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Urban Affairs Review, Volume 43, Number 6, July 2008
Defensive Development: The Role of Racial Conflict in Gentrification, vol. 43, no. 6
Michelle Boyd
This article expands the standard consumption versus production debate in the gentrification literature by examining the role of racial conflict in neighborhood change. Drawing from historical and ethnographic research, it analyzes gentrification in Douglas/Grand Boulevard , a black community on Chicago 's south side. It argues that although capital movements and middle class consumption patterns created opportunities for gentrification, racial ordering politicized it, prompting blacks to engage in what I term "defensive development.” This strategy aims to protect black neighborhoods from control by white elites. Yet it ultimately promotes gentrification, by politically and physically marginalizing the neighborhood's most economically vulnerable residents.
Running to Stand Still: Through the Looking Glass with Federally Subsidized Housing in New York City , vol. 43, no. 6
James DeFilippis, Elvin Wyly
Research and policy on the geography of assisted housing is dominated by a powerful conventional wisdom: project-based subsidies are presumptively bad because they anchor assisted households in poor, racially segregated neighborhoods, while vouchers are inherently good because they promote deconcentration and integration through tenant choice. Unfortunately, this consensus is based on geographical assumptions that have been subverted by the dramatic restructuring of cities with tight housing markets over the last generation. In this study, we use the case of New York City to analyze these spatial contradictions. Project-based subsidized housing is disappearing from yesterday's poor neighborhoods that have been remade by gentrification at the urban core, while recipients of Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) are concentrated in today's poor neighborhoods of color farther from the city center. If the policy goal is to break the link between housing assistance and the stereotypes of “projects” in the worst neighborhoods, then in the case of tight, expensive urban housing markets, voucher-driven deconcentration will be less successful than the preservation of the existing project-based housing stock.
Religion, Resources, and Representation: Three Narratives of Faith Engagement in British Urban Governance, vol. 43, no. 6
Adam Dinham, Vivien Lowndes
Faith groups are increasingly regarded as important civil society participants in British urban governance. Faith engagement is linked to policies of social inclusion and ‘community cohesion', particularly in the context of government concerns about radicalisation along religious lines. Primary research is drawn upon in developing a critical, and explicitly multi-faith, analysis of faith involvement. A narrative approach is used to contrast the different perspectives of national policy makers, local stakeholders and faith actors themselves. The narratives serve to illuminate not only this specific case, but also the more general character of British urban governance as it takes on a more ‘decentred' form, with greater blurring of boundaries between the public, private and personal.
Social Disorganization, Drug Market Activity, and Neighborhood Violent Crime, vol. 43, no. 6
Ramiro Martínez, Richard Rosenfeld, Dennis Mares
Although illicit drug activity occurs within local communities, past quantitative research on drug markets and violent crime in the United States has been conducted mainly at the city level. We use neighborhood-level data from the city of Miami to test hypotheses regarding the effect of drug activity and traditional indicators of social disorganization on rates of aggravated assault and robbery. Our results show that drug activity has robust effects on violent crime that are independent of other disorganization indicators. We also find that drug activity is concentrated in neighborhoods with low rates of immigration, less linguistic isolation and ethnic heterogeneity, and where non-drug accidental deaths are prevalent. We find no independent effect of neighborhood racial composition on drug activity or violent crime. The results suggest that future neighborhood-level research on social disorganization and violent crime should devote explicit attention to the disorganizing and violence-producing effects of illicit drug activity.
The Adapted Cities Framework: On Enhancing Its Use in Empirical Research, vol. 43, no. 6
Jered B. Carr, Shanthi Karuppusamy
Analysts are calling attention to a new era of municipal reform and to the convergence of the mayor-council and council-manager forms of government. H. George Frederickson, Gary Johnson, and Curtis Wood have proposed a new framework that explains the nature and extent of this convergence. We think this “adapted cities” framework is a potentially important advance in our understanding of municipal structure, but note that empirical scholars have largely ignored the framework. This stems from the lack of a process for coding cities into this framework and from difficulties in operationalizing its categories. We contribute to this important topic by presenting a general process for coding cities on council-manager and mayor-council platforms into the adapted cities framework.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 43, Number 5, May 2008
Locational Patterns of Low Income Housing Tax Credit Developments: A Sociospatial Analysis of Four Metropolitan Areas, vol. 43, no. 5
Deirdre Oakley
This study examined neighborhood characteristics and spatial patterns of Low-Income Housing Tax-Credit (LIHTC) developments in four metropolitan areas using census data and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) LIHTC database. Sociospatial analysis determined neighborhood characteristics associated with LIHTC developments and how clustered or dispersed they are. Findings indicate that as a low-income housing policy, the LIHTC program was more successful than other federally assisted, project-based housing programs at locating developments in neighborhoods not highly disadvantaged, but less successful at avoiding geographic concentrations associated with other low-income housing programs. The presence of a LIHTC project increased the likelihood of nearby LIHTC development by rewarding developers who place LIHTC units in qualified census tracts.
Strategic, Geographic Targeting of Housing and Community Development Resources: A Conceptual Framework and Critical Review, vol. 43, no. 5
Dale E. Thomson
This paper critically examines a conceptual framework for strategic, geographic targeting, an allocation model for improving efficiency in community development programs. It reviews the theoretical and empirical literature, discusses constraints and policy implications, and outlines a research agenda. Cost-savings, multiplier, and interaction effects form the core rationale for strategic, geographic targeting. Focus and neighborhood spillover effects complement these and are likely to occur more rapidly when strategic, geographic targeting is used. While the literature is largely silent on the cost-savings, focus, and neighborhood spillover effects, it supports the multiplier effect and demonstrates that it is contingent upon the attainment of investment thresholds. It also identifies interventions that are likely to interact positively with programs targeting housing investment.
Taming the Local Leviathon: Institutional and Economic Constraints on Municipal Budgets, vol. 43, no. 5
Michael Craw
Democratic political institutions and interjurisdictional competition both put pressure on local elected officials to respond to the tax and spending preferences of residents. But the electoral success of California 's proposition 13 in 1978 and of similar property tax limitations in other states suggests that local expenditures and taxes in many jurisdictions are higher than those preferred by the median voter. I argue that this upward bias in expenditures is greater in communities where interjurisdictional competition is weak and local political institutions provide incentives for rent-seeking. Using data from the 1997 Census of Governments and 1996 ICMA Form of Government Survey, I find evidence that municipalities facing weaker competition tend to have higher spending, and political institutions mediate the marginal effect of competition on city expenditures
Communities, the Private Sector, and the State: Contested Forms of Security Governance in Cape Town and Johannesburg , vol. 43, no. 5
Claire Benit-Gbaffou, Sophie Didier, and Marianne Morange
In post-apartheid South African cities, the loss of confidence of the civil society in the ability of public authorities to protect the citizens reflects the international trend towards the State's delegation of a number of public functions. It has led to the proliferation of private and community initiatives which quickly spread across urban space, taking different forms according to the level of segregation, the shape of the urban fabric, the local culture of urban development and planning, the political context and the pace of urban growth. This paper, informed by the examples of Johannesburg and Cape Town , discusses the specific South African way of handling these delegation processes: a complex mix of neoliberal policies and practices and of the ANC's agenda towards equality and redistribution for democratic South Africa . Indeed, after a transitional period where these initiatives were tolerated, public authorities are currently reasserting their power over some of these forms (community-led initiatives) while still encouraging public-private partnerships (CIDs).
Influences on the Sense of Neighborhood: Case of Slovenia , vol. 43, no. 5
Masa Filipovic
A significant amount of research has been done in the USA and Western European countries regarding the sense of neighborhood and researchers have found how individual and contextual characteristics influence one's sense of neighborhood. However, it is less clear whether the differences discovered in the Western context also apply to Eastern European countries. Slovenia is a post-communist country which means that potentially different processes have been significant in relation to the development of the sense of neighborhood. In the article the influence of individual and contextual factors on the sense of neighborhood in Slovenia is tested and compared. The analysis is made on the basis of a survey carried out in 2005 on a representative sample of Slovenian households. The findings are in some ways similar to those of the Western research. However, certain findings ran contrary to some of the cited research, like the absence of gender differences and the opposite influence of education and income. This might indicate different processes of establishing a sense of neighborhood in Eastern Europe .
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 43, Number 4, March 2008
Risk, Stress, and Capacity: Explaining Metropolitan Commitment to Climate Protection, vol. 44, no. 4
Sammy Zahran, Himanshu Grover, Samuel D. Brody, Arnold Vedlitz
Climate change and mitigation policies adopted by a local jurisdiction have a lasting impact on its urban form, its landscape and the economy. In absence of any universally accepted climate change mitigation agreements, Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) has become a dominant movement organizing the local jurisdictions to proactively participate in climate change mitigation initiatives. This study examines metropolitan area commitment to the CCP. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical techniques are used to rank and spatially organize metro areas on dimensions of climate change risk, climate change stress, and civic capacity. Climate change risk measures a metro area's coastal proximity, eco-system sensitivity, and susceptibility to extreme weather events. Climate change stress summarizes transportation, energy, and production practices that adversely affect climate systems. Civic capacity estimates human capital and environmental concern variables that constitute a metropolitan area's ability to commit to climate change policy initiatives. Correlation and multiple regression r esults indicate that high stressor metro areas are significantly less likely to participate in the CCP campaign, and metros high in civic capacity are significantly more likely to commit to the CCP campaign.
Shifting Geographies: Examining the Role of Suburbanization in Blacks' Declining Segregation, vol. 44, no. 4
Mary J. Fischer
This paper explores the relationship between black shifts to the suburbs and metropolitan segregation using the decompositional properties of the entropy index. This method reveals that much of the decline in metropolitan segregation of blacks from others is due to declining central city segregation; suburban segregation has much lower average declines. Furthermore, a growing proportion of black/other segregation is explained by residential distributions within the suburbs. Uneven distributions of blacks across city lines account for nearly a third of black/other segregation in Midwest and Northeast in 2000. In the West, within suburban sorting is by far the most important component of metropolitan segregation of blacks from others, while in the South within city and within suburb sorting are relatively equal in importance.
The Logic of Ethnic Business Distribution in Multiethnic Cities, vol. 44, no. 4
Eric Fong, Emily E. Anderson, Wenhong Chen, Chiu Luk
In this paper, we proposed a model for understanding ethnic business locations in multiethnic cities. The central argument of the framework is that the location of ethnic businesses reflects the match between the neighborhood business environment and the unique locational demand of the ethnic businesses involved in particular industrial sectors. Hypotheses were tested by a data set of Chinese businesses in the Toronto area drawn from business directories produced by the City of Toronto in 2000 and York Region in Canada in 2001, which were merged with 2001 Canadian census data.
Tax Increment Financing and Property Value: An Examination of Business Property Using Panel Data, vol. 44, no. 4
Deborah A. Carroll
This paper examines the impact of tax increment financing (TIF) on business property value. Using parcel-level data from Milwaukee , Wisconsin , during the 1980-1999 time period, a semi-log econometric model is estimated using fixed effects regression. A two-stage estimation process is also used to test and correct for potential self-selection bias and endogeneity associated with TIF implementation. The findings suggest that the provision of public services offered within TIF districts is capitalized into business property value over time. The magnitude of this effect is the largest of all factors considered. The analysis also reveals that self-selection bias is likely associated with TIF implementation. The endogenously determined probability that a property will be placed within a TIF district is positively correlated with the property's value. Finally, the analysis reveals that the impact of tax increment financing might be underestimated in the absence of corrections for self-selection bias and endogeneity.
The Quest to Confront Suburban Decline: Political Realities and Lessons, vol. 44, no. 4
Thomas J. Vicino
The social and economic decline of first-tier suburbs has emerged as an important issue in metropolitan America, yet little is known about the political and policy responses to this problem. An analysis of Baltimore County demonstrates that the local government was able to implement revitalization projects from 1995 to 2005 since it had jurisdiction over its first-tier suburbs. Characteristics such as a large population in both first-tier and outer suburbs, an affluent tax base, and the lack of municipalities allowed Baltimore County to redistribute funds for these projects. I argue that if policymakers and planners are serious about confronting suburban decline, then either a regional growth boundary or a regional zoning tool is necessary to slow the pressures of urban decentralization. Yet, such regional policies are not panaceas for the ills of suburban decline. Alternatively, state and federal initiatives offer prospects for suburban renewal, although attempts to enact substantive policies have failed to date. The political realities suggest that the will to maintain local autonomy is stronger than the will to eliminate the real barriers to revitalizing first-tier suburbs.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 43, Number 3, January 2008
Whose Responsibility? Swedish Local Decision-makers and the Scale of Climate Change Abatement, vol. 43, no. 3
Chris von Borgstede and Lennart J. Lundqvist
This article uses a framework combining concepts from the discourse of scalar politics with a social dilemma perspective. The aim is to seek ways of answering why – not just how - political interests advocate a specific scalar arrangement. Analyzing informant interviews with top politicians and administrators in four municipal governments in the Gothenburg urban region of southwestern Sweden , we find that although all recognize the social dilemma of climate change, the size and capacity of their local government lead to different scalar arguments about responsibility for action. Regardless of municipal size and capacity, however, actors' scalar arguments in the end converge in a pattern of path dependence. They recommend a lready well entrenched structures of inter-municipal urban cooperation as the scalarly most appropriate vehicle for addressing the social dilemma and for assuming and distributing responsibility for future climate related regional action. This opens up for comparative urban research on how ‘new' and ‘existing' transboundary urban structures handle climate issues in terms of legitimacy and efficiency.
Dispersing the Crowd: Bonus Plazas and the Creation of Public Space, vol. 43, no. 3
Greg Smithsimon
Research has found that most bonus plazas in front of Manhattan office buildings are barren, uninviting spaces. But there has been little study of why that is so. Existing explanations suggest unusable plazas are unintended consequences of other processes—architects slavishly reproducing modernist architectural styles, or developers minimizing costs by neglecting public spaces. Such explanations are found to be unsupported by the facts. This study of 291 Manhattan bonus plazas and the development process in New York , including site observations, analysis of newly available plaza data, and interviews of architects, planners, and building managers reveals that spaces were intentionally made uninviting, and that developers acted to make the plazas inaccessible. Implications for the study and creation of public space are discussed.
Advantage or Disadvantage: The Changing Institutional Landscape of Underserved Mortgage Markets, vol. 43, no. 3
Philip Ashton
This article argues that the resolution to the banking crisis after 1989 created a set of market rules promoting financial consolidation and giving large financial conglomerates competitive advantages that could allow them to more effectively tap historically underserved mortgage markets. Focusing on Chicago during the period 1993-2000, I assess the role played by consolidating lenders and their counterparts in altering the allocation of home purchase mortgages so as to benefit historically underserved markets. The results indicate that even as consolidating lenders are often leaders in more permissive mortgage market outcomes, substantial variations across time and between different areas of the city are suggestive of how underserved markets fare in the new financial marketplace.
Bringing the Spatial In: The Case of the 2002 Seattle Monorail Referendum, vol. 43, no. 3
Anne Peterson, Barbara Kinsey, Hugh Bartling and Brady Baybeck
Contests over public goods remain at the forefront of urban political battles in nearly every major city in the United States . The spatial location of the good can play an instrumental role in understanding the contours and outcomes of such conflicts. We explore a particular case of urban political phenomena, voting for a growth related development project, the monorail, by referendum in the city of Seattle . We examine how a grassroots campaign successfully mobilized voters by targeting appeals to both their particularistic and collective interests. We conduct our analysis at the precinct level and use spatial tools of analysis and ecological inference. We find that voter support for the monorail project stemmed from the location of the proposed monorail route and the campaign's progressive appeals to environmental, social justice, and high tech concerns. Although cost overruns ultimately derailed the construction of the monorail in 2005, when passed in 2002 the monorail was the most expensive infrastructure project in Seattle 's history.
Urban Affair Review, Volume 43, Number 2, November 2007
State-sponsored Gentrification Under Market Transition: The Case of Shanghai, vol. 43, no. 2
Shenjing He
The state is playing an increasing important role in the recent wave of gentrification. This study reveals that strong state intervention in Shanghai 's gentrification can be seen in three aspects. First, the state stimulates and accommodates the consumption demands of gentrifiers. Second, to create optimal conditions for capital circulation, the state makes policy interventions and invests heavily in environment beautification and infrastructure construction. Third, the state mobilizes the most important resources to tackle the problem of fragmented property rights and to facilitate gentrification. The state-sponsored gentrification under market transition is motivated by the pursuit of economic and urban growth, at the cost of large-scale residential displacement.
Impacts of Urban Growth Boundary Versus Exclusive Farm Use Zoning on Agricultural Land Uses, vol. 43, no. 2
Mehmet C. Marin
This study compares net impacts of developmental potentials, externalities and uncertainties associated with the Urban Growth Boundaries with those of certainty and tax savings in the Exclusive Farm Use districts on land values in Portland , OR , using a hedonic Thünian econometric model. Based on a GIS-based data set of Christmas tree and horticultural farms, value effects of the Urban Growth Boundaries was found to vary by farm size, land use and proximity to urban activities. The results suggested that proximity to negative externalities associated with urban activities had strong impacts on farming within the UGB. These impacts overweighed advantages associated with tax savings and increasing certainty within exclusive farm use districts.
Moving Up and Moving Out? : Economic and Residential Mobility of Low-Income Chicago Families, vol. 43, no. 2
Dan A. Lewis, Vandna Sinha
This paper examines the residential and income mobility of 403, low income, Chicago families within a context shaped by welfare and public housing reforms implemented in the mid-1990s. We assess the extent to which sample members became less poor and less isolated in economically and racially segregated areas in the years following implementation of these reforms. Sample members experienced marked income gains between 1999 and 2002, but the average income reaches a plateau at less than $16,000 per year. Despite significant residential mobility, there was only a slight reduction in the economic segregation of sample members and no discernable change in racial segregation.
Tax Competition Among Municipal Governments: Exit Versus Voice, vol. 43, no. 2
Rebecca Hendrick, Yonghong Wu, Benoy Jacob
This research examines the incidence of property and sales tax competition among municipal governments in the Chicago metropolitan region and investigates whether the underlying mechanism is exit or voice. First, the research estimates a model with a spatial-lag component that relates each municipality's tax or revenue burden to that of its neighbors, controlling for other factors. The results show that tax competition exists for property taxes which suggest that the competition is based on voice rather than exit. Second, assessment of preferences and attitudes towards sales and property taxes and competition also demonstrates the importance of voice in establishing tax rates and levies.
Sixteen Million Neighbors: A Multilevel Study of the Role of Neighbors in the Personal Networks of the Dutch, vol. 43, no. 2
Beate Volker, Henk Flap
This paper discusses the role of neighbors in the personal networks of people living in the Netherlands . It aims to establish the conditions for the inclusion of neighbors in such a network. Three complementary theoretical perspectives for developing hypotheses are employed: meeting opportunities, sharing groups and social capital. Arguments are tested using national representative data (n = 902, PRESOS) and multilevel regression models. The results show that all three perspectives contribute to explain the number of neighbor relations in personal networks, although none of the theoretical perspectives is fully confirmed. Interestingly, local facilities such as primary schools and day-care facilities that draw their members not only from the neighborhood but also from a larger local area, influence the likelihood of including neighbors in personal networks: primary schools encourage these relations, while the existence of day-care facilities discourages neighboring.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 43, Number 1, September 2007
Resource Exchange in Urban Governance: On the Means that Matter, vol. 43, no. 1
Caelesta Poppelaars
An explanatory framework based on the classic resource dependency perspective is used to explain a broad variety of urban government-interest group interactions that are not fully explained by current urban governance theories. A case study of Dutch urban immigrant integration shows that we must combine considerations of information and intermediation capacity to explain why Dutch urban governments interact with immigrant organizations, in addition to common findings about institutional heritage. Their information and intermediation capacity allows local governments to get in touch quickly with immigrant groups during periods that potentially threaten the social order and public safety and creates incentives to maintain grants and keep in touch whereas contributions of such groups to effective implementation are at least doubted.
Minority Empowerment and Environmental Justice, vol. 43, no. 1
Stefanie Chambers
In Hartford , Connecticut , environmental health problems disproportionately affect poor and minority residents of the city. Minority group activists in Hartford have created a multiracial organization composed of urban and suburban residents to fight for environmental justice. The organization has achieved a measure of success in terms of governmental responsiveness to their concerns. This article highlights the strategies used by the organization to advance its interests. These strategies are framed within the minority empowerment and environmental justice literature to develop a theoretical explanation for the organization's success. Finally, this article provides a model for other communities fighting for environmental justice.
Revitalizing Urban Research: Can Cultural Explanation Bring us Back to the Periphery?, vol. 43, no. 1
Elaine B. Sharp
This paper lays out an argument that, if the urban politics field has become marginalized, it is because the field has neglected to develop a contemporary, theoretically grounded version of cultural explanation to go along with its attention to institutions and political economy. The paper introduces such a theoretical framework. It then shows how taking cultural explanation seriously could bring the study of urban politics closer to themes that are energizing the American and comparative politics fields. The paper concludes with an acknowledgement of a remaining challenge – conceptualizing how race and ethnicity relate to the new conceptualization of unconventional versus traditional sub-culture in the U.S.
Is Urban Politics a Black Hole? Analyzing the Boundary between Political Science and Urban Politics, vol. 43, no. 1
Joshua Sapotichne, Bryan D. Jones and Michelle Wolfe
For many years the scholarship of urban politics has drifted further and further away from political science, both theoretically and methodologically. In this paper we systematically examine the boundary between urban political studies and the broader discipline of political science through an analysis of journal citations. We find that the analogy of a “black hole” is apt: no ideas escape the event horizon surrounding urban politics; furthermore, ideas from outside rarely penetrate the subfield's borders. Whereas we think this is mostly due to a stunted solipsism that has engulfed too much of urban politics, we also blame the increasing insularity of political science. We suggest an alteration in the sub-discipline's current trajectory, away from the stifling determinism of studying the interaction between politics and capitalism in favor of a more progressive research agenda spotlighting the inherent dynamism and fluidity in urban politics. We conclude with an endorsement of framework-driven citation analysis as a method of examining the flow of ideas across scholarly boundaries.
Event History Analysis of the Formation of Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils, vol. 43, no. 1
Kyu-Nahm Jun
This article investigates the impacts of community contexts, such as, divergence with the City, differences within the community, and community capacity on the successful formation of Neighborhood Councils (NCs) in the City of Los Angeles . To date, there are 86 certified NCs out of 97 communities that submitted application for certification. Event history analysis is conducted as an effective method to understand NC formation itself and the timing of the event. The results indicate that community heterogeneity characteristics, such as race/ethnicity and income heterogeneity, have dissimilar influence on the formation of NCs. Community capacity is also found to be positively related to earlier formation of NCs.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 42, Number 6, July 2007
The Urban Politics of Workfare: New York City 's Welfare Reforms and the Dimensions of Welfare Policy Making, vol. 42, no. 6
John Krinsky
This article casts New York City 's large, public-sector workfare program of the mid-1990s against political-economic, institutionalist, and culturalist explanations of welfare reform dynamics. It argues that the form and changes in welfare reform programs must increasingly be understood as intersecting with urban political dynamics. Synthesizing existing literatures on welfare and urban policy, the article urges explanations based on the intersection of urban labor-market and fiscal management, institutional rules, and analyses of multiscalar policy networks and urban regimes that (1) generate ideas about what constitutes policy success; (2) organize coalitions and disorganize potential opposition; and (3) import and export policy reform ideas to and from the local scale to larger scales of governance.
Labor Unions and Affordable Housing: An Uneasy Relationship, vol. 42, no. 6
Hilary Botein
Labor unions in the United States were involved in producing and advocating for affordable housing in the period after World War II, when labor wielded legislative, electoral, and economic power both nationally and locally. That involvement now has ceased almost completely. This article uses historical analysis to explore how labor unions influenced national housing policies and programs in the postwar United States, and considers how the labor and housing movements do and could collaborate today to meet the current pressing need for affordable housing, through alliances between organized labor and community groups in support of better housing and more unionized construction jobs.
(Re)Branding the Big Easy: Tourism Rebuilding in Post-Katrina New Orleans , vol. 42, no. 6
Kevin Fox Gotham
This paper draws upon primary and secondary data to provide insight into the process and conflicts over efforts to brand New Orleans as an entertainment destination from the 1990s to the present. I identify the key actors and organized interests involved in branding New Orleans , the rationale and logic of branding, and marketing strategies used to enhance place distinctiveness. In the second half of the paper, I describe the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans = s tourism sector and examine efforts to rebrand the city. I point to the problems, contradictions, and unpredictability of urban branding. My analysis provides an important opportunity for theoretical development and offers a unique perspective for understanding urban branding as a contested and conflictual process of homogenization and diversification.
Neighborhood Economic Development Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit in Los Angeles : Poor Places and Policies for the Working Poor, vol. 42, no. 6
James H. Spencer
This paper explores the effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles during the late 1990s. To date, few analyses have empirically examined the impact of people-based policies on the economies of poor neighborhoods. The paper first documents the magnitude of this individual wage subsidy in Los Angeles as an unrecognized investment in poor neighborhoods on par with place-based policies such as Enterprise Zones. The paper then uses IRS and Economic Census data by ZIP Code to test whether increased EITC income has an effect on the neighborhood retail job base. Findings suggest an independent correlation between EITC investments and retail job gain. The conclusion uses these results to suggest better policy co-ordination and recommend four productive areas for future research.
Police Practices in Immigrant-Destination Cities: Political Control or Bureaucratic Professionalism?, vol. 42, no. 6
Paul G. Lewis, S. Karthick Ramakrishnan
Political incorporation theory suggests that the incorporation of new groups into city electoral politics will precede any improvements in the way that local bureaucracies treat members of those groups. We argue, however, that the logic and sequencing of political incorporation and bureaucratic response does not apply when explaining police practices toward immigrant residents. Drawing on survey evidence and case studies of California cities, we find that police departments are ahead of city councils and other municipal agencies in providing language support and that local elected officials are largely unaware of key practices of their police departments regarding interactions with immigrants. Such findings support the perspective of bureaucratic incorporation of immigrants, in which local bureaucracies proactively develop their own practices, drawing upon a professional ethos.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 42, Number 5, May 2007
Fighting for Control: Political Displacement in Atlanta 's Gentrifying Neighborhoods, vol. 42, no. 5
Leslie Martin
The loss of political influence is an important adverse consequence of gentrification for long-time residents. This study examines why neighborhood organizations in three gentrifying neighborhoods in Atlanta , GA chose to address this potential problem, while organizations in another gentrifying community did not. Organizations of long-time residents, whether formed before gentrification or in response, were more likely to address political displacement. Neighborhood organizations with strong track records of providing benefits for neighbors, and that adopted accepted organizational forms were more likely to mobilize effectively to protect the political participation of long-time residents. Interorganizational conflict minimized groups' ability to address political changes.
The Attitudinal Effects of Minority Incorporation: Examining the Racial Dimensions of Trust in Urban America , vol. 42, no. 5
Melissa Marschall and Paru R. Shah
Although trust in government has been declining for all Americans, black Americans continue to be significantly less trusting than their white counterparts. Scholars have typically relied on the political reality model to explain this gap, arguing that lower trust among blacks stems from their exclusion from power. Given contemporary gains in black office holding, we revisit this question in the context of urban politics. Based on a sample of 104 municipalities we find that black descriptive representation has very limited direct effects on trust, but appears to affect the distribution of policing policies across cities, and that substantive police policies increase black and white Americans' trust in local police. Overall, our findings extend conventional conceptualizations of substantive benefits while raising questions about the symbolic value of black political representation.
Rethinking the Dual City , vol. 42, no. 5
Alexander Reichl
This article examines social polarization in New York City : first, as an objective condition among city neighborhoods; and second, as an issue in city politics. Data on income, poverty, housing, and crime provide little evidence of growing polarization between low- and high-income neighborhoods in the 1990s. However, the data reveal a striking contrast between the spectacular gains of core areas and the widespread stagnation and decline across low-, middle-, and high-income neighborhoods outside the core. Polarization has not proved a viable political issue because it becomes subsumed in racial/ethnic politics; yet the data suggest that progressives might prevail with a dual-city discourse that highlights the significance of polarization for neighborhoods outside the core.
Reconnecting with Our Roots: American Urban Planning and Public Health in the Twenty-First Century, vol. 42, no. 5
Jason Corburn
This paper suggests that contemporary efforts to reconnect urban planning and public health can benefit from a critical historic review of the two fields, particularly strategies based on removal and displacement of waste and people, scientific rationality, moral environmentalism, and increased specialization. The paper offers a set of reconnection strategies that draw from this review, emphasizing alternative paradigms of precaution and prevention, institution building and local knowledge. I offer examples of specific practices that embody these ideas, such as health impact assessment, food systems planning, and promoting networks of community health workers, which address both the physical and social determinants of health and might effectively reconnect planning and public health to meet the challenges facing 21 st century cities.
Planning the Competitive City Region: The Emergence of Strategic Development Plan in China , vol. 42, no. 5
Fulong Wu and Jingxing Zhang
This paper analyzes the emergence of the so-called “urban strategic development plan” in China during inter-city competition and new entrepreneurial governance. Driven by market-oriented development and globalization, the local government attempts to overcome the constraints of conventional statutory planning to promote a “visionary city plan.” Through case studies of Guangzhou and Hangzhou , we argue that the strategic plan is more or less a mission statement of the local political leaders and thus has a narrow social foundation. The emergence of the strategic plan reflects the overall shift of city planning towards being an important instrument for enhancing economic competitiveness.
Did Overzealous Activists Destroy Housing Affordability in San Francisco ? A Test of the Effects of Rezoning on Construction and Home Prices, 1960-1998, vol. 42, no. 5
Karl Beitel
In this article I use time-series models of construction and price levels in the San Francisco housing market to test claims that implementation of more strict zoning controls restrict housing construction and artificially inflate housing prices. The results do not support these claims. I argue that the primary barrier to new housing construction derives from the interaction of financial market variables, household search behavior, and the unique characteristics of urban land markets that in tandem act to constrain new construction to high end luxury segments of the local housing market . Increasing the supply of affordable housing in San Francisco will therefore require large-scale public subsidies to compensate for the failure of the market to meet the pressing housing needs of low-to-moderate income households.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 42, Number 4, March 2007
Housing, Gangs, and Homicide: What We Can Learn from Chicago, vol. 42, no. 4
John Hagedorn and Brigid Rauch
Recent declines in homicide in Chicago have been seen as similar to earlier declines in New York City and Los Angeles . Popular explanations that policing strategies largely explain variation in rates of violence have been skeptically greeted by criminologists. However, no plausible explanation for persisting high rates of homicide in some cities and very low rates in others has been credibly presented. One reason for this may be the narrowness of criminological investigations. Explanations for violence internationally have included human rights, housing, and economic development among other variables. This essay presents data from a study on homicide in Chicago and supplements criminological thinking on homicide by adding insights from urban and globalization research.
Collective Action, City Council Committees, and State Aid to Cities, vol. 42, no. 4
Bertram Johnson
Studies of city council committee structures offer the potential to shed light both on the dynamics of local politics and on broader theories of legislative organization. Pelissero and Krebs find that larger councils are more likely to have committee structures, and that committees have limited influence on policy outputs, contrary to what distributive models of legislative organization would predict (Pelissero and Krebs 1997) . I replicate Pelissero and Krebs' finding on council size, but suggest a different interpretation of these results, focusing not on theories of distributive politics, but on the collective action dynamics within city councils. Instead of being havens for high-demanding legislators, city council committees are tools with which a council as a whole can more effectively provide collective goods to its city. Finally, I present a simple test of whether councils with committees are better able to provide public goods, using state aid as the dependent variable.
Ethnic and Racial Segregation in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1980-2000: The Dimensions of Segregation Revisited, vol. 42, no. 4
Ron Johnston, Michael Poulsen, and James Forrest
US Metropolitan Area data for three ethnic groups – African-Americans, Asians and Hispanics – are used to explore the dimensions of residential segregation at the 1980, 1990, and 2000 censuses, at the census tract scale. Although set within Massey and Denton 's five-dimensional conceptual schema, the study was unable to replicate their identification of five empirical dimensions which correspond with the conceptual set. Instead, separate analyses for each ethnic group at each of the three censuses suggested two super-dimensions: separation and location. These apply across all three groups and three censuses, although the degree of separation varies considerably among the three groups.
Local Governments as Policy Entrepreneurs: Evaluating Florida's “Concurrency Experiment”, vol. 42, no. 4
Timothy S. Chapin
One centerpiece of Florida's landmark 1985 growth management legislation was the concept of concurrency, a requirement that new development not proceed unless specific services are in place to service the development. Whereas many analysts have critiqued Florida 's concurrency mandate, these studies have usually focused upon concurrency as a concept and not concurrency as actually implemented and practiced by local governments. For this paper, we investigated the concurrency practices of sixty-six local governments in Florida , finding substantial variation in concurrency practices. Beyond this review of local government concurrency practices, we also draw upon the policy implementation literature to learn from Florida 's “concurrency experiment”.
Boomburb “Buildout”: The Future of Development in Large, Fast-Growing Suburbs, vol. 42, no. 4
Robert Lang and Jennifer LeFurgy
Many “Boomburbs,” or large fast-growing suburbs, are nearing their “buildout.” Buildout refers to the point at which development has reached a city's borders, or has exhausted large-scale greenfield options. Boomburbs will soon face a decision: do they stop booming once they reach their current limits or develop a new growth model that more intensively uses existing land? Or will they annex more space for continuing greenfield development? The authors surveyed 140 Boomburb governments about their buildout plans. The respondents provided information on several variables including future density, the amount of space left to build on, and the mixture of land uses that will fill this space. The answers varied widely, with some places looking to become far more urbanized, while others rush to build even lower-density development. Yet, most Boomburbs expect to grow denser as they buildout. The paper concludes with a discussion on two policy implications of buildout: annexation and governance.
“Don't Be a Blockhead”: ACORN, Protest Tactics, and Refund Anticipation Loans, vol. 42, no. 4
Robert Fisher, Fred Brooks, and Daniel Russell
The recent proliferation of community-based responses to urban problems has been characterized by a shift away from protest tactics to more moderate approaches of building community and consensus, developing social capital, and identifying and improving local assets. This case study examines the persistence and effectiveness of protest tactics in a campaign by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) against H&R Block around “predatory” tax preparation practices. It reveals the potential of direct action especially when local protests are coordinated nationally. This combination helps to transcend the inherent limits of both community-based activism and national-oriented advocacy efforts.
Reassessing Gentrification: Measuring Residents' Opinions Using Survey Data, vol, 42, no. 4
Daniel Monroe Sullivan
Qualitative studies have focused on the proponents and the opponents to gentrification, but have not provided a clear picture of the opinions of a truly representative sample of residents. This article uses probability sampling and a large sample size to examine residents in two gentrifying neighborhoods in Portland , Oregon . The results suggest that the majority of residents – including owners and renters, whites and minorities, newcomers and longtime residents, those college educated and not – like how their neighborhood has changed and think it will improve even more in the future. However, regression analysis reveals that renters and longtime black residents are less likely to view these changes positively.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 42, Number 3, January 2007
Race, Class, and Place: Evaluating Mobility Outcomes for African Americans, vol. 42, no. 3
William A.V. Clark
There is an ongoing debate about levels of segregation, their causes and their long term direction. The debate is between those who, while acknowledging some role for economic forces, place the emphasis for continuing segregation on discrimination and white prejudice and those who place greater emphasis on income, wealth and residential preferences. This debate is further illuminated with a detailed analysis of African American suburbanization using a combination of data from the 2000 Census and the Current Population Survey. The analysis confirms other research that shows substantial suburban growth of African American populations. It adds to that research by showing that those African American populations who move to the suburbs have substantially more income and wealth and higher levels of education than African American populations who move within the metropolitan cores. In addition, suburban African Americans live in more integrated settings than those who live in the central city. The implications of this finding bolster the view that income does matter in residential choices for African Americans.
Homeownership: Southern California 's New Political Fault Line?, vol. 42, no. 3
Matt A. Barreto, Mara A. Marks, Nathan D. Woods
Homeownership's importance in America 's culture and economy raises the possibility that status as a homeowner or renter constitutes a core aspect of personal identity, on par with race and ethnicity. A survey from the socially diverse Los Angeles region provides a unique dataset to test the possibility that homeownership exaggerates or mitigates social cleavages, particularly those based on race or ethnicity. The analysis reveals renters as less upbeat than homeowners regarding a variety of opinion measures and distinctly divided in their opinions along racial and ethnic lines. Among homeowners, however, the authors find a confluence of opinion across racial and ethnic lines.
The Road to Homeownership Under Market Transition: Beijing , 1980-2001, vol. 42, no. 3
Si-ming Li, Zheng Yi
The gradualist housing reform over the past quarter century has produced a highly complex mix of housing tenure forms and consumption patterns in urban China . Using a sample of 1600 residential histories derived from a survey conducted in 2001, this paper traces how individuals and households in Beijing responded to the different phases of the urban housing reform and gradually moved from renting work unit housing to owner occupation over the period 1980-2001. The proportional hazards model is used to analyse the factors that affected the tenure change at different points in time. The findings show that, despite gradual introduction of market mechanisms, established rules that favoured seniority in the workplace and people holding redistributive powers continued to be practiced in reform China . Cadres in Party and government organizations and state-owned enterprises, and people with long serving years in the work unit were those who were most likely to experience the ownership switch in recent years.
The Theoretical Basis for Addressing Poverty Through Mixed-Income Development, vol. 42, no. 3
Mark L. Joseph, Robert J. Chaskin, Henry S. Webber
This paper examines the theoretical foundations upon which the rationale for mixed-income development as a strategy to confront urban poverty is built. We focus on four propositions that draw from theories on social networks, social control, culture and behavior, and the political economy of place. We assess available evidence about the relative importance of the four theoretical propositions. We conclude that the most compelling propositions are those that suggest that some low-income residents may benefit from a higher quality of life through greater informal social control and access to higher quality services. We find less evidence that socio-economic outcomes for low-income residents may be improved through social interaction, network-building, and role-modeling.
Nonprofits as Civic Intermediaries: The Role of Community-Based Organizations in Promoting Political Participation, vol. 42, no. 3
Kelly LeRoux
Nonprofit organizations have a long-standing tradition of advocacy on behalf of their clients particularly those that comprise underrepresented groups. However, much less is known about the roles these institutions play in empowering citizens to become active participants in the political process. This research note examines the efforts of nonprofit organizations to facilitate voting and contacting of public officials by their clientele. Results from this analysis suggest that social service nonprofits located in urban areas are significantly more likely to encourage both voting and contacting. Findings also suggest that government funding has a positive and consistent effect on nonprofits' efforts to promote both of these forms of participation.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 42, Number 2, November 2006
Building the Capacity to Act Regionally: Formation of the Regional Transportation Authority in South Florida, vol. 42, no. 2
Lenore Alpert, Juliet F. Gainsborough, Allan Wallis
As interest in informal methods of regional coordination has grown, it is increasingly important to understand how alternative forms of regional governance emerge. This article addresses this question through analysis of recent attempts at regional transportation coordination in South Florida . Through a detailed case study of the creation of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, we demonstrate how informal ties among transportation stakeholders were strengthened over time in ways that eventually made possible the creation of a more formal coordinating mechanism for regional transportation policy. A formal network analysis of transportation stakeholders in South Florida further illustrates the way in that the strength of ties among those involved in transportation policy in the region facilitated increased regional coordination and positioned business organizations to act as policy entrepreneurs.
Electronic Fortification in Phoenix : Surveillance Technologies and Social Regulation in Residential Communities, vol. 42, no. 2
Torin Monahan
This paper compares experiences of surveillance technologies in low-income public housing and affluent gated communities in Phoenix , Arizona . Contrary to the popular discourse of surveillance as ensuring protection from external threats, in practice, both groups feel subjected to undesired individual scrutiny and policing of their behaviors. Nonetheless, key differences exist. First, residents in gated communities possess relative mobility and minimal personal risk compared to those in public housing. Second, in public housing, the underlying logics behind surveillance are toward the enforcement of state laws, whereas in gated communities they are toward the enforcement of conformity in appearance and behavior. The paper argues that the dissonance between popular discourse and discourse of practice about surveillance technologies is representative of deeper social instabilities engendered by neoliberal forms of governance.
The Impact of Secondary Mortgage Market and GSE Purchases on Home Prices in Underserved Neighborhood Markets: A Cleveland Case Study, vol. 42, no. 2
Lance Freeman, George Galster, Ron Malega
Since 1992, the federal government has established regulations encouraging the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to purchase home mortgages originated in neighborhoods traditionally underserved by financial institutions, with the aim of stimulating housing market activity within such neighborhoods. This research tests this proposition empirically through an econometric analysis of variations in secondary mortgage market activity and single-family home prices across underserved census tracts in Cleveland , OH during the 1993-1999 period. We find no large or statistically significant relationship between variations in secondary market purchasing rates of home-purchase mortgages in underserved neighborhoods and home prices one or two years hence, controlling for a rich variety of dwelling and neighborhood characteristics. These conclusions follow for both GSE and other sectors of the secondary market. We find some evidence that the secondary market was more responsive to changes in home prices than vice versa . We offer a possible explanation and draw policy implications.
Shaming the Inside Game: A Critique of the Liberal Expansionist Approach to Addressing Urban Problems, vol. 42, no. 2
David L. Imbroscio
Liberal expansionism is the dominant approach to addressing the problems of American cities. This approach combines liberal political philosophy with the idea that these problems can only be solved by creating linkages between cities and resources beyond their boundaries. The case for liberal expansionism derives from the shaming of the inside game -- a critique of community development and the progressive capacities of cities themselves. I develop a counter critique of this notion. I find that much of it is unjustified by empirical evidence, and instead results from ideological bias. This conclusion suggests the dominance of liberal expansionism be questioned.
Regionalism, Equality and Democracy, vol. 42, no. 2
Todd Swanstrom
He Got Game, vol. 42, no. 2
Elvin Wyly and Tyler Pearce
Suburban Money in Central City Elections: The Geographic Distribution of Campaign Contributions, vol. 42, no. 2
Brian E. Adams
When candidates run for municipal office, do they rely on campaign contributions from suburbanites? This research note explores this question by analyzing fundraising networks in four central cities: New York , Los Angeles , San Francisco , and Seattle . The majority of campaign contributions to mayoral and city council candidates come from within their city. While the fundraising networks of central city candidates extend into the suburbs, they only do so partially. In particular, they only connect to a handful of wealthy suburbs that are geographically close to the central city. Regional fundraising networks are limited, indicating that the flow of political money does not mirror the economic and policy interdependence that has been documented by new regionalists.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 42, Number 1, September 2006
The Political Ecology of Uneven Urban Green Space: The Impact of Political Economy on Race and Ethnicity in Producing Environmental Inequality in Milwaukee, vol. 42, no. 1
Nik Heynen, Harold A. Perkins, and Parama Roy
This research investigates the role of urban political economy, private/public property relations, and race/ethnicity in the social production of Milwaukee 's urban forest. By integrating urban forest canopy cover data from aerial photography, U.S. census data, and qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews, this analysis suggests that there is an inequitable distribution of urban canopy cover within Milwaukee . Since urban trees positively affect quality of life, the spatially inequitable distribution of urban trees in relation to race/ethnicity is yet another instance of urban environmental inequality that deserves greater consideration in light of contemporary and dynamic property relations within capitalist societies.
From Intercity Competition to Collaborative Planning: The Case of the Yangtze River Delta Region of China, vol. 42, no. 1
Tingwei Zhang
By reviewing changes in relationships over the last fifty years among cities in the Yangtze River Delta Region of China, the author explores underlying forces affecting the relationship between a service center ( Shanghai ) and manufacturing bases (cities in the region surrounding Shanghai ). Key internal factors such as the development stage of cities and the government's promotion policies, together with external factors including national politics and policy shifts and the strategy of foreign direct investment are found to be influential in the dynamic relationship. Suggestions based on the Chinese case are offered for a regional alliance.
Assessing the Micro-Foundations of the Tiebout Model, vol. 42, no. 1
Kenneth N. Bickers, Lapo Salucci, and Robert M. Stein
In this paper we seek to shed light on the micro-foundations of the Tiebout model. We utilize a survey of respondents in four of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas to analyze the factors that contribute to the exiting behavior of households. In this analysis, we explore the types of reasons that likely movers offer to explain a potential move. The analysis incorporates variables measuring Tiebout factors, and variables drawn from two important alternative explanations that have been widely discussed in political science in recent years. Our findings generally support a Tiebout explanation: evaluations of core municipal services are found to be the strongest determinant of the likelihood to move. Moreover, variables drawn from alternative explanations, including race, family income, and social capital are found to be either unrelated to the decision to move or have the opposite effect on the likelihood of moving from what would be expected based on those alternative explanations.
Governing the Regimeless City: The Frank Zeidler Administration in Milwaukee , 1948-1960, vol. 42, no. 1
Joel Rast
Recent literature on urban governance has focused predominantly on cities with effective partnerships between business and local government. Increased attention to the role played by such partnerships in the creation of local governing capacity has changed the way that most contemporary urban theorists understand community power. In place of the Weberian model emphasizing the use of power for social control purposes, urban regime theorists view power in terms of its capacity to accomplish goals—“power to” instead of “power over.” This article examines development policy in postwar Milwaukee during a period in which a business-government partnership failed to materialize. I argue that the absence of business-government cooperation placed a distinctive imprint on local power relations. Power in postwar Milwaukee is best understood through a multidimensional approach that incorporates both Weberian and contemporary approaches to the study of community power.
The Economic Impact of Terrorist Incidents on the Italian Hospitality Industry, vol. 42, no. 1
Robert T. Greenbaum and Andy Hultquist
Acts of terror are intended to incite fear and intimidation, which makes tourism particularly susceptible to attacks. Because the hospitality industry serves as a useful barometer of the indirect impact of attacks, we examine the impact of terrorist incidents on lodging utilization rates in Italy between 1995 and 1997. We make use of data on domestic as well as international terrorism at the city level in order to explore more localized implications of terrorist incidents. We find that lodgings utilized by foreign visitors are the most sensitive to terrorist attacks and that the incidents have the largest impact during the year of the attack.
UAR Symposium: Publishing the Urban List, vol. 42, no. 1
Rachel Weber, David McBride, Richard D. Bingham and Peter Wissoker
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 41, Number 6, July 2006
Rail Transit Security in an International Context: Lessons from Four Cities, vol. 41, no. 6
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Brian D. Taylor and Camille N.Y. Fink
Open, accessible urban public transportation systems have become increasingly frequent targets for terrorists in recent years. This paper draws from a series of interviews with transit officials responsible for the security of rail transit systems, as well as architects and engineers responsible for designing and operating these systems in four world cities: London , Paris , Tokyo , and Madrid . The findings show that transit security is, not surprisingly, a major and growing concern of transit operators in these cities. Collectively, the interviewees report drawing on a broad mix of strategies to respond to terrorism and, in the process, struggle mightily to balance the trade-offs between increased security on one ha ? d, and openness and attractiveness of their systems on the other. Accordingly, interagency coordination – among transit agencies and police/intelligence agencies – has become a crucial component of security planning.
Impact Fees, Growth Management, and Development: A Contractual Approach to Local Policy and Governance, vol. 41, no. 6
Moon Gi Jeong and Richard C. Feiock
This paper explores economic consequences of impact fees on local economic development and job growth. We focus on the implied contractual relationship between local governments and the development community in shaping patterns of economic growth in the community. Pooled time series cross-section analyses are employed to estimate economic consequences of impact fees in 66 Florida counties from 1991 to 2001. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that impact fees increase development costs and impede economic development, we report that implementation of impact fee systems enhance economic performance and lead to job growth.
Determinants of Neighborhood Satisfaction in Fee-Based Gated and Nongated Communities, vol. 41, no. 6
David W. Chapman and John R Lombard
Neighborhoods unable to adequately satisfy perceived resident needs are susceptible to the migration of their inhabitants to areas that better address their needs. Using the American Housing Survey, we examine neighborhood satisfaction and its relationship to perceptions of residents living in both gated and nongated fee-based neighborhoods. The findings indicate that respondent age and the lack of knowledge of crime have the largest positive impact on how the residents rated their neighborhoods. While chronological age may have a myriad of possible influential factors, the simple knowledge by residents of neighborhood crime has implications for crime prevention and community awareness efforts.
Regionalism and Reform: A Comparative Perspective on Dutch Urban Politics, vol. 41, no. 6
Paul Kantor
Advocates of regional political cooperation find favor with political theorists while encountering widespread rejection by real world governments. Why do practitioners often fail to follow the reformers? Employing a comparative perspective, this analysis examines theories of regional reform and then surveys metropolitan political cooperation within a context that theorists expect should be highly supportive of it—Randstad Holland and the Amsterdam metropolitan area. Regional political development finds little success in this region. Dutch experience suggests that regional theory makes unrealistic assumptions about the conditions that favor intergovernmental cooperation and underestimates the political barriers to this kind of reform.
Reclaiming Cultural Heritage in Singapore , vol. 41, no. 6
Belinda Yuen
The issue of cultural heritage in urban settings is of increasing importance as cities seek a better future in a globalising world. This paper aims to explore how such heritage themes and assets are treated in rapidly urbanising cities to redress the creation of tabula rasa . Using the case study of Singapore 's latest attempt to build a distinctive global city, it will analyze the changing images of heritage and discuss how heritage conservation may yet give urban redevelopment unique places. The challenge for Singapore , as it is in other cities, is to identify those parts of the urban environment most worthy of preservation while fostering a new and distinctive skyline.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 41, Number 5, May 2006
Race, Place and Information Technology, vol. 41, no. 5
Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert, and Michele Gilbert
Technology inequalities based on race and ethnicity present a paradox. African-Americans and Latinos have lower rates of access and skill, even controlling for socioeconomic factors. Yet African-Americans, and to a lesser extent, Latinos, also have more positive attitudes toward information technology than similarly-situated whites. Because attitudes cannot explain lower rates of access and skill, we hypothesize that racial segregation and concentrated poverty have restricted opportunities to learn about and use technology. Using hierarchical linear modeling and multilevel data to control for both community-level socio-economic and demographic characteristics and individual-level factors, we find that disparities among African-Americans are due to place effects rather than race. Ethnicity still exercises an independent influence for Latinos. These findings contribute to our understanding of the “digital divide,” and to research on the effects of concentrated poverty.
Who Supports Local Growth and Regional Planning to Deal with Its Consequences?, vol. 41, no. 5
Robert Wassmer and Edward Lascher, Jr.
Using 1989 and 2002 California survey data, this paper offers a multivariate statistical analysis of factors that determine individual support for further growth in one's county as well as support for regional coordination of local land use decisions. Women and residents of higher per-capita income counties were more likely to believe that their county had reached its growth limit. In 2002 we also found that aging change one's opinion on this issue. Additionally, people who believed “sprawl” to be a very important issue in their region in 2002 were more likely to favor a state mandate requiring the regional coordination of local land uses.
Performance Measurement in Local Economic Development, vol. 41, no. 5
Mark Lindblad
Despite the trend toward accountability in the public sector, little inferential research exists on the use of accountability tools such as performance measurement. This study identifies factors that affect performance measurement in local economic development and compares the impact of structural determinants such as demographic, socioeconomic, and competitive factors to local community choices such as organizational, political, and community forces. Organizational characteristics of the economic development agency had the greatest impact though socioeconomic and competitive forces also affected performance measurement. Overall, the findings indicate that in municipal policymaking, both structural constraints and local choices matter, but local choices matter more.
Village Ghetto Land : Myth, Social Conditions and Housing Policy in Parkdale, Toronto , 1879-2000, vol. 41, no. 5
Carolyn Whitzman and Tom Slater
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how h istorical narratives such as wealthy ‘suburb', declining ‘slum' and resurgent ‘village' can have little basis in the social conditions of the time they purport to represent, yet be used to justify urban policy and planning decisions. In a case study of Parkdale, Toronto , w e show how a history of the neighbourhood was constructed in the 1970s by using a selective reading of the historic record, and then show how this mythical narrative has recently been used to legitimize the gentrification of the neighbourhood. We also construct an alternative narrative of persistent housing diversity in the face of opposition over 125 years, which might justify a different set of local government policies that recognizes the continuity of inexpensive rental housing options, and seeks to preserve and enhance these options.
Annexation Activity and State Law in the United States , vol. 41, no. 5
Rex Facer
This article explores the impact of 15 separate provisions of state annexation laws on seven different measures of annexation activity. This analysis uses annexation data from 42 states between 1990 and 1998. The analysis finds that there are different patterns of annexation activity for laws designed to constrain annexation, as compared with laws designed to facilitate annexation. Laws designed to facilitate annexation are likely to be associated with high levels of annexation activity. On the other hand, laws designed to constrain annexation are not very likely to have lower levels of activity.
Do Living Wage Policies Diffuse? A Research Note, vol. 41, no. 5
Isaac Martin
This research note examines the conditions under which large U.S. cities pass living wage laws. It updates the only published article on the subject with new data and improved analytic methods. First, it shows that poverty, privatization, and the density of community organizations are associated with policy passage. Second, it provides new quantitative evidence that the living wage movement is, in part, a diffusion process associated with national community organizing networks.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 40, Number 4, March 2006
Creating the Public Domain: Nineteenth-Century Local State Formation in Britain and the United States, vol. 41, no. 4
Alan DiGaetano
To understand the origins of modern local governing institutions in Britain and the United States, this article examines how the forces of nineteenth-century urbanization, industrial and commercial development, nation-state consolidation, and democratization converged to form a historical context ripe for creating a public domain through a process of local state formation. The comparative-historical study also takes into account the role of political mobilization in the creation of the public domain by demonstrating that the formation of modern local state entailed highly contested political processes that produced uneven local state development between and within the two nations.
Bringing the State (Government) Back In: Home Rule and the Politics of Secession in Los Angeles and New York City, vol. 41, no. 4
Raphael J. Sonenshein and Tom Hogen-Esch
Theories of urban power have explored limitations on municipal governance by power elites, by global economic forces, and by economic competition. Less attention has been given to the impact of state government. This article explores the state role in recent secession conflicts in Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley) and New York City (Staten Island). Secession proponents expanded the scope of conflict to their state governments. Although both cities eventually survived secession battles, both were forced to accede to significant reforms. Though state interference with home rule is always a possibility because of the formidable role of the state in local government, it is not inevitable. The capacity of local political actors to form alliances at the state level and political incentives for state actors to get involved are crucial. Older debates about state limitations on urban home rule have much to offer in discussions of the twenty-first-century city.
The Political Economy of Urban Disaster Assistance, vol. 41, no. 4
Steven D. Stehr
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, policy makers are once again debating the manner in which we prepare for, respond to, and recover from extreme events in the United States. While much is known about how to make urban regions safer, political and economic calculations often overwhelm these considerations. The mix of competing priorities and incentives of federal, state, and local officials conspire to make urban hazard planning difficult if not impossible. The considerable challenge facing those charged with making cities less vulnerable is to strike an appropriate balance between these political and economic dynamics, and the creation of more disaster-resilient communities.
Cities at Risk: Hurricane Katrina and the Drowning of New Orleans, vol. 41, no. 4
Louise K. Comfort
The impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans revealed vulnerabilities caused by the interaction of the city's fragile physical environment, aging infrastructure, and declining economic and social structure. The hurricane constituted a triggering event, but the severe destruction and heavy losses documented the extraordinary costs of inadequate plans and practice, given the city's high exposure to risk. This condition and its sobering consequences are not limited to New Orleans, but constitute a silent threat for other cities in the United States and the world. The challenge for cities is to create a new vision of vital, resilient communities that are able to assess and manage their own risk in order to limit escalating damage from extreme events.
The Failure of the Nonregime: How Katrina Exposed New Orleans as a Regimeless City, vol. 41, no. 4
Peter Burns and Matthew O. Thomas
Hurricane Katrina's effect on New Orleans raised serious questions about governmental preparedness and response. New Orleans operates without a stable and long-lasting partnership among resource providers, and the absence of a regime greatly affected how it readied for and reacted to Hurricane Katrina. We employ regime analysis to identify how three key differences between regimes and nonregimes impeded New Orleans's ability to respond to this event. New Orleans lacks an understood agenda; it depends on issue-based coalitions rather than more permanent governing arrangements; and it ineffectively targets resources in the absence of a scheme of cooperation. These characteristics place New Orleans and other nonregime cities in a much more precarious position than urban areas with regimes, and this crisis exacerbated the negative effects of this nonregime environment.
Katrina and Power in America, vol. 41, no. 4
Peter Dreier
The Katrina disaster exposed the major fault lines of American society and politics: class and race. It offers lessons for urban scholars and practitioners. Katrina was a human-made disaster more than a natural disaster. The conditions that led to the disaster, and the response by government officials, were the result of policy choices. Government incompetence was an outgrowth of a more serious indifference to the plight of cities and the poor. As a result, the opportunity to reconstruct New Orleans as part of a bold regional renewal plan was lost. Whatever positive things happen in Katrina's aftermath will be due, in large measure, to the long-term work of grassroots community and union-organizing groups who mobilized quickly to provide a voice for the have-nots and who found allies among professionals to help formulate alternative plans to those developed by business and political elites.
Building Blocks for a Methodology for Comparative Urban Political Research, vol. 41, no. 4
Bas Denters and Karen Mossberger
Comparative urban political research offers scholars the opportunity to develop theory and to compare practice, yet there is a need for more conscious attention to the comparative method and the special opportunities and challenges involved in its application to local political phenomena. This article examines and makes recommendations on issues that are particularly relevant to cross-national research in urban politics and policy, including dealing with multiple levels of analysis, improving research design, and improving conceptualization.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 41, Number 3, January 2006
Making Life Work in Crowded Places, vol. 41, no. 3
Douglas W. Rae
The author of City, Urbanism and its End (2003) recounts his stint as Chief Administrative Officer of New Haven , Connecticut under that city's first Black mayor and during one of its toughest fiscal crises. The piece seeks first, to interpret the failure of Black political succession, which is increasingly evident in many American cities, and to chart the changing features of urban regimes such as New Haven 's. Among the regime changes to which the paper gives special attentions are: (1) the decline and delocalization of business, (2) the shift of labor politics from private to public (and nonprofit) institutions, (3) the rising importance of well-capitalized nonprofits such as hospitals and universities, (4) the declining significance of political parties, and (5) the expanding importance of state government in local governance.
Citizens, Accountability, and Service Satisfaction: The Influence of Expectations, vol. 41, no. 3
Christine Roch and Theodore H. Poister
Understanding how citizen-consumers form evaluations of public services is critical to understanding accountability in democratic governance. The task of using citizens' assessments of service provision quality as an accountability mechanism, however, may be more complex than is commonly understood. In particular, little research has examined how citizens' expectations about the quality of services may influence their levels of satisfaction with public services. In this article, we examine empirically the relationship between perceived performance, expectations, and satisfaction. We examine these relationships across three service areas: trash, police, and schools, relying on survey data from a statewide survey of Georgia residents. Our results suggest higher subjective assessments of service quality are positively related to satisfaction; holding citizens' assessments of service quality constant, positive disconfirmation of expectations increases citizen-consumers' levels of satisfaction with services.
Governing the Design Economy in Montréal , Canada , vol. 41, no. 3
Deborah Leslie and Norma M. Rantisi
Cultural industries have assumed an increased importance to urban economic development. However, little attention has been paid to accommodating the complex set of activities-both cultural and economic-implicated in cultural production. A recognition of this complexity, however, has significant implications for policy. This paper considers the design sector in Montreal , a sector which has attained international visibility in recent years. We analyze the role played by four public and nonprofit institutions in regulating this sector and illuminate their mechanisms for reconciling commercial and aesthetic imperatives. An examination of such initiatives lends insight into the opportunities and the challenges within policy circles for accommodating a conceptualization of cultural industries that recognizes their irreducibly hybrid nature.
Local Choices for Development Impact Fees, vol. 41, no. 3
Moon-Gi Jeong
This paper investigates the patterns and determinants of local impact fee adoptions. The theoretical framework combines political market approaches based in interest group theories of property rights and diffusion theories of innovation. Event history analysis is employed to estimate impact fee adoptions in 66 Florida counties from 1977 to 2001. The empirical results demonstrate clear spatial and temporal patterns, showing that counties experiencing rapid growth actively adopted impact fees. The findings also provide several lessons. First, the development community has a significant influence on the adoption or non-adoption of impact fees. Second, intergovernmental constraints (or incentives) affect local choice. Third, counties are more likely to adopt impact fees as more neighboring counties have adopted them. Fourth, administrative capacity is a critical resource that influences impact fee adoptions. Fifth, the results confirm that rapid growth promotes impact fee adoptions.
Race, Social Capital, and Trust in the Police, vol. 41, no. 3
John MacDonald and Robert J. Stokes
Using a national survey of U.S. residents this study examines racial, socioeconomic, and community explanations for the trust of local police. We hypothesize that the construct of social capital offers a nexus for explaining racial differences in attitudes toward the police. We measure social capital as a construct by aggregating together measures that assess the degree of trust and civic engagement in communities. The results indicate that depleted levels of perceived community social capital contribute to higher levels of distrust of local police. Social capital, however, partially mediates the relative distrust of Blacks toward the police. These findings suggest only partial support for a social capital explanation of Blacks' distrust in the police. The implications of these findings for police reform efforts to mend minority relations in urban cities are discussed.
The Economic of Conservation Subdivisions: Price Premiums, Improvement Costs, and Absorption Rates, vol. 41, no. 3
Rayman Mohamed
The environmental benefits of less land consumption and a growing interest in addressing the negative economic and social impacts of sprawl have resulted in calls for more sensitive subdivision designs. One such design is conservation subdivisions. However, not much is known about these subdivisions, in particular about their economics. This article addresses the issue by examining price premiums, investment costs, and absorption rates for lots in conservation versus those in conventional subdivisions. The results show that lots in conservation subdivisions carry a premium, are less expensive to build, and sell more quickly than lots in conventional subdivisions. The results suggest that designs that take a holistic view of ecology, aesthetics, and sense of community can assuage concerns about higher density. However, the potential negative consequences of conservation subdivisions require further study.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 41, Number 2, November 2005
Everything is Always Going to Hell: Urban Scholars as End-Times Prophets, vol. 41, no. 2
Dennis Judd
Cities and Subcultures: Exploring Validity and Predicting Connections, vol. 41, no. 2
Elaine B. Sharp
Recently there has been renewed attention to the concept of culture in analyses of urban politics. That resurgence has taken a different path from the religion, race, and ethnicity-dominated approach of Elazar's (1970, 1984) classic formulation. Instead, a variety of scholars conceptualize and measure sub-culture based on trends at the heart of a post-industrial, cultural divide in the U.S. Focusing on change in women's social roles, greater prevalence of post-secondary education, increases in non-traditional household arrangements, the decline in traditional religious attachments, and the growing importance of "creative-class" occupations, writers have identified an emergent "unconventional" or "new political culture" that can be differentiated from a traditional or conventional subculture. This paper presents a measurement validation study of this new approach that also shows the substantial correspondence between Census Bureau-based and survey-based measures of this new conceptualization.
Voting for Minority Candidates in Multi-Racial/Ethnic Communities, vol. 41, no. 2
Robert Stein, Stephanie Post and Stacey Ulbig
Recent research suggests that over time the performance of minority office holders rivals race-based attitudes and group membership as the primary determinant of citizen evaluations of minority officeholders. Here, we examine the determinants of electoral support for an African-American mayor in a multi-racial/ethnic venue. We test alternative explanations (race, social distance, and performance-based models) of voter support for an African-American mayor in a setting where no ethnic or racial group represents more than half of the electorate. Our findings indicate that approval ratings co-exist with racial group identification as a determinant of voter support for minority mayors, with one important caveat. Racial voting appears to be more influential in minority candidates' first electoral bids. While race strongly influences voter support for minority mayors during their initial run for office, job approval becomes more important when the minority candidate runs for re-election.
On the Front Line: American Cities and the Challenge of Homeland Security Preparedness, vol. 41, no. 2
Brian J. Gerber, David B. Cohen, Brian Cannon, Dennis Patterson, and Kendra Stewart
Municipal governments' efforts in preparing for possible terrorist events are critical to effective homeland security. Using data gathered from a nationwide sample of municipal officials we identify determinants of homeland security preparedness in U.S. cities, across several attitudinal and behavioral indicators. We find that perceptions of terror threat vulnerability and response capacity are tied to factors such as city size and budgetary constraints. Perhaps more importantly, we show that administrative capacity demonstrates consistent explanatory power for both perceived policy commitment and specific preparedness actions. From these analyses we outline several key policy implications for homeland security policymaking.
Ethnic Packaging and Gentification: The Case of Four Neighborhoods in Toronto, vol. 41, no. 2
Jason Hackworth and Josephine Rekers
Urban theory has historically situated ethnic commercial strips as a more-or-less organic extension of nearby ethnic residential enclaving. While this is undoubtedly still a useful way to frame such commercial spaces in many cities, this paper argues that some areas of this sort function as a marketable branding mechanism (intended or not) to produce nearby residential gentrification. This paper explores the influence of ethnic packaging on the process of gentrification in Toronto, Ontario. Using four ethnically defined business improvement areas-Corso Italia, Little Italy, India Bazaar, and Greektown on the Danforth-it explores the role that constructed ethnicity plays in the valorization of local real estate markets. The commercial areas of these neighbourhoods now function less as areas of identification for the stated group, and increasingly as ways to market each neighbourhood's residential real estate markets. The population of the stated group in each case is on the decline, while efforts to market each neighbourhood as a niche to newcomers are on the increase. This has specific implications for gentrification theory and more general ones for the study of urban landscapes.
Putting out the Trash: Measuring Municipal Service Efficiency in U.S. Cities, vol. 41, no. 2
Adrian Moore, James Nolan and Geoffrey F. Segal
There is a considerable literature describing the performance of municipal services that often uses imperfect or partial measures of efficiency. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has emerged as an effective tool for measuring the relative efficiency of public service provision. This paper uses DEA to measure the relative efficiency of 11 municipal services in 46 of the largest cities in the United States over a period of 6 years. In addition, this information is used to explore efficiency differences between cities and services and provide input into a statistical analysis to explore factors that may explain differences in efficiency between cities. Finally, we discuss municipal governments' use of performance measures and problems with collecting municipal data for benchmarking.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 41, Number 1, September 2005
Cities and Diversity: Should We Want It? Can We Plan For It?, vol. 41, no. 1
Susan F. Fainstein
Diversity has become the new orthodoxy of city planning. The term has several meanings: a varied physical design, mixes of uses, an expanded public realm, and multiple social groupings exercising their "right to the city". Its impetus lies in the postmodern/poststructuralist critique of modernism's master narratives and more specifically in reactions to the urban landscape created by segregation, urban renewal, massive housing projects, and highway building programs. Privileging diversity raises significant issues. Can planned environments produce diversity or only "staged authenticity"? Does emphasizing diversity obscure the economic structure? Is there a connection between diversity and economic innovation? Does social diversity necessarily contribute to equity and a broadly satisfying public realm? Rather than setting diversity as the principal goal of city planning, I argue for the model of the just city, based on Nussbaum's concept of capacities and a recognition of the inevitable trade-offs among equity, diversity, growth, and sustainability.
Be Careful What You Wish For: The House Price Impact of Investments in Transportation Infrastructure, vol. 41, no. 1
Brian A. Mikelbank
Although it is commonly held that accessibility plays a role in house price determination, there is less explicit recognition that it is transportation infrastructure that is primarily delivering accessibility. Large additions to the transportation infrastructure tend to be well studied, but there is a dearth of empirical research that investigates the house price impacts when local transportation infrastructure is imcrementally invested in. If these smaller investments also impact accessibility, then there should be a measurable impact in the housing market. Although results show that this is in fact the case for Cuyahoga County, Ohio, over the years 1995-2000, the price impact is not universally positive. The nature of the price impact depends on the location of the investment, relative to the house and regional accessibility points, and on how long ago the investment was completed.
Money and Machine Politics: An Analysis of Corporate and Labor Contributions in Chicago City Council Elections, vol. 41, no. 1
Timothy B. Krebs
Machine coalitions use their influence to reward faithful supporters with public goods. Here the author shifts the focus to electoral politics by examining the link between machine coalitions and corporate and labor contributions in Chicago city council elections. He argues that machine coalition members are at a strategic advantage relative to those outside of it, all things being equal. The results of tobit regression models applied to both nonincumbent candidates support the theory. In practice, what it means in Chicago is that Whites and Latinos are favored over Blacks in the increasingly important quest for campaign money.
Family Self-Sufficiency Programs: An Evaluation of Program Benefits and Factors Affecting Participants' Success, vol. 41, no. 1
Jerry Anthony
Since the mid-1980s, family self-sufficiency programs have been set up in over 1000 cities and countries across the United States. These programs are aimed at helping public-housing residents and Section 8 tenants, who often have very little wage of no wage income, become economically self-sufficient and move into private housing. Though much has been written about the potential of such programs, research examining their benefits is virtually nonexistent. This article seeks to partly fill this void. The research reported here examined data on 135 participants of the City of Rockford, Illinois's Family Self-Sufficiency program. Using logistic regression techniques the effects several factors on program completion were explored. The author reports that Rockford's Family Self-Sufficiency program graduates derived significant economic and housing benefits, and that race did not seem to affect graduation while other factors, such as age and the number of skills acquired in the program, seemed to.
Managing Citizen Fears: Public Attitudes Toward Urban Terrorism, vol. 41, no. 1
Darrell M. West and Marion Orr
The authors examine public attitudes toward urban terrorism, focusing on whether
emotion or reason is a more important determinant of how people feel. Using
the results of a public opinion survey in a large, northeastern city, the authors
find that both emotion and reason affect people's reactions to terrorist attacks.
However, this relationship is affected by personal conversation. The more people
talk about terrorism, the greater the chance reason rather than fear will dictate
reactions. These results have important ramifications for how urban officials
deal with homeland security and assuage citizens whose excessive concerns about
terrorism have led to costly security expenditures.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 40, Number 6, July 2005
Crossroads of Equality: Race/Ethnicity and Cities in American Democracy, vol. 40, no. 6
Rodney E. Hero
The establishment of the Urban Affairs Quarterly/Urban Affairs Review coincided with significant social and political developments as well as the publication of major scholarship having to do with issues of (in)equality. The author suggest and briefly considers what he takes to be some leading examples of how questions of racial equality have been closely intertwined with urban politics and the study thereof since the early 1960s. He also notes some emerging phenomena that seem likely to continue to place urban politics and research in the UAR at the crossroads of equality in the United States.
Political Institutions and Conservation by Local Governments, vol. 40, no. 6
Mark Lubell, Richard Feiock and Edgar Ramirez
In this article, the authors develop a political market framework to explain the circumstances under which Florida counties will supply environmental public goods in the form of conservation amendments to county general plans. The framework emphasizes the role of local legislative and executive institutions as mediators of local policy change. Using count models and interaction terms, the analysis shows how the strength of real estate interests constrains the ability of professional county managers to pursue conservation policies. The findings reinforce the importance of developing theories of urban politics in which local political institutions are not transparent.
The Calculus of Coalitions: Cities, Suburbs, and the Metropolitan Agenda, vol. 40, no. 6
Margaret Weir, Harold Wolman and Todd Swanstrom
Reductions in federal urban assistance and devolution have made cities increasingly reliant on their state governments at a time when cities have lost political strength in state legislatures. This article identifies three types of coalitions that historically supported cities: party-imposed coalitions, interest-based coalitions, and governor-brokered coalitions. It shows how institutional, demographic, and economic changes have made these legislative coalitions less reliable. The article then considers prospects for constructing new city-suburban legislative coalitions. It argues that institutional constraints have limited the scope of preferences expressed by city and suburban legislators. The article concludes that prospects for city-suburban coalitions will depend on new issue definitions, institutional rules, and organizations that help city and suburban legislators redefine their policy preferences.
Housing Mix, Social Mix, and Social Opportunities, vol. 40, no. 6
Sako Musterd and Roger Andersson
Will housing mix create social mix, and will social mix create social opportunity? This question is central in American and European urban debates. In Europe, however, there is a big gap between the political debates and actions regarding these issues and empirical research. In an effort to partly fill this gap, the authors critically evaluated the question above, applying a large-scale longitudinal Swedish data set covering the period 1991-1999 and available at the individual level for the entire population. The first part of this article reviews the various policies that are used in different European countries. The second part addresses the empirical analysis.
Urban Affairs Review, May 2005, Volume 40, Number 5
40th Anniversary Featured Essay: Beyond Federal Urban Policy, vol. 40, no. 5
William R. Barnes
Under Democratic and Republican leaders alike, urban policy has receded into a Washington backwater, and it is unlikely to reemerge as a priority any time soon. This essay provides a brief narrative of the rise and fall of urban policy, with a focus on the climax of urban policy making in the late 1970s. The essay also offers some thoughts on the framework-the architecture-the status and alignment of which affects the prospects for federal government involvement in local problem solving and building quality communities.
Private Markets, Contracts, and Government Provision: What Explains the Organization of Local Waste and Recycling Markets?, vol. 40, no. 5
Margaret Walls, Molly Macauley, and Soren Anderson
The authors study determinants of market organization of local public services by an examination of one of the most visible services, residential waste management. Using a multinomial logit data model and data for 1000 U.S. communities, the authors explore the effects of political influence, voter ideology, environmental constraints, production costs, and contracting transaction costs on a community's choice of service delivery options. They find that costs are significant in explaining communities' choices. In contract, few of the political variables are statistically significant. These results hold for both waste and recycling, providing further evidence that local governments emphasize costs when choosing between private and public provision.
Media and Momentum: Strategic Contributing in a Big-City Mayoral Election, vol. 40, no. 5
Timothy B. Krebs and David B. Holian
To be a competitive candidate for mayor in the nation's largest cities requires one to raise substantial sums of money. In this research, the authors explore the dynamics of campaign contributions using data from the 2001 mayoral election in Los Angeles. Their primary theoretical interest in whether contributions reflect shifts in candidates' momentum, which they measure via a content analysis of campaign press coverage. Findings indicate that contributions are a function of momentum, but the effects are not the same for all candidates. In a concluding section, the authors explain why this might be the case.
Nested Levels of Institutions: State Rules and City Property Taxes in the Shadow of the Law, vol. 40, no. 5
Barbara Coyle McCabe and Richard C. Feiock
The new institutionalism concentrates on the nature and effects of rules and on intergovernmental relations on levels of government. This article integrates these foci to present a model of nested institutions and levels of government, focusing on constitutional and substantive rules of governance in states and municipalities. The authors contend that cities' constitutional rules (specifically their governance arrangements) shape local actors' incentives and influence their implementation of state mandates. They argue further that the mere presence-not the actual evocation-of these rules casts a shadow that defines the actors' decision space and that broad distinctions among laws have profound implications for the actors' choices. They support this explanation by empirically testing propositions derived from the framework regarding property tax dependence in large cities between 1970 and 1995.
Battery Park City: An Ethnographic Field Study of the Community Impact of 9/11, vol. 40, no. 5
Setha M. Low, Dana H. Taplin, and Mike Lamb
The authors report on an ethnographic study of Battery Park City in summer 2002, less than one year after 9/11. They sought to understand the impact of the disaster on this affluent residential enclave across the street from Ground Zero. The research team used rapid ethnographic assessment procedures (REAP), a productive yet relatively inexpensive rapid assessment methodology. The methods included participant observation, on-site interviews with a range of residents, and interviews with public officials and community leaders. The authors evaluate their date within a framework of hypothesized alternative "folk models" through which residents interpreted the rapid community change. Some friends and neighbors had left permanently, and many new residents arrived the following winter and spring in response to strong rent incentives. Findings include a rise in community activism, lingering fear, and a significant fissure in the community between residents who had survived the disaster and the many new residents.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 40, Number 4, March 2005
40th Anniversary Featured Essay: Re-Placing the Nation: An Agenda for Comparative Urban Politics, vol. 40, no. 4
Jefferey Sellers
As the world becomes more urbanized and the significance of governance and politics within cities and regions grows, comparative urban analysis plays an increasingly prominent role in the comparative study of politics and policy. Realizing this potential requires a conceptualization of national institutions, societies, and cultures that does justice to both the persistence of the national and the influence of local and regional agents and structures. While comparative urban political analysis must separate out local agency from national institutions, it must also take account of the role that national elements play in local agency. The de-centered analysis that results departs from traditional nation-centered comparisons as well as from those centered solely on urban actors and institutions. With the growth of transnational influences, this type of analysis offers an increasingly appropriate method to scrutinize the politics of both countries and urban regions.
Comparative Urban Governance: Uncovering Complex Causalities, vol. 40, no. 4
Jon Pierre
Unlike most other areas of the social sciences, the study of urban politics has been slow in developing a comparative research agenda. This article explores the potential in comparative urban governance research. Urban regime theory does not travel very well, partly because it is an undertheorized framework and partly because it is in many ways an abstraction of U.S. urban political economy. To escape these obstacles to comparative research, this article argues that regimes should be conceived of as a culturally and historically specific model of urban governance. Comparative urban governance holds tremendous potential is assisting scholars in uncovering causal mechanisms and drivers of political, economic, and social change at the urban level.
Displacement or Succession? Residential Mobility in Gentrifying Neighborhoods, vol. 40, no. 4
Lance Freeman
This article examines the extent to which gentrification in U.S. neighborhoods is associated with displacement by comparing mobility and displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods with mobility and displacement in similar neighborhoods that did not undergo gentrification. The results suggest that displacement and higher mobility play minor if any roles as forces of change in gentrifying neighborhoods. Demographic change in gentrifying neighborhoods appears to be a consequence of lower rates of intraneighborhood mobility and the relative affluence of in-movers.
Municipal Service Provision Choices Within a Metropolitan Area, vol. 40, no. 4
Pascale Joassart-Marcelli and Juliet Musso
The authors investigate the decision of municipal governments to outsoucr the provision of public services during the 1980s and 1990s- a period of increased responsibility for municipalities. This study extends previous empirical work on outsourcing by distinguishing the type of outsourcing used (e..g., public, private, or other types of providers) and treating the outsourcing decision as a dynamic choice. Institutional characteristics and fiscal stress are found to play an important role in explaining service choices. Multinomial logistic regressions indicate that outsourcing was more common for poor cities than for wealthier ones, with the former often relying on government agencies and the latter opting for privatization. Throughout time, these choices are likely to reinforce interjurisdictional patterns of disparity in service quality and costs.
The Construction of the Geography of Immigration as a Policy Problem: The United States and Canada Compared, vol. 40, no. 4
Yasmeen Abu-Laban and Judith Garber
The release of 2000 U.S. Census and 2001 Canadian Census data sparked significant interest in immigrant dispersal outside major urban centers. This article analyzes how the meaning of immigration settlement patterns is socially constructed by using a comparative textual analysis of newspaper coverage of the census findings as well as government documents and think tank studies. The authors argue that in Canada, immigration settlement in interpreted as a national policy problem necessitation federal state intervention, whereas presentations in U.S. print media construct immigration settlement as the outcome of choices made by individual immigrants and, thus, as local policy problems. In each country, the construction of immigrant dispersal draws on national mythologies and omits alternative interpretations of the geography of immigrant settlement.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 40, Number 3, January 2005
40th Anniversary Featured Essay: Looking Back to Look Forward: Reflections on Urban Regime Analysis, vol. 40, No. 3
Clarence N. Stone
In differentiating urban regime analysis from pluralism, this article argues that the politics of bringing together governing arrangements poses challenges that are much greater than the "retail" politics of pressuring government officials regarding particular decisions. Agenda setting, coalition building, resource mobilization, and devising schemes of cooperation are central elements in a model of governing. Seen in structural context, particularly of the system of social stratification, these elements in combination can explain why it is so difficult to give priority to policies to overcome social exclusion. Furthermore, because the impact of social-reform initiatives depend greatly on how governmental actions mesh with nongovernmental actions, sustained efforts depend on contributions from nonelites as well as strategic supports from elites.
Demographic Change in Small Cities, 1990-2000, vol. 40, no. 3
Christiana Brennan, Darrene Hackler, and Christopher Hoene
Census 2000 figures reveal broad demographic changes in America's cities during the 1990-200 period. Although considerable analysis has been devoted to trends in the largest cities, there has been less attention to what is happening in smaller cities, which comprise 97% of cities nationwide. Date for 100 small cities (population less than 50,000) are drawn from the 1990 and 2000 Census Summary files. The analysis reveals that growth is occurring faster in these smaller cities than in any of their larger cohorts. Other findings are that small-city growth is fastest in the West and Midwest, is occurring more rapidly in small cities within metropolitan areas, and is spurred by increased in Hispanic, Black, and Asian populations.
Measuring the Effect of Subprime Lending on Neighborhood Foreclosures: Evidence from Chicago, Vol. 40, no. 3
Dan Immergluck and Geoff Smith
Since the early 1990s, there has been a very large growth in mortgages made by so-called subprime lenders, which specialize in lending to borrowers with credit history problems. One reason for concern about this trend is that it has been associated with a large and simultaneous rise in foreclosures, which can entail significant costs not just for those directly affected but also for surrounding neighborhoods and larger communities. This study uses multivariate estimations to quantify the impact of subprime lending on neighborhood foreclosure levels. After controlling for neighborhood demographics and economic conditions, the authors find that subprime loans lead to foreclosures at far greater rates than do prime loans. Moreover, subprime lending appears to account for a substantial share of foreclosure activity in high-foreclosure neighborhoods.
Changing Approaches to Historic Preservation in Quedlinburg, Germany, vol. 40, no. 3
Heike C. Alberts and Mark R. Brinda
This article examines the changing approaches to historic preservation of half-timbered
houses in Quedlinburg, Germany. Under the East German (GDR) regime, the scarcity
of funds and materials limited preservation measures. After the German reunification,
the conditions improves significantly, and Quedlinburg became the largest historic
preservation project in the country. The difficulties in enforcing the high
p reservation standards and the conflicts arising over certain aspects of the
project clearly demonstrate the need for integrating historic preservation projects
with general urban planning to meet the needs of both preservationists and inhabitants
of the city.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 40, Number 2, November 2004
Exploring the Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions of the Governing of Metropolitan Regions, vol. 40, no. 2
David K. Hamilton, David Y. Miller, and Jerry Paytas
A metropolitan regions does not have formal institutional structures such as nations, states, and cities, but it is a system that can be conceptualized and studied as a whole. The study of metropolitan areas too often ignores the dynamic relationships at the intersection of state and local governments. This study suggest a two-dimensional typology of governance in metropolitan regions. The authors found that governance affects the long-term competitiveness of the metropolitan economy. Governance does not determine economic outcomes but reduces the ability to adapt. The worst combination for metropolitan competitiveness is decentralization within regions where there is a centralized state government.
When Cities Get Married: Constructing Urban Space through Gender, Sexuality, and Municipal Consolidation, vol. 40, no. 2
Richardson Dilworth, Kathryn Trevenen
In this article, we examine the processes by which urban space become sexually
coded through municipal consolidation in the nineteenth century. Our analysis
covers the union of Van Vorst Township to Jersey
City in 1851 and the absorption of the City of Brooklyn to "Greater New
York" in 1898. In both cases, urban space was gendered and sexualized through
courtship and marriage metaphors used by local newspapers. We argue that consolidation
is represented in gendered and sexualized terms that the question of municipal
expansion became insulated from moral, racialized, and environmental concerns
about the "threats" of the big city. Our analysis has contemporary
relevance because it suggests the sexist and heterosexist norms that may be
embedded in the noblesse oblige or contemporary municipal consolidation. It
also suggests a way of looking at contemporary municipal boundary changes through
a normative lens that takes us beyond economic notions of self-interest.
The Economic Effects of Living Wage Laws: A Provisional Review, vol. 40, no. 2
Scott Adams and David Neumark
Nearly 100 cities and local governments in the United States passed living wage laws since the mid-1990s. The central goal of living wages is to reduce poverty, yet they mail fail to do so because of disemployment effects. We summarize and critique the existing research on the effects of living wages on wages, employment, and family income, emphasizing common findings, points of disagreement, and important questions for future research. The evidence thus far points to wage increases as well as employment losses for the least skilled-although there is disagreement about the employment effects-but, on net, some beneficial distributional effects. The evidence also points to efficiency wage-type effects of living wage laws that may offset some of the adverse impacts on employers.
Hunger Discipline and Social Parasites: The Political Economy of the Living Wage, vol. 40, no. 2
Tony Robinson
This article examines how New Deal commitments to a living wage were overturned by neoliberal market forces after the 1970s capital accumulation crisis. A period of urban financialization followed, characterized by a shift of urban fortunes away from labor and toward capital. Today's living wage movement critiques the resulting economy in which top-tier success is linked to declining worker prospects. Advocates argue that businesses receiving government contracts or subsidies should pay a living wage that allows workers to support the average family in reasonable comfort. This article explores arguments for and against this movement, using Denver as a case study.
Thinking About Local Living Wage Requirements, vol. 40, no. 2
Timothy J. Bartik
This article reviews our knowledge about the living wage, a local government
requirement that employers receiving city contracts or economic development
subsidies pay a living wage above the federal minimum wage. The article concludes
that moderate living wage requirements applied to local government, and to contractors'
and grantees' employees who are funded by the local government, are the most
likely to be beneficial. Living wage coverage for employers receiving economic
development subsidies are more likely to be harmful if the city economy is weak.
Urban Affairs Review, Volume 40, Number 1, September 2004
Race and Racial Attitudes A Decade After the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, vol. 40, no. 1
Mara A. Marks, Matt A. Barreto, and Nathan D. Woods
A decade after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, half of residents surveyed report they anticipate another riot. Pessimism concerning the prospects of future riots associated with negative assessments of life in Los Angeles-most notably negative perceptions of racial issues in the city. Demographic attributes including income, educational attainment, and duration of residency in Los Angeles are also associated with expectations of future riots. Racial or ethnic identity, however, have no appreciable direct or mediating impact on expectations of future riots, a striking finding in light of the central place race occupies in social science research and public discourse.
City Caesars? Institutional Structure and Mayoral Success in Three California Cities, vol. 40, no. 1
Megan Mullin, Gillian Peele, and Bruce E. Cain
Recently voters in many large cities have approved charter reforms that strengthen the power of the executive, suggesting that big city residents and mayors themselves view the formal authority of the office as an important influence on whether a mayor will be successful in solving urban problems. This article employs qualitative data from three California cities to specify how structural characteristics interact with personal factors to facilitate mayoral leadership. The authors find that city structure does not directly determine a mayor's goals and leadership style, but it does create constraints and opportunities that influence whether a mayor's personal strategies will succeed.
Mayors, Governance Coalitions, and Strategic Capacity: Drawing Lessons from Germany for Theories of Urban Governance, vol. 40, no. 1
Scott Gissendanner
A comparison of two German cities responding in the 1980s to deindustrialization directs our attention toward factors that explain how leaders build governance and strategic capacities; a "crisis" situation, higher level government aid, party ties and low party competition, solidarity, friendship, and momentum. Factors that do not explain variation in these cases include the formal resources of strong-mayor city charters and the existence of the government coalition. Mayors are in a unique position to increase governance capacity through informal means, and if they do, they often also increase strategic capacity. This effect is, however, short term at best.
Assessing and Measuring the Fiscal Health of Local Governments: Focus on Chicago Suburban Municipalities, vol. 40, no. 1
Rebecca Hendrick
This study presents a framework for assessing the financial condition and fiscal health of municipal governments, develops indices for some dimensions of the framework, and applies the indices to 264 suburban municipalities in the Chicago metropolitan region. The framework is based on a systems view of local government financial condition. It shows that fiscal health is a complex and multidimensional concept with varying time frames. Furthermore, the dimensions are related but often in indirect or nonlinear ways, indicating they must be measured separately rather than combined into a comprehensive indicator of fiscal health. Indices developed here for targeting dimensions of the framework are assessed and compared to alternative indicators of fiscal health developed by others in the field.
The American City in the Age of Terror: A Preliminary Assessment of the Effects of September 11, vol. 40, no. 1
Peter Eisinger
The terror attacks of September 11, 2001, on New York and Washington, D.C., may be seen among other things as assaults on American cities as urban places. It would not be surprising in this light if Americans began to rethink the role and functions of cities in the aftermath of terror. This article explores the ear