The Decline Of The Political Consensus For Urban Growth: Evidence from Los Angeles

This article explores growth politics in the United States by examining the case of Los Angeles. Recent observers of Los Angeles have noted that growth interests in the city increasingly lack the political coordination to effectively accomplish their projects. One writer has even announced the collapse of the growth machine in the region. Such an assertion is extraordinary, given the power most authors ascribe to growth coalitions and given Los Angeles' strong pro‐growth history. The article presents evidence that the machine has not collapsed, but the political consensus for growth has eroded severely over the past 15 years by a variety of factors. The article then argues that the same general processes that have caused the demise of the growth consensus in Los Angeles are in place in other cities and will likely have similar effects on growth politics there. The article ends by detailing some implications that the end of the growth consensus might have for local politics in the United States.