cable car across the river Thames.
Then, to make the most of the available
resources, effective city leaders rigorously
assess and manage expenses, explore
private partnerships, introduce investment
accountability, and embrace technology. The
constant aim is to do more with less.
ASSESS AND MANAGE
EXPENSES RIGOROUSLY
Cost-efficient operations are a hallmark of high-
performing cities in good times and bad. Besides
making the best use of taxpayers contributions,
cost efficiency is key to prudent budgeting: by
staying lean in good times, cities can put funds
aside to cover operating costs when tax revenue
falls short, thus avoiding cuts to core services
when the cycle turns and people need the services
most. The elimination of waste and deployment
of limited resources for maximum impact are
therefore priorities at all times.
There are numerous ways to improve a
citys cost efficiency. A few possibilities are
outsourcing to lower-cost centers, cost-efficient
IT investments, organizational changes that
eliminate overlapping roles, and a review of
processes to eliminate wasteperhaps to ensure
customer service inquiries get routed directly
to the right team, for example. All save money
that can be better spent elsewhere. In 2011, New
Yorks Metropolitan Transit Authority launched
a strategic procurement initiative aimed at
realizing savings of at least $100 million. New
measures included the introduction of real-time,
online reverse auctions, which were intended to
save on contracts for office supplies, computers,
and facilities services, and the downgrading
of standardized specifications on vehicles and
computers, which aimed to reduce unit prices.
Zero-based budgeting processes can help
identify scope for cost efficiencies. Traditional
budgeting procedures work on the assumption
that the baseline is automatically approved, so
department heads have to justify their spending
Do more
with less
only when it is set to rise or fall. With zero-based
budgeting, every line item of the budget must
be approved. This is the process that the US
city of Phoenix, Arizona, deployed for the fiscal
year 201213, after citizens complained that
their citys spending plans were opaque and
questioned water rate increases, employee
promotions, and longevity bonuses. The result
was a balanced budget, in contrast with shortfalls
in the two previous years.
EXPLORE PARTNERSHIPS
Many cities remain reluctant to enter private-
public partnerships (PPPs), wary of giving
away control of what they see as core functions
to the private sector, potential job losses, and
the quality of service delivered. Moreover, if
the function can be value-creating (as is often
the case for waste management, for example),
why hand it over to the private sector? PPPs
are certainly not always the right choice.
However, successful city leaders have learned
that, if designed and executed well, private-
sector expertise harnessed within a PPP has
the potential to deliver lower-cost, higher-
quality infrastructure and services, making
them an essential element of smart growth.
For example, in 2011, the US city of Denver,
Colorado, set up the East and Gold Line
Enterprise (Eagle) PPP to develop 122 miles
(196 kilometers) of commuter and light rail.
The cost of the project came in $300 million
below internal estimates.
12
Paes, Rio de Janeiros mayor, has eagerly
embarked on a string of high-profile PPPs,
including the redevelopment of the citys old
port area, and the TransOlimpica road and Bus
Rapid Transit development. Im thrilled when
the private sector shows interest in projects
where it can make a profit. It allows me to spend
money on projects in which it has no interest.
The private sector does not want to pay for
free schools, for example, he says. But he, like
others, realizes that the key to a successful PPP is
the ability to define concrete, measurable goals
for which private enterprise can be rewarded. If
the objectives are complex and diffuse, so that
it becomes difficult to align profit with goals
without undermining some other desirable
outcome, PPPs may not be the right solution.
Cities that have a successful track record therefore
develop and publish a clear cost-benefit analysis
to gain and demonstrate support from citizens
and business alike, establishing economic and
socioeconomic goals and performance metrics
to avoid conflicts of interest that can arise if the
public sector focuses on the quality of service
delivery and undefined social benefits, while
private partners focus on economic efficiencies.
At the same time, they avoid overspecification,
such as dictating precisely the technologies that
must be deployed or the design requirements.
Such strictures can lead to higher costs, and
finding the best solution can be left to the better-
qualified private partner once goals are set. One of
the best-known PPP markets in the world is that
for road building in the United Kingdom. There,
20
12 Denver Regional
Transportation
District (RTD),
Eagle P3 project:
Procurement
lessons learned,
Denver RTD,
August 31, 2011.
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
21
the government imposes only very high-level
guidelines and regulations, such as the conditions
under which toll roads can be built.
Cities that have not entered into a PPP before will
need to hire legal and strategic advisers with a
track record of successful deals. This will ensure a
smooth pathway to well-designed agreements and
give the private sector greater confidence that the
city has done the proper analysis and has the right
legal frameworks in place. Canadas Vancouver,
which has $3.5 billion worth of public and private
investment in transportation infrastructure
projects, is supported by Partnership BC, a
company that is owned by the province of British
Columbia, reports to the minister of finance, and
has vast private-sector experience.
INTRODUCE INVESTMENT
ACCOUNTABILITY
It is notoriously hard for any organization to
manage large capital investments well, and
cities are no different. Often they end up with
gold-plated systems that are unnecessarily
expensive, especially if contractors are allowed
to charge on a cost-plus system. Alternatively,
they cut back on capital expenses only to
end up with higher operational costs, which
can then lead to cash constraints and poor
performance of services. Deferring decisions
to buy a new bus fleet, for example, could raise
the cost of operating the current one due to
mounting maintenance expenses. Investment
accountability helps prevent such problems
and so enables city authorities to do more with
less. But like PPP projects, it requires highly
capable staff with experience in evaluating and
running capital projects.
A large component of investment accountability
is knowledge of how best to prioritize spending.
The first step is developing a portfolio of
infrastructure projects and evaluating them
to ensure the proposed projects meet specific
goals. There must be an analytical approach
to measuring the return on investment (ROI),
using quantitative metrics to reflect both the
traditional ROI elements of a public capital
project and the citys economic, environmental,
and social goals. In the traditional category are
feasibility, impact on safety, and the extent to
which the investment can defer maintenance
spending. The second set of goals may include
job creation, tax revenues, carbon reduction,
and access to social services.
The analysis often reveals potential to meet
some needs better by improving existing
capacity rather than investing in costly new
projects. One European city that was anxious
to reduce traffic congestion sought to entice
more commuters on to public transportation,
in part by improving the efficiency of the
existing network. It instigated a range of
measures such as ensuring maintenance
was carried out overnight, improving the
coverage and frequency of buses, creating
dedicated bus lanes to speed up public
transportation, introducing tickets that could
be used on any mode of transport and allowed
passengers to make any number of changes,
and expanding the ticket distribution system
so passengers did not have to stand in line
to buy tickets. The average time saved on a
typical commute is about 16 minutes as a
result of these kinds of measures.
A recent MGI report emphasized the extent
to which money is unnecessarily spent on
new infrastructure when what exists can be
improved.
13
For example, reducing transmission
and distribution losses in power and water
(which can be more than 50 percent of supply in
13 McKinsey Global
Institute, Infrastructure
productivity: How
to save $1 trillion a
year (January 2013),
mckinsey.com.
22
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
23
some developing countries) often costs less than
3 percent of the cost of adding the equivalent
new production capacity.
Active management is another component
of investment accountability. The same MGI
research identified potential to save up to $400
billion annually in global infrastructure costs by
streamlining delivery of major projects. Much
of the opportunity lies in speeding up approval
processes, investing heavily in the early stages
of project planning and design, and structuring
contracts to encourage time and cost savings
by, for example, stipulating that the lowest-
cost means must be used to meet a prescribed
performance specification.
Governance systems are the third component.
Often, these systems will need to be upgraded
so cities can plan and manage infrastructure
projects optimally, as many cities currently
lack the necessary specialized skills in project
development, accounting, and management.
In 2005, San Francisco developed a new
governance structure to oversee the capital
planning process. It included a Capital
Planning Committee that is responsible not
only for prioritizing capital projects, but
also for forecasting maintenance costs at the
department level and engaging citizens in the
decision-making process.
EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY
Technological advances give city leaders the
tools to collect vast quantities of data, whichif
the right systems, structures, and people are
in placecan be analyzed and applied to help
reduce capital and operating expenditures,
increase revenues, and improve services.
According to Seth Pinsky, president of the New
York City Economic Development Corporation,
Using data is fundamental, and were
constantly investing in this area.
There are many examples of cities that are
doing the same. Smart technology is deployed
to dim or turn up street lighting automatically
by using real-time data on prevailing light
conditions, saving as much as 30 percent on
energy costs while still providing residents
with safe lighting. Cameras at intersections
are used to optimize traffic lights and cut
transit time while reducing air pollution and
the costs of tackling it. And crime is reduced
by analyzing crime data and using predictive
technology to indicate where illegal activity
is likely to occur.
14
Singapore uses OneMap,
an online portal that enables government,
businesses, organizations, and residents to
use geospatial data. Parents use it extensively
to find elementary schools within 0.6 mile
(1 kilometer) of their homes, as Singapores
system for placing children into an
elementary school gives priority to those who
live within that distance.
Smart technology also means data from
different government sources can be
combined and analyzed to reveal valuable
insights. Several leading cities are creating
teams whose purpose is to do exactly this. In
New York, the analysis of reports of clogged
catch basins along with data showing which
nearby restaurants had not reported using
licensed waste haulers suggested which ones
might be illegally dumping grease down the
drain. Inspectors then targeted the likely
suspects (and gave them information about
biodiesel companies that would pay to collect
the used oil). As a result, inspectors identified
illegal dumping in 95 percent of site visits.
Similarly, cross-departmental data analysis
found ways to improve the efficiency of
building inspectors and so reduce the risk of
fire in so-called illegal conversions (buildings
housing more people than legally permitted).
By combining data about neighborhood
economic conditions, the age of a building,
whether the building was under foreclosure,
and complaints made by neighbors, inspectors
were able to detect major safety problems in
80 percent of their site visits, compared with
13 percent previously.
15
Big data and smart technologies can also help
engage citizens and business in the process
of improving a city and its services. Consider
these examples:
In Boston, citizens use a digital application
to register concerns about streets that
need cleaning or potholes that need fixing,
14 Brian Heaton,
Predictive policing a
success in Santa Cruz,
Calif., Government
Technology, October
8, 2012, http://www.
govtech.com/public-
safety/Predictive-
Policing-a-Success-in-
Santa-Cruz-Calif.html.
15 Sharon Machlis,
How New York data
analysts not only boost
efficiency, but save
lives, Computerworld,
September 19,
2012, http://blogs.
computerworld.com/
business-intelligence
analytics/21017/
how-new-york-data-
analysts-not-only-boost-
efficiency-but-save-lives.
24
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
25
helping the city authorities to address the
problems quickly without first having to
dispatch employees to investigate. Potholes,
for example, are detected by volunteer
citizens who use a mobile app that applies an
accelerometer and GPS to record and locate
any bumps hit by the car the user is driving.
Berlin posts information online about
pending changes to its land use plan,
helping the city collect feedback from many
more residents.
Alameda County, California, which covers
most of the East Bay region of the San
Francisco Bay Area, launched an interactive
Budget Challenge Web site. The site invited
users to tackle the same policy decisions
that the mayor and city council faced in
balancing the budget: which programs to
cut, which funds to shift, which taxes to
raise, and by how much.
In London, the transport operator
Transport for London has shared its data
to encourage the development of service-
oriented apps such as BusIT London, which
suggests the best bus route for any journey
in the city depending on the users location.
Bucheon City in South Korea provides
drivers with real-time traffic information
from various sources, such as cameras
and speed radars, helping drivers to avoid
congested roads and city authorities to track
traffic volumes and plan for new roads.
26
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
27
Many city leaders craft a personal vision that
drives their endeavors. Yet however far-sighted
the vision, its real value lies in the changes
people come to see in their lives. Achieving
smart growth and doing more with less both
deliver results. But no change effort is easy,
and momentum can even attract opposition.
Successful city leaders therefore need large
reserves of resilience to see their vision through.
They never give up. But they cannot do it alone.
To win long-term support for change, they will
need to deliver results swiftly, and for that, they
will need to build a high-performing team of
civil servants, create a working environment
where all employees are accountable for their
actions, and take every opportunity to forge
stakeholder consensus. This reinforces the
personal vision. Indeed, it is the means by which
the vision will be ultimately realized.
CRAFT A PERSONAL VISION
Struggling cities often lack a coherent vision
that the city hall and citizens understand and
support. Outstanding cities, in contrast, are
associated with a vision that powers progress.
In my job as CEO of the city, a large part of
what I do is articulate the vision of the board
and the community, says R. T. Rybak, mayor
of Minneapolis. That vision expresses the citys
history as well as its aspirations, and Rybak
believes it is his job to convey this vision to
residents and to guide city hall toward realizing
it. It influences everything from long-term
capital plans to the look of the citys streets.
Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York,
embodies the idea of mayor as CEO. His vision is
of New York City as a business and its residents
as customers who deserve high-quality
services. The concept influences the working
style of every city department. For example,
a 24-hour, 3-1-1 call line makes it easier and
faster for citizens to find information. The city
introduced this service after the newly elected
mayor came across an overturned garbage
can, asked who should be notified to clean up
the mess, and received three different answers
from three of his aides.
Personal commitment to the vision gives it
credence. There is no doubting, for example,
the commitment of Boris Johnson, mayor of
London, to making the city a success on the
world stage. This was particularly apparent in
relation to the Olympic Games. As the games
infrastructure took shape, Johnson became
personally involved in the major transit
expansions and upgrades (even, in the run-up
to the event, recording messages to be played
on the London Underground to encourage
commuters to plan their journeys during the
games), while supporting alternative modes of
transportation by bicycling to work.
In Seoul, the vision of the mayor, Park Won-
soon, is of a city that is open and democratic,
Win support
for change
values he attempts to exemplify through his own
actions. Park was a student activist, expelled from
school for taking part in political demonstrations,
and before his election was a human rights lawyer
and leader of civic organizations that sought
to expose government corruption. He came
into office pushing for more open, democratic
government. His philosophy was No one great
genius can lead a city . . . . Instead citizens need
to lead, and my job is to get their ideas into
the system. Civic committees, mechanisms
for e-government, a participatory budgeting
process, and increased disclosure of government
information are ways of putting that philosophy
into action. Although many civil servants are
uncomfortable with the level of disclosure, Park
believes that if the mayor is determined and
sets a strong example, civil servants will follow.
To symbolize openness and accountability, his
inauguration was conducted entirely online with
residents texting questions to him.
BUILD A HIGH-PERFORMING TEAM
Park was aware that he could not bring about
change on his own, however strong his passion.
Other city leaders know this, too. The thing Ive
done most successfully is hire good people, says
Chris Coleman, mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Manage but dont overmanage. Trust the team.
Treat them professionally. In this way, mayors
can move from being visionaries constrained by
election cycles to managers who can drive lasting
change throughout a city. It entails recruiting and
retaining the best talent, getting the most out of it
though collaboration, and investing in learning.
Recruit and retain top talent. To attract the best
people, the best city governments have targeted,
data-driven recruitment processes, and they
strive to employ people who bring skills and
perspectives from the public, private, and social
sectors. Such diversity helps city governments
understand, communicate, and work with a
broad range of stakeholders. Were trying to
create the right mix of people and skills at our
municipality government, says Bostons Mayor
Menino. We want graduates from Harvard, very
well trained, as well as people with deep local
knowledge of our problems and neighborhoods.
You need be thoughtful in creating the right mix
of folks. You need to work hard to attract the
right people. Some cities find they have to make
28
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
29
significant changes to the working environment
to meet this challenge, offering opportunities for
employee development along with competitive
compensation and benefits. The sidebar
Singapore: Retaining talent describes how
this city goes about recruiting, developing, and
retaining high performers.
Get the most from the team through
collaboration. To get the most from teams, cross-
departmental collaboration is needed to facilitate
idea generation and project coordination. In New
York City, Mayor Bloomberg has introduced the
Office for Long-term Planning and Sustainability,
a dedicated body that reports directly to the
mayor and focuses on cross-agency issues and
coordination of long-term plans. Bloomberg has
styled his office around the bullpen of a trading
room, with the mayor, deputy mayors, and chiefs
of staff sharing one large, open-plan room. Staff
members are encouraged to hold meetings on
central daises rather than in closed-off conference
rooms. In Luxembourg, the former mayor of
Luxembourg City, Paul Helminger, sums up
city government thus: There is one key rule to
organization of city governments: you need to
ensure organization across departments.
Invest in learning. Increasingly, new skills are
required of civil servants. As technology and data
analysis become central to setting local policy
and delivering city services, for example, many
Retaining talent
Singapore has attracted, developed, and retained top talent by making substantial changes to its
work environment. Today, Singapores civil service is ranked among the most efficient and least
corrupt in the world.
Compensation. The civil service in Singapore receives market-competitive salaries
benchmarked to the private sector.
Meritocracy. Compensation and promotions are largely performance based. Once a year,
supervisors meet staff individually to review their performance, report on it, and offer guidance for
earning promotion. Staff members are assigned a mark for currently estimated potential, which
forecasts their career path and speed of progress based on skills and character.
Training and development. Government agencies are given training budgets, and it is their
responsibility to ensure that staff members receive training. Public officers receive 100 hours of
training a year. Every employee is given individual guidance on what programs to take. Strong
performers are put forward for leadership development opportunities such as departmental
rotations and specialized leadership training.
Employee engagement. Singapore stresses the importance of public service, framing the work
of city officials as a duty. Supervisors, managers, and other government leaders highlight this
sense of duty to motivate frontline public servants.
Singapore
civil servants require additional training
in the use of technology. In Japan, as a
result of decentralization, city governments
have begun to train staff in legal and policy
formulation skills. In China, the federal
government has invested in more than ten
institutes whose sole purpose is to provide
training to current city officials.
CREATE A CULTURE OF
ACCOUNTABILITY
No city vision is likely to be realized
without a culture of accountability that
holds individuals responsible for progress
toward it. First, cities need plans that map
the way forward, with metrics to gauge
progress. After the 2011 earthquake and
tsunami, Tokyo revised a previous ten-
year plan with new objectives to improve
disaster management and international
competitiveness. To meet these objectives,
it set quantifiable goals such as completing
seismic assessments of all elementary and
middle schools, developing 741 more acres
(300 hectares) of green space, and using
business incentives to attract 500 additional
foreign companies to Tokyo by 2016.
Performance management systems help
achieve such goals and can bring about a culture
of accountability at all levels. Minneapolis
has developed a program called Results
Minneapolis, whereby each department head
is assigned a series of metrics and targets he or
she is responsible for achieving. A senior team
then meets with a different department head
each week to track progress, discuss strategies,
and identify areas where the city is performing
well and where there are opportunities for
improvement. The information is also published
online, allowing residents to track performance.
Many city leaders use performance
management offices or delivery teams to assist
or monitor progress toward goals, particularly
for high-priority projects. For example,
when Chicago launched its Retrofit Chicago
Residential Partnership, aimed at providing
homeowners with resources and information
relating to residential energy efficiency, the
citys Innovation Delivery Team ran a data
analysis to determine where retrofits would
30
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
31
have the greatest impact, and helped design an
outreach strategy to reach homeowners who
might be interested.
FORGE STAKEHOLDER
CONSENSUS
Building consensus with the local population
and the business community through
transparency and two-way communication
is key to defining a city leaders vision. Get
everyone engaged, says Bostons Mayor
Menino. Listen to the neighborhoods. The
story of change is not about the mayor, it is
about the engagement. Make people believe and
understand youre making their lives better.
This paper has already described how
many city leaders strive to engage with
their stakeholders during the planning
process, and how they commandeer the
power of big data to engage their citizens
in the management of the city. In addition,
cities can harness the broader power of their
business and civic communities though
formal organizations or new structures.
World Business Chicago, a not-for-profit
economic development organization,
recently expanded its board to include more
than 60 business leaders. With a revised
mission to promote broad economic growth
rather than simply attract business, it has
a staffed program office to implement
its growth strategy and ten leadership
committees that include business, not-for-
profit, academic, and other civil leaders.
Similarly, collaborative partnerships
between businesses, non-profit bodies, and
government can be effective at setting a
regional agenda and broadening support for
their policies. For instance, the Itasca Project
in the MinneapolisSaint Paul metro region
is a virtual coalition of civic and business
leaders who contribute expertise in the field
of planning and funding, and in other areas
affecting regional economic competitiveness,
such as education and job growth.
32
Pilot programs also are important for
winning support, as they test whether a new
service or an innovation will work with a
small group of people before it is rolled out
widely. Mayors cannot afford many mistakes
if they are to maintain citizens good will.
Mayor Bloomberg in New York City launched
his historic reform of the school system as a
pilot, and he did the same with making Times
Square pedestrian-friendly and adding bike
lanes in the city. Similarly, Mayor Jaime
Lerner piloted bus rapid transit in Curitiba,
Brazil, before rolling it out to the entire city.
Public backing also improves the likelihood
of reaching longer-term goals. Mayors
are only too aware that their tenure will
be limited. But if longer-term plans are
articulatedand gain popular support
because of short-term successes
subsequent city leaders may find them
harder to ignore.
While city leaders will want to consider all
the ideas addressed in this report, they will
have different priorities. Those priorities
will be shaped by their own passions and
vision, and by their cities needs. City leaders
will find themselves at different starting
points in their quest to make their cities
great, so each will have a different mandate.
For some, kick-starting economic growth
may be more important than improving
performance. Imposing budgetary discipline
may be the burning issue for others, while
some may feel that further progress depends
upon building an ace team. But wherever the
starting point and whatever the ambition,
delivering results is the only fuel for change,
and delivering results will ultimately hinge
upon mastering many of the management
practices described in this paper. City
leaders who attain that mastery will find
themselves equipped to achieve smart
growth, do more with less, and win support
for changethe three hallmarks of any
journey on the road to greatness.
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
33
34
How to make a city great
McKinsey Cities Special Initiative
35
How to make a city great builds on
the insights and advice of city and
community leaders in over 30 cities
around the world. We would like to
thank all of those who took the time to
share their stories and learnings with
our team. This report would not have
been possible without their input.
McKinsey Director Jonathan Woetzel
(Shanghai), Senior Expert David Cis
(Alumnus), and Cities Special Initiative
Manager Shannon Bouton (Detroit) led
the research. Kamal Fahmy Salama,
Fiona Grieg, Kimberly Henderson, and
Badal Malick each managed project
teams, whose members included
Sabrina Harster, Nicola Purrello,
Kathryn Maunders, Gracie Brown,
Lindsay Slote, David Newsome, and
Justin Erlich. The report was greatly
improved by the editing expertise of
Joanne Mason and the graphics skill of
Alisdair Wood.
We would like to thank numerous
colleagues past and present in
McKinsey and MGI for their vital input.
They include: Darya Borisova, Eric
Braverman, Penny Burtt, Michael Chui,
Shaina Doar, Tyler Duvall, Marwa Joy
Zohdy, Jonathan Law, Michael Lierow,
Laurie Mahon, Barbara OBeirne, Rob
Palter, Yakov Sergienko, and Julia Silvis
for their contributions to the content;
Fernando Chan and Jennifer Sternberg
for help developing case studies;
Allison Barmann, Andres Cadena,
Robert Carsouw, Patricia Ellen, David
Fubini, Guangyu Li, Anish Melwani,
Alejandra Restrepo, Thongchie Shang,
Katrin Suder, Vittorio Terzi, Roland
Villinger, Stefano Visalli, Tim Welsh,
and Youngwook Yoo for their help
in securing interviews; and Jeremy
Oppenheim, Scott Nyquist, David
Court, Jimmy Hexter, Eric Labaye, Scott
Beardsley, Karsten Hofmann, and other
members of the McKinsey Knowledge
Committee for their support, which
made this research possible.
Acknowledgements
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