There is a growing convergence of interest and effort on both sides of the Atlantic to bridge geographic economic divides and reconnect residents of rural and former industrial heartland communities to economic opportunity. Where these communities continue to decline residents feel disconnected and alienated from a rapidly changing global economy and polity. Where economic regeneration has been done successfully, it serves to return community pride and optimism about the future, which in turn diminishes political discontent and the appeal of polarizing, resentment-driven and populist political movements that undermine our democracies from within.
Against this background, the Hybrid Convening on Transatlantic Work to Address “Geographies of Discontent” hosted by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy will take place in Brussels, Belgium.
Agenda
11:00 – Welcome and Context: Revitalizing Industrial Heartlands
- Peter Berkowitz, Director, European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy
- Missy Hughes, Wisconsin State Economic Development Director
11:30 – Heartland Politics & the Economic Response: Sharing fresh transatlantic analysis of the politico-economic dynamics and implications of geographic economic disparities; and current national work to close economic divides
- Jamie Driscoll, Mayor of North of Tyne, United Kingdom
- Dr. Raphael L’Hoest, German Deputy Director General, Structural and Regional Policy, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
- Andy Levin, Former US Congressman (D-Michigan), Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
- Corinna Zierold, Head of Just Transition Coordination and Senior Policy Advisor, IndustriAll European Trade Union
- Moderator: John Austin, Director, Michigan Economic Center, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution & Chicago Council on Global Affairs
13:00 – Break (light lunch will be served)
13:15 – Keynote Address: The Democratic Imperative to Deliver for the Heartlands
- Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Senior Advisor and Vice-President, Bertelsmann Foundation
13:45 – Making Economic Change on the Ground: Roundtable Discussion with transatlantic leaders and economic change practitioners
- Christina Kampmann, Member of State Parliament, North Rhine-Westphalia
- Bill Peduto, Former Mayor of Pittsburgh, now Distinguished Executive in Residence at Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy
- Katie Rosenberg, Mayor of Wausau, Wisconsin
- Thomas Wobben, Director for Legislative Works, European Committee of the Regions
- Moderator: John Austin, Director, Michigan Economic Center, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution & Chicago Council on Global Affairs
14:50 – Closing Remarks – The Work Ahead
- Peter Berkowitz, Director, European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy
- Wolfgang Mössinger, German Foreign Office, retired
This conference is organized within the context of a delegation trip of local decisionmakers from the United States to Belgium and Germany. The trip’s goal is to engage in a transatlantic exchange on the challenges facing the industrial heartlands in Europe and the United States as well as best practices to tackle them. The delegation trip is organized within the Transatlantic Dialogue on the Industrial Heartlands Project.
Contact Persons
About the Project
“Transatlantic Dialogue on the Industrial Heartlands: Shaping the Future” is a project by Das Progressive Zentrum in cooperation with the Progressive Policy Institute (Washington, D.C.), The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the BMW Center for Contemporary German and European Studies at Georgetown University. The project is co-funded by the German Ministry of the Economy and Climate Action’s European Recovery Program. Through transatlantic dialogue and exchange of best practices, our project’s goal is to shape the transition to a cleaner, greener, modern global economy in the industrial heartlands in Germany and the United States through dialogue and exchange of best practices between experienced actors across politics, the private sector, and civil society on both sides of the Atlantic.
The event is organized in cooperation with
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