There is a demographic inversion taking place in America, according to Alan Ehrenhalt, and he'll be here to tell us about it. Alan is executive editor of Governing Magazine, and in an article last month for The New Republic, he contends that we are beginning to see a new trend in America where people with financial options about where they live are moving to cities, while those with less money are moving to the edges of metro areas.

We'll also talk with author, activist and community organizer Harry Boyte. His new book, The Citizen Solution, is about the many ways Americans are now asserting themselves as citizens to shape their communities.

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This week on Smart City we'll examine cities in history and how their past shapes their future.

Ed Glaeser is our first guest, and he is always asking the question, "What makes cities work?" He is a prolific researcher at Harvard University's Department of Economics, and he has challenged the wisdom of the ambitions of shrinking cities to get bigger.

We'll also speak with Randy Gragg, who is the former Architecture and Urban design critic for Portland's daily newspaper, The Oregonian. He has been a close observer of that city's evolution to what is widely considered to be one of the nation's most successful cities. He is collaborating on a fantastic mash-up of art, architecture and urban design called City Dance in downtown Portland's public fountains designed by Lawrence Halprin.

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