{"id":194954,"date":"2025-09-02T20:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T20:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/194954\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T20:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T20:07:11","slug":"its-time-for-san-diego-to-think-like-a-city-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/194954\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s time for San Diego to think like a &#8216;city-state&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/downtown-SD-1.jpg?ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/downtown-SD-1.jpg\" alt=\"Downtown San Diego\" class=\"wp-image-154743\"  \/><\/a>Downtown San Diego from the north. (File photo by Chris Stone\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n<p>As global politics fracture and national governments grow more dysfunctional, one truth becomes increasingly evident: cities \u2014 not countries \u2014 are now driving innovation, climate solutions, and economic growth. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Opinion-Logo.jpg?ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"144\" height=\"63\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Opinion-Logo.jpg\" alt=\"Opinion logo\" class=\"wp-image-24635\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cities across\u00a0the world are stepping into leadership roles once reserved for nation-states. They are behaving like classic \u201ccity-states\u201d \u2014\u00a0an independent city with power over itself and surrounding\u00a0territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Singapore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Singapore<\/a> stands as the clearest example of a true city-state: sovereign, strategic and globally influential. Dubai operates with city-state autonomy inside the UAE, managing its trade zones and courts. London forges climate pacts and investment deals beyond the reach of Westminster. Barcelona promotes itself internationally, bypassing Madrid. These cities aren\u2019t waiting for permission to lead \u2014 and neither should San Diego.<\/p>\n<p>San Diego has all the ingredients to become a city-state in function, if not in law. Consider: (1)\u00a0We\u2019re binational.\u00a0Tijuana and San Diego together form a cross-border mega-region of over 7 million people. No other U.S. city has this kind of economic, cultural and logistical integration. (2)\u00a0We\u2019re creative and innovative.\u00a0San Diego competes globally in blue tech, biotech, defense, clean energy, and higher education. UC San Diego and the <a href=\"https:\/\/scripps.ucsd.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scripps Institution of Oceanography<\/a> make us a hub of world-class research. (3)\u00a0We\u2019re diverse and young.\u00a0Our population reflects the global future \u2014 culturally open, multilingual and resilient.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a call for independence from the United States. It\u2019s a call for greater autonomy in charting our future. What would this look like? Here are some ideas:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Deeper\u00a0collaboration with Tijuana\u00a0on transit, environmental policy, higher education, and cross-border innovation.<\/li>\n<li>Greater\u00a0local control\u00a0over housing, water resources, immigration policy, and economic development.<\/li>\n<li>Global visibility\u00a0through a dedicated San Diego Office of Global Affairs and presence in international forums.<\/li>\n<li>Stronger\u00a0economic resilience\u00a0by investing in green infrastructure, regional supply chains, and digital self-sufficiency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But there are real obstacles. Legal limitations restrict what cities can do. Federal and state resistance is likely. Regional inequalities could widen if the urban core surges ahead without inclusive planning. And no city \u2014 San Diego included \u2014 can thrive in isolation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Still, the greater risk is stagnation. The world is shifting rapidly. The old model\u2014waiting for top-down solutions from Washington or Sacramento \u2014 is broken. Cities that act boldly and think globally will shape the future. The rest will get left behind.<\/p>\n<p>Yet San Diego faces (1)\u00a0Fragmented leadership.\u00a0The city, county, port, universities and private sector often work in silos. Coordination and a shared vision are lacking. (2)\u00a0A lack of big ideas.\u00a0While transit and infrastructure plans exist, bolder moves \u2014 like high-speed rail to Tijuana or full port autonomy \u2014 remain unchampioned. (3)\u00a0Underwhelming global presence.\u00a0Too often, we look inward when we should be forging global partnerships and asserting our voice on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p>In today\u2019s world, it\u2019s not size that matters \u2014 it\u2019s adaptability. San Diego, by its nature, is nimble and transborder. We don\u2019t need to wait for permission to lead. We just need the will.<\/p>\n<p>Our future depends on whether civic, business, academic and political leaders dare to embrace a new mindset \u2014 one that positions San Diego not just as a great American city, but as a globally connected, self-reliant, binational region. A place that thinks, acts and partners like a city-state.<\/p>\n<p>We have the vision. We have the assets. What we need now is alignment and bold leadership to match the moment.<\/p>\n<p>John Eger is a professor emeritus at San Diego State University\u2019s School of Journalism and Media Studies. He previously served as chair of Mayor Susan Golding\u2019s City of the Future Task Force, telecommunications advisor to President Gerald R. Ford, legal assistant to FCC Chairman Dean Burch, and senior vice president of CBS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Downtown San Diego from the north. (File photo by Chris Stone\/Times of San Diego) As global politics fracture&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":194955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1386,1582,276,17749,108611,9920,2426,2676,3549,7264,23134,55993,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-194954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-barcelona","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-cities","13":"tag-city-state","14":"tag-dubai","15":"tag-innovation","16":"tag-london","17":"tag-san-diego","18":"tag-sandiego","19":"tag-singapore","20":"tag-tijuana","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115136512189470331","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}