Consolidation is impossible today in U.S. cities of any significant size. At least, that was the conventional wisdom until last year when the people of Louisville, Kentucky and the surrounding Jefferson County voted to merge their governments. It was a surprising end to the third attempt at consolidation there.

To prepare for new regional government, Mark Muro and his colleagues at the Brookings Institution's Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy have just published a report called, "Beyond Merger: A Competitive Vision for the Regional City of Louisville."

Mark Muro will talk about his findings and how they define a broader agenda for cities throughout the nation. Mark is a senior policy analyst with the Center. Before joining Brookings, Mark was with the Morrison Institute at Arizona State University working on similar public policy issues.