This morning at the canary gallery, the Birmingham Business Alliance hosted Dr. Bruce Katz with local business leaders and had a lively discussion about opportunities and challenges of global urbanization.

The BBA is the economic development agency for the Birmingham 7 county region. Dr. Katz is the inaugural Centennial Scholar at the Brookings Institution, a cross institutional role after he served as VP and Co-Director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program which he founded in 1996. Dr. Katz is also co-author of The Metropolitan Revolution (Brookings Press, 2013) which promotes the position that cities are the vanguard of policy innovation and problem-solving globally. Dr. Katz is a graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School and visiting professor at the London School of Economics. 

During the discussion, young professionals expressed optimism and thoughts about Birmingham; Dr. Katz admonishing the professionals to become engaged in areas of their passions and get behind progress and effectuate change without focusing upon traditional hierarchy to obtain change.