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Summary
Written in a non-technical, narrative style, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone concerned with current trends in urban development. During the Reagan era, responsibility for urban planning and development was transferred from government to private business. This private sector hegemony over urban development differs markedly from the liberal policy initiatives of the 1960s and 1970s. Through a series of case studies, this book examines these shifting trends and shows that private sector efforts to revitalize America's central cities have not been uniformly successful. The contributors, who are among America's leading social scientists, utilize neo-Marxist urban theory to explain the conditions under which private initiative enhances or erodes downtown redevelopment.
“The book is useful both as a reference on a variety of development issues and as a source of arresting case studies of the development experience. It shows how and why investment decisions driven by the private market lead neither to economic security nor to a high quality of urban life.” — Clarence N. Stone, University of Maryland
“It provides concrete examples of the 'real world' manifestations of some of the key forces which the new political economy says shape urban development.” — Richard Rich, Virginia Tech
“This kind of fresh material is scarce. I like the myriad aspects of public and private sector influence: arts, sports, government subsidies and regulation, and so on. These perspectives are diverse, yet cohesive in their mutuality.” — Dennis E. Gale, George Washington University
Scott Cummings is Professor and Associate Dean of Urban Affairs at the University of Louisville.
Table of Contents
Contributors
Introduction
1. Private Enterprise and Public Policy: Business Hegemony in the Metropolis
SCOTT CUMMINGS
Part One: Business Elites and the Growth Agenda
2. Strategies and Constraints of Growth Elites
HARVEY MOLOTCH
3. The Role of the Performing Arts in Urban Competition and Growth
J. ALLEN WHITT
4. Public Investment in Private Businesses: The Professional Sports Mania
MARK S. ROSENTRAUB
5. Public Policy and Private Benefits: The Case of Industrial Revenue Bonds
THOMAS S. MOORE and GREGORY D. SQUIRES
Part Two: Business Elites and Local Government
6. Urban Populism, Uneven Development, and the Space for Reform
TODD SWANSTROM
7. Municipal Code Enforcement and Urban Development:Private Decisions and Public Policy in an American City
SCOTT CUMMINGS and EDMOND SNIDER
8. Chicago's North Loop Redevelopment Project: A Growth Machine on Hold
LARRY BENNETT, KATHLEEN MCCOURT, PHILIP W. NYDEN, and GREGORY D. SQUIRES
Part Three: The Social Costs of Urban Growth and Decline
9. Tallying the Social Costs of Urban Growth Under Capitalism: The Case of Houston
JOE R. FEAGIN
10. Downriver: Deindustrialization in Southwest Detroit
RICHARD CHILD HILL and MICHAEL INDERGAARD
11. Disinvestment and Economic Decline in Northeastern Pennsylvania: The Failures of a Local Business Elite's Growth Agenda
THOMAS J. KEIL
Part Four: Downtown Prosperity and Neighborhood Poverty
12. Urban Democracy and the Power of Corporate Capital: Struggles over Downtown Growth and Neighborhood Stagnation in Hartford, Connecticut
KENNETH J. NEUBECK and RICHARD E. RATCLIFF
13. Fiscal and Developmental Crises in Black Suburbs
JOHN R. LOGAN
14. The Limits to Neighborhood Power: Progressive Politics and Local Control in Santa Monica
