REGIME ANALYSIS AND THE STUDY OF URBAN POLITICS,A Rejoinder

Bringing together various criticisms of regime theory, David Imbroscio centers his argument on the need to rethink the division of labor between state and market. Though it has long been recognized that the business sector, through such means as public/private partnerships and “independent” redevelopment agencies, can capture control of significant instruments of governmental authority, Imbroscio points usefully to the possibility of movement in the opposite direction, the possibility of direct government involvement in investment activity. Moreover, he suggests, the governmental sector might tilt toward smaller enterprises over large corporations and might also encourage greater use of the nonprofit sector in economic production. As a policy strategy, he urges attention to the accumulation process rather than issues of what I call “opportunity expansion.” With the economic life of the community less in the hands of corporate business, Imbroscio argues, popular participation would gain a greater voice and local democracy would be served thereby. This is a thought-provoking line of argument, and I welcome the chance to comment on it and, at the same time, clarify some issues surrounding the analysis of urban regimes. Since some of the ground on which Imbroscio builds his argument is implicit, this exchange can serve to make theoretical alternatives more explicit. What is at issue may be less a matter of differing policy recommendations than of differing foundations on which recommendations are built.     

THE DILEMMAS OF BUILDING A PROGRESSIVE URBAN COALITION: The Linked Development Debate in Chicago

ABSTRACT: In 1983 Chicago elected its first black mayor, Harold Washington. During Washington's first term of office, his administration not only reordered municipal priorities in such a fashion as to benefit his core, minority voting constituency, but also defined a municipal agenda emphasizing greater attention to neighborhood needs and more open government. In 1984 an important neighborhood coalition, the Save Our Neighborhoods/Save Our City Coalition (SON/SOC), proposed a linked development policy to tap downtown investment for neighborhood projects. Although SON/SOC's proposal was compatible with the Washington neighborhood agenda, this mainly white organization and the Washington administration experienced considerable difficulty in forging a mutually acceptable proposal The linked development debate in Chicago demonstrates the salience of race, class-cultural factors, and alternative approaches to neighborhood mobilization as barriers to the development of progressive coalitions in city politics.     

REFORMULATING URBAN REGIME THEORY: The Division of Labor Between State and Market Reconsidered

ABSTRACT: Urban regime theory has emerged as the dominant paradigm for the study of local politics. The ascendancy of regime theory has made it the subject of intense critical scrutiny. While urban scholars generally find it to be a valuable theoretical advance, many have uncovered conceptual limitations. This article develops yet another critique of urban regime theory. It argues regime theory suffers from an overly rigid and largely static conceptualization of the division of labor between state and market and identifies three alternative conceptualizations of this division. This exercise demonstrates the possibilities for building alternative urban regimes. It therefore suggests an enrichment of established urban regime typologies. Specifically, the article points to the existence of three previously unidentified regime types. These three urban regimes challenge the enduring tension in urban governance between a city's economic aspirations for vibrant development and its political aspirations for a vibrant democracy.     

Producing the Capacity to Govern in Global Sydney: A Multiscaled Account

Abstract Critiques of urban regime theory suggest the need for a more nuanced approach to the tangled scalar geographies that constitute urban governance. This article moves towards such an approach by adopting urban regime theory's focus on urban politics but conducts its analyses through a multiscalar lens. It demonstrates how processes operating across multiple scales intersect in the production of local governance. The article focuses on the social production of urban governance in Sydney, Australia, specifically examining the city's changing scalar context and scale politics. It suggests that scale‐sensitive regime analyses can make important contributions to theoretical development concerning the multiscalar complexities of governance.     

Historic Preservation Policy and Regime Politics in Atlanta

Stone and others described historic preservation policy in Atlanta as a failure because of the inability of preservation advocates to participate effectively in the governing regime. Yet in 1989, Mayor Andrew Young approved a comprehensive new preservation ordinance that reflected a shift in priorities by the city's business and political leaders to recognize the importance of preserving and reusing older buildings. The enactment of this new preservation‐based redevelopment policy was the result of a process of social learning by Atlanta's regime participants. This research examines the development of the new historic preservation policy, its effects on neighborhoods and commercial areas, and its connections to regime theory. Rather than being a failure, historic preservation policy in Atlanta succeeded in balancing the interests of developers, property owners, and preservation advocates.     

FOLLOWING THE SIGNS: APPLYING URBAN REGIME ANALYSIS TO A UK CASE STUDY

ABSTRACT: As the debate continues regarding the applicability of urban regime analysis in a UK context, three aspects stand out as highly significant: the target for analysis, the mode of scrutiny, and the context of local governing arrangements with its implications for interdependence as an impetus for co‐operation. This article will examine urban regime analysis and the move from government to governance in order to answer why and how the private, voluntary and public sectors might be inclined to collaborate in regimes. In addition, the regime analysis will provide the parameters for examination whilst the issue of governance will afford context for local governing arrangements. Although some issues require slight reframing to reflect the UK context, the article will follow a rigorous framework for examination utilizing the full weight of regime analysis as articulated by Stone such that it could not be accused of “concept stretching.” Far from it: Through the examination of an informal partnership, a coalition of actors from the public, private, and voluntary sectors that has been in existence for more than 13 years, the article focuses, specifically, on the long‐term, less visible aspects of local governance. As such, it is able to demonstrate how economic and political change can have a tangible effect on the manifestation of interdependence as an impetus for co‐operation, not only for this specific locale but also for other cities facing similar challenges.     

THE ROLE OF HISTORY IN REDISTRIBUTIONAL POLICY DISCOURSE: EVIDENCE FROM LIVING WAGE CAMPAIGNS IN CHICAGO AND SAN FRANCISCO

The existing urban politics literature is insufficient in explaining why redistributional policymaking flourishes in some contexts and not in others. This article attempts to move beyond the structure versus agency dichotomy and uses a close comparison of the living wage movements in Chicago and San Francisco, not only to argue that “history matters,” but to illustrate how historical narratives are actively (re)constructed by social actors to further their agenda(s). Although each city started with similar campaigns to enact basic “contractor‐only” forms of living wage laws, by the end of a 10‐year period the resulting level of change in San Francisco stood in stark contrast to Chicago, where advocates failed to extend the living wage to “big box” retailers. Using a brief history of economic restructuring and an empirical assessment of the business climate valence of each city's political regime, this article finds that economic and political factors jointly structure the depth and pace of policy change by setting the terms of debate within redistributional policy discourses. This joint determination occurs because “problem frames” are path‐dependent and because inherited political structures, such as the availability of binding referendum, allocate agenda‐setting power and opportunities to challenge entrenched interests.     

Public Participation and New Urbanism: A Conflicting Agenda?

The challenges to public participation in planning are numerous. Inclusive and equitable processes are recognised as an ideal in much planning theory and practice, yet this ideal is increasingly difficult to realise in today's societies that comprise diverse and multiple publics. Within the wider sustainability debate, “New Urbanism” has emerged as a pragmatic alternative to conventional low-density development. Concomitant with a range of prescribed physical outcomes, the New Urbanism movement advocates a process of “citizen-based participatory planning and design”. Charrettes, with urban design workshops, are the favoured tools for achieving this goal. However, it is argued that the adherence to a single type of participatory tool can be inconsistent with accepted ideals of participation processes and has several implications. Of particular concern is the role of the charrette planner or facilitator, a figure who has the potential to manipulate the public because of his/her inevitable allegiance to the New Urban agenda. In addition, the examination of a charrette process in a small New Zealand town raises several broader questions about the ability of the approach to address issues of inclusiveness and the recognition of difference, two fundamental elements of good participatory processes.     

REGIME BUILDING,INSTITUTION BUILDING: URBAN RENEWAL POLICY IN CHICAGO, 1946–1962

ABSTRACT: Urban regime analysis emphasizes the role of coalition building in creating a capacity to govern in cities. Through a case study of urban renewal policy in postwar Chicago, this article considers the role played by political institutions. Conceptualizing this historical period as one of regime building, I show how existing political institutions were out of sync with the city's new governing agenda of urban renewal and redevelopment following World War II. Creating a capacity to govern in urban renewal policy required both coalition building and a fundamental reworking of formal governing institutions.     

SPECTACULAR BEIJING: THE CONSPICUOUS CONSTRUCTION OF AN OLYMPIC METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT: This article presents a critical review of Beijing's Olympic redevelopment, and of the social, economic, and political impacts of hosting mega events as a means of urban image construction. Through an analysis of Olympic projects, city marketing initiatives, and their impact on the city's material and cultural landscape, this article postulates that Beijing's spatial restructuring and image construction program played an important role in exacerbating the profound inequalities that have come to epitomize China's transition to capitalism within an autocratic political system. Acting as a developmental engine legitimating large‐scale urban transformations, the Olympics have helped concentrate economic and political power in the hands of a coalition of government leaders and private investors and allowed their interests to dominate the planning agenda. Beijing's spectacular Olympic preparations have in many ways acted as a propaganda tool and an instrument of pacification to divert popular attention from the shortcomings of China's rapid economic transformation, accompanied by rampant land speculation, corruption, and uneven development.     

Developing Regional Regimes: A Comparison of Two Metropolitan Areas

Abstract: The author relates tenets of urban regime theory to the major elements of new regionalism. He develops a framework of government and private sector structures and factors that facilitate the development of regional governing regimes. He categorizes these structures and elements as high, medium, or low according to the extent to which they facilitate or hinder the development of regional regimes. This framework is used in an analysis of new regionalism in the Pittsburgh and Chicago regions. The author concludes that the Pittsburgh region's private sector regime development capacity is in the high category while its government capacity is in the medium category. The Chicago region's private sector regime development capacity is placed in the medium category while its government sector capacity is judged to be in the low category.     

CIVIC CULTURE AND CORPORATE REGIME IN LOUISVILLE

ABSTRACT: We examine the civic culture in Louisville focusing upon the community power structure, community value system, and public decision‐making system as described by knowledgeable persons. Interviewees were selected for their first‐hand knowledge of community decision making as participants and close observers and to represent different interests. Respondents described what resembles a corporate‐centered regime in economic development but which does not necessarily extend to education. The civic culture and attendant myths hold together a city that otherwise is greatly divided by race, class, and status apparent in the geographic segregation of the community into the East, West, and South Ends. The city's self identity and perception in some way may be at odds with its current situation and development strategies.     

The New Urban Scale in Italy

Abstract

The publication of Aldo Rossi's L' architettura della città in 1966 marked the conclusion of several years of research and writing on architecture and urbanism. Rossi wrote the book as a treatise for a science of urbanism in an attempt to establish the principles and terms for analyzing existing urban conditions. His thesis responded to a polemical debate within Italian architecture of the early 1960s over the future form of the city brought about, in part, by unprecedented transformations in the postwar city. In this essay, I chronicle the cultural context of the debate over urbanism in Italy that motivated Rossi to establish objective principles for a new urban theory, distinguishing between “the architecture of the city,” autonomy, and the concept of la nuova dimensione.     

The commodification of land and housing: the case of South Korea

The developmentalist state in South East Asia has played an important role in guiding and promoting economic growth. Although an implicit theme of much of the discourse is the role of the state in controlling the factors of production, this is not located within the decommodification/commodification debate. Proceeding from the premise that underlies much of economic theory, namely that land values at a time reflect the residual (or surplus) of economic activity that requires land as a factor input, the purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the Korean state has managed the commodification of urban development and the distributional effects of this process. In spite of private land ownership the state has had a major impact on the processes by which land has become commodified, using extensive land expropriation and land‐use planning powers. The Korean state used different strategies to manage trends to commodification at different times: land readjustment projects were used from the 1950s to the 1970s and Public Management Development projects were the main mechanism of urban development from the 1980s. The urban development system was feasible because of the state's extensive control over access to housing finance (decommodified money). In the mid‐1990s there was a shift towards greater private sector involvement in urban development. The distributional effects of the urban development process have been highly inequitable. Subsidised home ownership for middle‐income families has been favoured over provision of public rental housing for low‐income families, driven in major part by cash flow considerations of the developmentalist state. Further, the basis of selecting beneficiaries has been very arbitrary. The system has promoted significant land concentration and land speculation particularly by private companies, including the large chaebol (corporations).     

The future of construction economics as an academic discipline

The contribution made by economic theory when studying construction-related subjects has a muddled history. This theme was carefully reviewed in Ofori (1994) where he bluntly concluded that: ‘Construction economics cannot be regarded as a bona-fide subject’ (p. 304). This short note takes a retrospective look at George Ofori's paper and suggests that during the subsequent period little has changed. This is despite the publication of government reports that stressed the importance of creating a culture of economic efficiency within construction and the need for the industry to become sustainable. This paper is informed by a brief survey of what is currently taught at British universities under the title of construction economics. Two points for debate emerge. The first is the worrying observation about the present state of play, as it seems that construction economics continues to lack any coherent conceptual structure. The second is the more promising suggestion that in the foreseeable future the sustainability agenda could provide the impetus necessary for construction economists to agree a common purpose and conceptual approach.     

RESILIENCE AND MIMETIC BEHAVIOR: ECONOMIC VISIONS IN THE GREAT RECESSION

The Great Recession was a moment of challenge for many regions and required that leaders reflect on their economic development strategies. Given the propensity of regions to adopt ideas and strategy “fads” that then inform policy debate, we seek to understand how two very different regions with different histories framed their responses to the recession. How did they conceptualize the economic challenge in their region? What did they envision as appropriate responses to this challenge? How did these visions relate to mimetic behavior of the past, in which largely uniform visions are adopted across diverse locations? Our findings show that economic development leaders in the Buffalo and Orlando regions advocated similar high‐tech/biomedical strategies as a way to diversify their economies and make them more resilient or less vulnerable to future shocks. By conceptualizing economic diversification in such similar ways, despite substantial regional differences, this pursuit of resilience or decreased vulnerabilities through economic diversification appears highly similar to prior mimetic behaviors. We consider the implications of this finding for theories of adaptive resilience in which the focus is on economic diversification as part of resilient processes and behaviors, rather than as a fixed characteristic or end state of regions. As practiced in our case studies, diversification for the purpose of resilient outcomes differs substantially from theoretical arguments explaining adaptive resilience as both behavior and process. We caution that policy and planning visions of resilience may therefore represent yet another fad to be mimicked ad infinitum. Nevertheless, adaptive resilience as defined in the literature may still offer promise as a practical strategy—just not one that we yet observe in practice.     

Governance in Houston: Growth Theories and Urban Pressures

Abstract: The article explores the political and social forces that have shaped local governance in Houston. This research will present a historical review of the role of local government and then examine two theoretical interpretations, the public choice and political economy perspectives, in explaining Houston's governance and public policy directions. The work will also show that recent events in Houston that might initially appear to contradict the city's historical development practices, such as greater ethnic sensitivity and increasing concern for the environment, have in no way challenged the city's pro‐growth agenda. The new directions in Houston's policy are simply a reflection of a different growth strategy reflecting changing demographics in the city and the new reality of Houston's diversifying economy.     

Location and Space-Economy at half a century: Revisiting Professor Isard's dream on the general theory

Nearly half a century has passed since the publication of the seminal work of Professor Isard, Location and Space-Economy, which became the basis of a new field called regional science. As indicated by its subtitle (i.e., A General Theory Relating to Industrial Location, Market Areas, Land Use, Trade, and Urban Structure), the book was written with the aim of nothing less than initiating the development of a general theory of location and space-economy, embracing the total spatial array of economic activities. Such a theory was supposed to include both the traditional general equilibrium theory and the international trade theory as special cases.  In this paper, first I shall discuss what were his possible ideas on the general theory, given the state of economic science at that time, and what were the main contributions of Location and Space-Economy in initiating the development of such a theory. Second, I review the major contributions of subsequent works by Professor Isard and other scholars from the viewpoint of the development of the general theory. Finally, I discuss possible future directions in developing such a theory. Received: June 1999/Accepted: July 1999