Kip Bergstrom

Kip Bergstrom is the Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, with a portfolio that includes the development of the innovation economy, statewide branding, as well as the arts and culture, historic preservation and tourism functions. The common denominator of these functions are what Kip calls “placemaking” — the intentional, multi-dimensional development of our cities and towns in such a way that they succeed economically without losing their soul. He has held executive positions in the private, public and non-profit sectors, including serving three mayors and three governors. His interests, writings and accomplishments span the full spectrum of economic development, including branding, tourism, education and talent, transportation, entrepreneurship, technology commercialization, business recruitment and retention, real estate development, and the interface of the human network and the natural system. He was the first student to specialize in economic development at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, from which he earned a Masters in City and Regional Planning. Throughout his career, he has been a passionate advocate of place-centric economic development.

Lean Governing

Lean Governing is not government reform. It is the action-focused exercise of collective will by local elected officials and citizens. It is a process of discovery, of robust experimentation and learning by doing.

How might Lean Governing be applied in places where local leaders believe in Lean Urbanism and want to support it? The term Lean Governing is used here to connote a network of distributed leadership among public entities, citizens and businesses, focused not on a massive, long-term reform of government, but rather on robust experimentation with alternative models through a set of opportunistic partnerships.