by Melissa Germanese and William H. Woodwell Jr.

?The late, great United States? or ?Happy days are here again?? Members of the NLC Advisory Council considered these and other possible scenarios for the future of the nation?s cities as they convened in Little Rock, Ark., last week to frame an agenda for helping municipal officials strengthen local and regional economies.

The meeting advanced the Advisory Council?s work on the topic of economic vitality, with participants developing ideas for the group?s 2006 CityFutures Report, Congress of Cities workshops and other practical support for NLC members.

Key themes of the meeting included how cities of all sizes can meet the challenges and opportunities presented by globalization and the role of cities in building worker skills and ensuring high-quality jobs. 

?We?re here to focus on outputs for later this year and beyond,? said Advisory Council Chair Jim Dailey, mayor of Little Rock. ?The idea is to get good and helpful information to NLC members so they can be proactive in addressing the challenges facing their local economies in the years ahead.?

Helping the Advisory Council in identifying those challenges ? and how cities can address them ? was Bob Treadway, a futurist who has worked with a range of public and private sector clients. Treadway, who also consulted with the Advisory Council at its March 2005 meeting in Washington, D.C., helped the group apply ?futuring? tools and strategies to its work.

Treadway told the group that NLC is unique in having a panel of experienced leaders charged exclusively with identifying future trends and changes affecting the organization and its members.

Futuring, he said, provides the Advisory Council with strategies and practices for enhancing the group?s effectiveness as a ?go-to source for information and ideas? about key issues affecting cities.

In a series of hands-on exercises, the Advisory Council applied futuring techniques ? including visioning, ?futures wheels? and ?backcasting? ? as participants set out to identify key economic issues that will confront America?s cities and towns in the years ahead. In one exercise, Advisory Council members started a process to create a clear and compelling vision of a positive economic future.

Key aspects of future economic vitality, they said, included: diverse economic engines; a smart, responsive workforce; and inspirational leadership.

Another exercise had the group developing scenarios for the future of America?s local economies in the year 2017, the condition of the national economy and worker skills as two key factors.

The scenarios ranged from ?the late, great United States? (in which serious economic recession is coupled with non-relevant worker skills and low demand for workers) to ?Happy Days Are Here Again? (in which the nation experiences steady, moderate economic growth and workers are ?flexibly prepared? and in demand).

?The best way to look at the future is not guessing what it will be but looking at the range of possibilities and preparing yourself for success within that range,? Treadway said in explaining the value of developing scenarios.

The Advisory Council will be using the knowledge members gained in Little Rock to develop a vision of the future of local economies, as well as how-to guidance and success stories for local officials.

The first product of the group?s work on economic vitality will be the 2006 CityFutures Report, which will be released at the Congress of Cities in December in Reno, Nev.