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Paul Grogan is one of the nation’s great civic innovators.

Paul has had a 360-degree view of what makes cities tick—from his early service as aide to two Boston mayors, to the creation of the nation’s first national intermediary for community development, to the founding of CEOs for Cities, then to Harvard and now as president and CEO of the Boston Foundation. It’s been a tour de force of civic service, which is why Paul always has important new insights to share on cities.

He talked with us this week on “Knight Cities” about the remarkable resurgence of Boston and how it was fueled by the most unlikely developments.

Here are five things you should know from “Knight Cities” and Paul Grogan:

1.     Significant segments of the population clearly prefer urban living, including a lot of the most desirable and most skilled young people. Urban values – gathering places, life on the streets, 24-hour environments – are in ascendance, and we have to safeguard those things.

2.     Political leadership had little to do with Boston’s comeback.

3.     What’s working now for Boston is based on two major phenomena that lifted the city: The first is the way the world economy has revalued Boston’s distinctive higher education assets. The second is the cleanup of Boston Harbor. The city is now literally moving to the waterfront—both people and jobs. Neither would ever have appeared in an economic development playbook.

4.     Political leadership has to take best advantage of these positive changes that government didn’t lead but can screw up. Local government also has to provide good basic services.

5.     Today, cities have to be willing to have the big, inclusive conversations if they want to succeed economically because opportunity can come from unlikely places.

Listen to my conversation with Paul here. And sign up for the “Knight Cities” newsletter to get alerts as soon as new conversations are posted.

Look for new “Knight Cities” content posted every Wednesday here. You can follow us on Twitter at #knightcities or @knightfdn. And if you have ideas for people you’d like to hear more from, please email me.

Carol Coletta is vice president of community and national initiatives at Knight Foundation. Follow her on Twitter @ccoletta.