Two new reports are out from CEOs for Cities, and their authors are with us this week to discuss their findings. Charles Leadbeater, who consults worldwide on innovation strategy, suggests that cities now face problems more like clouds than clocks that cannot be solved with traditional, top-down approaches. Charles has advised companies, cities and governments around the world on innovation strategy and drawn on that experience in writing his forthcoming book , which charts the rise of mass, participative approaches to innovation from science and open source software, to computer games and political campaigning.

Joe Cortright claims cities have advantages that are going unrecognized. They offer more variety, convenience, discovery and opportunity, and these advantages are the source of economic advantage. Joe is an economist and principal with Impresa Consulting based in Portland, Oregon, specializing in regional economic analysis, innovation and industry clusters.

Charles Leadbeater and Joe Cortright are our guests this week on Smart City.