Report to the Joyce Foundation
US Public Policy for Cities - Insights from Abroad
Approaches to the governance of US cities have many strong features. Over the decades democratic traditions have been healthy and many US urban residents – whether living in city or suburb – have enjoyed relatively high standards of living. However, the starting point for this paper is that all is not well in urban America. Indeed, some US cities face major urban challenges, not least because global economic restructuring has decimated job opportunities and prosperity for many citizens. Given this context of rapid change what, if anything, can US policy makers learn from experience with city planning and urban governance in other countries? Read More > Download Full Report (.pdf)
Welcome to the home page of the City Futures Conference web site.
An important international conference on globalism and urban change took place in Chicago from July 8-10, 2004.
The aim of the City Futures conference was to boost the quality of international dialogue about urban issues by:
- Creating an entire conference focused on strengthening international exchange,
- Engaging different disciplinary perspectives and approaches, and
- Welcoming papers that address local, regional, national and international policy concerns.
Keynote speeches were given by the Honorable John C. Weicher, Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Rt Hon John Prescott, MP, Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State of the United Kingdom. To link to the keynote given by Deputy Prime Minister Prescott, please click here.
Organized by the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the City Futures conference and follow-up activities represent an effort to bring about a step change in the quality of international dialogue about urban issues.
The City Futures organizing committee seeks the feedback of those who attended the conference. Please click here to link to the conference feedback form in pdf and MSWord version which may be emailed, faxed or mailed back to us.
Post-conference activities
City Future authors who are interested in post-conference collaborations or publications may contact Michael Clark at mjclark@uic.edu.Papers on The Web
We received papers from 41 different countries and six continents and were thrilled with the response.
On this web site you will find the vast majority of the papers presented at the conference. We thank the authors for contributing their scholarship to this web site. It provides a resource of lasting value to all participants and valuable access to those who do not have the opportunity to travel to Chicago to attend the conference in person.
The first link below will bring you to an overview of the City Futures Conference Program. (.doc) (.pdf) Please also review the author index (.doc) (.pdf) to learn the authors of the papers presented in each session.
The Program section of the web site lists the papers given in each session. Please note that we have received authorization from authors to include their papers on the web. If you can't find a given paper, it may mean that we were not authorized to include that paper or paper(s) in that panel.
If you are using these papers in your own scholarship, please cite the source as 'Paper to City Futures: an international conference on globalism and urban change, University of Illinois at Chicago, July 2004'
We hope you find that this web site is useful. Our best wishes for your research and your efforts to draw lessons for policy and practice in cities.
Robin Hambleton and Janet Smith
City
Futures Sponsors
--UIC
--CUPPA
--European Urban Research Association
--Urban Affairs Association
--The British Consulate General
--Istituto Italiano di Cultura
--The Joyce Foundation
--National Public Radio
--SB Friedman and Company
--Skidmore Owings and Merrill, LLP
--National League of Cities
--The Ellison Group
City Futures In-Kind Sponsors:
--University of Illinois Alumni Association
--Hinckley Springs
--Rubschlager Baking Corporation
--Stewart Private Blend Coffee
--WXRT
--Chicago Blackhawks
--The Tribune Foundation/Red Eye
--John B. Sanfilippo & Sons
City Futures Publisher Support:
--Taylor & Francis
Blackwell
--M.E. Sharpe
--Sage
--International Specialized Book Services