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Pittsburgh and its suburbs spend so much time fighting that the region has fallen behind more unified areas nationwide, a new study finds.

As a result, the Pittsburgh area and Pennsylvania as a whole rank low in such attractive characteristics as job growth and high in unattractive ones such as population loss, according to the report by The Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy in Washington, D.C.

The Pittsburgh-based Heinz Endowments and the Philadelphia-based William Penn Foundation paid $325,000 for the 15-month study, "Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania." A separate four-page summary profiles the Pittsburgh area.

The report comes just days after Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy suggested suburbanites must overcome racism before the city and county will be able to merge. Those comments likely set back efforts at regional cooperation, said Jerry Paytas, interim director of Carnegie Mellon's Center of Economic Development and a contributor to the report.

"I don't think you ever get people to cooperate by insulting them, particularly in that way," Paytas said. "The thing we need to do is really show how the region works together."

Unless the region capitalizes on its distinct advantages, from a well-educated populace to beautiful scenery, it runs the risk of falling farther behind and seeing its quality of life erode, the study warns. Researchers call for local leaders to work together on a comprehensive strategy for overall growth.

"Regions as divided as yours are at a deficit in a very tough national competition going on," said Mark Muro, senior policy analyst at the Brookings Institution, who worked on the report. "Ultimately, it will cost you, and the result will be higher taxes and lower income."

Researchers who worked on the study have planned a series of forums throughout the state this week to lay out the results and suggest remedies. They will attend a breakfast session at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown.

Local government officials weren't provided with advance copies of the report.

"It's well timed because of the financial wall that Pennsylvania communities, particularly Pittsburgh, are up against," said Court Gould, director of Sustainable Pittsburgh, which is hosting the briefing. "This is an inducement to look deeply at the message that to be competitive in the new economy, we need to have a progressive form of government that is regional in nature."

The lack of strategic regional planning wastes resources, is inefficient and promotes sprawling development, the report found. It also can be a contributor to urban decline, population loss and a sluggish local economy.

Still, the Brookings Institution found that the Pittsburgh region has several distinct advantages.

Local incomes grew at 6.5 percent in the 1990s, faster than the state average of 5 percent -- although local income is the third-lowest of the state's nine largest metropolitan areas.

The Pittsburgh area ranks high among Pennsylvania cities for so-called educational attainment, with 85 percent of residents holding high school degrees and 24 percent with bachelor's degrees.

Researchers wonder why the education percentages aren't higher, given the presence of Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and other colleges and universities. The state and region should set a goal of increasing the percentage of residents with college degrees by perhaps 5 full points by decade's end, Muro said.

"While you're doing quite well in the state and outstripping others in average attainment, you're not among the elite in the nation," Muro said.

Local assets are being squandered because the Pittsburgh region lacks a coordinated growth strategy, the report finds. Without a plan, tax subsidies often lead growth out of urban centers, called sprawl, and communities fight over scarce resources.

State subsidies have encouraged growth away from urban centers by giving developers tax breaks to develop farm land and green areas, the report found. Three state programs gave more money to newer communities outside Pittsburgh than to established ones.

"That is at the heart of one of the most important issues in this country -- how to use land in an efficient way," said Rob Pfaffmann, a Pittsburgh architect and member of Preservation Pittsburgh, who contributed to the study.

Not only are subsidies going to undeveloped areas, but they are often tied to retail projects, rather than efforts to attract quality employers, the report shows. It criticizes Allegheny County for offering tax breaks to developers of the Deer Creek Crossing shopping mall in Harmar because the project is on undeveloped land and is "likely to undercut" the region's other retailers.

"While we say we want high-quality jobs, we're actually investing in things that would bring us lower-quality jobs," said Caren Glotfelty, director of environmental programs at the Heinz Endowments.

Many of those negative trends have contributed to Pittsburgh's fiscal crisis, experts said.

Much of the population loss in Pittsburgh and older communities was offset by booming areas such as Pine and Cranberry in the North Hills. The tax base in older areas has grown less quickly than in burgeoning suburbs.

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