Neighborhood Policy Options The Reagan Agenda

Abstract

Although neither articulated a clear, coherent neighborhood policy, presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan both came into office advocating neighborhood revitalization and increased neighborhood self-sufficiency as key elements of their urban policies. These common policy goals and shared vocabulary prompt two basic questions: How do the Carter and Reagan administration's policies toward neighborhoods differ? And are the differences important? This article uses three criteria to describe the Reagan administration's neighborhood policy and compare it to that of the Carter administration—the level of public spending on neighborhood-level activities, the process used to allocate assistance, and the mechanisms used to implement policy goals. Comparing budgetary appropriations shows that the Reagan administration's cuts in spending on spatially targeted programs and withdrawal of direct funding of neighborhood groups are major changes from Carter policies. The increasing use of tax expenditures and the reliance on market forces to achieve neighborhood policy goals, however, appear to have more significant political consequences for neighborhood groups.     

Comment on “Neighborhood Revitalization and Displacement: A Review of the Evidence”

The issue of neighborhood revitalization and displacement certainly does have a déjà vu quality to it. While government officials, academic housing analysts, and even neighborhood groups seem to approach the problem as if it were a brand new phenomenon, in reality the recent history of displacement under urban renewal, the interstate highway system, and other government programs is very relevant. What is remarkable in the spate of literature that recently has emerged on the issue—of which Sumka's article is quite representative—is the failure to acknowledge that history and the lessons it might offer.     

On the Theory and Policy of Neighborhood Consolidation

Economic analysis suggests the desirability of an integrated land use and housing policy for declining cities; planned neighborhood consolidation would help to preserve both standard housing and neighborhood commercial and social amenities, and might reduce public service costs. Housing allowances could be used to compensate relocated tenants and to insure their capacity to pay standard rents in conservation areas. Property value gains in conservation areas could be expected to exceed losses in clearance areas, indicating a more efficient use of urban resources and enabling a local authority to compensate losers out of the proceeds of a tax on gainers.

Political obstacles to neighborhood consolidation are formidable. However, such a policy would be more humane than the alternative of letting neighborhood depopulation run its course while wasting rehabilitation funds in a fruitless gesture of even-handed distribution.     

Introduction

This special supplement of the APA Journal deals with neighborhood revitalization and related planning issues. It is hoped that the articles contained herein will contribute to the ongoing debate on neighborhood planning and provide insights into some of the implications of a neighborhood-based urban policy. Although it is true that only a very small portion of federal housing, community development, and related resources are now allocated directly to neighborhoods or routed through neighborhood development organizations, the federal interest in neighborhoods is clearly on the rise.     

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS: DOES THE NETWORK OF CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS INFLUENCE PARTICIPATION IN NEIGHBORHOOD PROJECTS?

ABSTRACT: This article aims to explain variations in the participation of civic organizations in neighborhood projects. In particular, we inquire into the impact of the social networks of more than 400 local civic organizations on their participation in neighborhood projects in two Dutch cities. Two strands of literature constitute the basis for our arguments. First, there is much research on the determinants of individual participation showing that tenure, social‐economic status, and being a member of the majority matter considerably. Second, network studies demonstrate that the structure and content of one's relationships substantially influences successive actions. Our expectations are based on both bodies of knowledge. We survey the civic organizations in eight neighborhoods and analyze the impact of their social networks using multinomial logistic regression models. The results show that the actual number of relations in the network and the density of the networks are positively associated with participation in neighborhood projects. Furthermore, we show that organizations with high proportions of ethnic minorities provide less support, despite their networks. Finally, organizations with many professionals working for them participate more if their networks are taken into consideration.     

Atlanta's Last Demolitions and Relocations: The Relationship Between Neighborhood Characteristics and Resident Satisfaction

Using data from an Atlanta-based longitudinal study following 311 public housing residents relocated between 2009 and 2010 as the city's housing authority demolished its remaining public housing, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between changes in relocated residents' satisfaction with home and neighborhood and the socioeconomic, racial composition, and crime characteristics of their destination neighborhood. Consistent with previous research, we find that residents moved to somewhat safer neighborhoods with less poverty than those of the public housing. In addition, we find that residents view their new homes and neighborhoods as improvements over public housing. However, subjective pre- to postmove changes in satisfaction are not driven by changes in neighborhood characteristics (i.e., reductions in poverty and crime), but rather by decreases in perceived social disorder and increases in community attachment. Thus, our findings challenge some of the assumptions of poverty deconcentration. Policy implications are discussed.     

The Southeast Land Bank

The Southeast Land Bank of Baltimore is a community-controlled urban redevelopment corporation created to act as a holding company and broker for recycling neighborhood property. Three approaches were used to protect Upper Fell's Point from speculative pressures and neighborhood blight caused by a proposed road realignment. The Land Bank engaged in acquisition, holding, rehabilitation advice, and marketing of vacant houses in good condition, vacant and dilapidated houses, and absentee-owner, occupied houses that needed complete renovation. Despite the administrative and financial difficulties the Bank faced in its first eighteen months of operation, its experience provides valuable lessons for other community organizations interested in taking an active role in their neighborhoods' revitalization.     

The Limits of Housing Investment as a Neighborhood Revitalization Tool: Crime in New York City

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Local residents often oppose place-based affordable housing on the grounds that such housing will increase crime and decrease property values. New York City has actually used affordable housing investment as a neighborhood revitalization tool, leading to a positive impact on neighborhood property values. Households in distressed neighborhoods consistently cite crime as a problem, but we know little about the impact of housing investments on crime. Using a unique set of point-specific data on affordable housing and crime locations between 2002 and 2008 in New York City, I estimate a set of regression models to identify the effect that affordable housing investments have on crime on the block where they are situated. I find little evidence that affordable housing investments either reduce or increase crime on New York City blocks, suggesting there are limits to the revitalization effects of these subsidies and that crime fears about subsidized housing are unwarranted.

Takeaway for practice: Cities with tight rental markets such as New York should continue to invest in affordable housing construction. However, these cities need to find ways to expand housing options in higher-income, less-distressed neighborhoods, or they risk exacerbating concentrated poverty and further subjecting low-income households to unsafe living environments.     

Plans,Planning and Tragic Choices

Communicative planning theory, with its emphasis on collaborative processes and consensus-building, has become widely accepted as a new and dominant paradigm for planning practice. It appeals especially to planners concerned with the potential for creating social change through planning processes. It also attracts those trying to escape from the narrow confines of traditional rational policy analysis. It avoids the pessimism of structuralist notions of the role of planners by identifying cracks in the structure that allow agency to survive. However, there are pitfalls in the communicative emphasis on reaching consensus which need to be avoided. This is illustrated through a study of recent debates about the character of the French Quarter in New Orleans and the role of plans in sustaining this. Qualitative research, utilizing conversations with neighbors in New Orleans' French Quarter as well as documentary sources, demonstrates the limitations of consensus-building processes when conflict between visions exists. First, the antagonism between groups, some favoring preservation and others development (visions not necessarily oppositional), creates animosities that are difficult to resolve through communicative processes. These antagonisms point to the ongoing difficulty of dealing with the 'tragic' choices created where substantial differences in systems of meaning collide. Second, the role of a substantive normative vision appears unclear in communicative approaches. In New Orleans, public pressure has persuaded the city administration to elaborate a Master Plan indicating the population's need to define what is desired for the city and their neighborhood. The Plan is still held up as a way of confronting differences. At the same time, neighborhood movement organizations are important for their construction of visions of a desirable urban environment at the margin of the formal planning processes.     

ESCAPING THE LOCAL TRAP? THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY‐REPRESENTING ORGANIZATIONS IN URBAN GOVERNANCE

ABSTRACT: This article explores the potential dangers of parochialism in using community‐based associations to represent community interests and the role of these organizations in advising on citywide policies in urban governance. Based on recent theoretical debates on citizen participation at the local level, we analyze whether community‐based participation potentially leads to parochial pursuit of community interests at the expense of broader regional goals by investigating the effect of organizational and community characteristics. Using Los Angeles neighborhood councils as an empirical case, this exploratory analysis finds that the nature of neighborhood council members’ civic activities is related to the degree to which they may potentially pursue parochial interests. A similar relationship is found between the geographic location of communities and such pursuits. Lastly, neighborhood council members’ civic activities and other community characteristics also influence their activities concerning advice on citywide policies. These findings suggest ways that neighborhood councils might play a greater role in advising on citywide policies in urban governance.     

Ideology,Consciousness, and Inner‐city Redevelopment: The Case of Stephen Goldsmith's Indianapolis

Abstract This article examines the impact of a mayor's ideology in shaping the political consciousness of prominent actors associated with community development and revitalizing distressed neighborhoods. Deviating from the pragmatic approaches to governing of many other recent mayors, Mayor Stephen Goldsmith of Indianapolis advocated a populist ideology based on limited government and citizen empowerment. Close inspection of Goldsmith's community development policies, however, reveals a surprisingly extensive deployment of public power and resources along with efforts to empower neighborhood organizations. Goldsmith's mixture of populist rhetoric and progressive behavior produced a contradictory consciousness among community leaders. Although virtually all applauded the mayor's emphasis on popular empowerment, some developed a populist distrust of government while others came to insist on aggressive government intervention as the key to neighborhood revitalization. Such conflicted perceptions about the role of government have simultaneously inhibited revitalization efforts while laying a cultural foundation for future activism within Indianapolis's neighborhoods.     

ACTION RESEARCH ON REDLINING: METHODOLOGICAL WEAKNESSES,SOCIO-POLITICAL STRENGTHS*

A chronological review and methodological critique of action research on redlining in 15 communities is presented. Redlining studies have been conducted or sponsored by three types of researchers: 1) non-profit neighborhood organizations, 2) academic or governmental institutions, and 3) lending institutions. Their findings vary according to the methods employed, and these methods vary according to the sponsors. Despite the methodological difficulties and inadequacies of this type of research, the findings have been used by local neighborhood organizations as a strategy to achieve constructive change in neighborhood reinvestment and revitalization.     

From Local to Global: One Hundred Years of Neighborhood Planning

Problem: Over the past 100 years, city planners have used neighborhood planning to address a variety of vexing social problems such as community disintegration, economic marginalization, and environmental degradation. To date, there has been no comprehensive review and critique of these planning initiatives and how they have influenced the profession.

Purpose: This article traces the history of neighborhood planning in the United States to learn from past experience and to identify its contributions to the planning profession.

Methods: I review the literature on the various forms of neighborhood planning, which I define as planning initiatives that focus on altering the physical environment of one or more neighborhoods in pursuit of larger social objectives.

Results and conclusions: Each of the six forms of neighborhood planning discussed in this article has made important contributions to the planning profession. Perry's neighborhood unit formula provided planners with a template for good neighborhood design and introduced the idea that neighborhood design could affect the sense of community. Urban renewal taught the profession about the limits of physical solutions to social problems, the precious nature of neighborhood social networks and the importance of involving citizens. The community action programs created a new norm for citizen participation and showed its limits, as well as introducing truly comprehensive redevelopment planning. Community economic development showed that some planning and implementation activities can be successfully delegated to community-based organizations. Municipal neighborhood planning provided a mechanism for ongoing citizen involvement. The most recent forms of neighborhood planning create neighborhoods that encourage walking, use of mass transit, social interaction, and a sense of community.

Takeaway for practice: Neighborhood planning programs have made a number of important contributions to the planning profession, including focusing attention on how neighborhood design influences urban livability and social behaviors, institutionalizing citizen participation in plan making, and going beyond physical development to address social, economic, political, and environmental issues. Neighborhood planning is currently more important than ever, as it now addresses global issues such as energy conservation and greenhouse gas emissions in addition to its historic focus on social equity issues such as poverty and social alienation.

Research support: None.     

New Urbanism's Role in Inner-city Neighborhood Revitalization

The new urbanism has become an increasingly popular development strategy for outlying greenfield sites. Recently, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the formal arm of the movement, began emphasizing urban infill and revitalization. This paper explores the public sector's application of the new urbanism through planning and regulatory tools intended to foster inner-city revitalization. Specifically, it examines a local variation of the new urbanism and its implementation within a broader framework of neighborhood revitalization that seeks to balance economic development, smart growth and equity goals to realize the ideal of the just city. Assessing over 12 years of experience in Orlando, Florida, this study demonstrates the difficulty of fully implementing the new urbanism in such projects, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods, and inherent conflicts when design solutions, economic development and housing goals are not mutually supportive.     

Revenge Of The Property Owners: Community Development and the Politics of Property

ABSTRACT: This study examines the conflict between inner city property owners and lower income tenants for control of neighborhood development agendas and community-based organizations. Utilizing a case study of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the authors investigated neighborhood conflicts over community revitalization. In a number of neighborhoods in the two cities, the community organization has come to be dominated by property owners espousing an “ideology of property” hostile to affordable housing. This has led to tension and conflict between neighborhood organizations pursuing owner interests and community development corporations focusing on low income housing.     

METROMORPHOSIS: DOCUMENTING CHANGE1

Abstract: This study examines a community development process for achieving revitalization in urban neighborhoods. It reports on a study conducted for a St. Louis‐based intermediary organization that supports the creation and maintenance of community gardens. Community gardens purport to have a wide range of beneficial impacts on their surrounding neighborhoods. There has been scant empirical investigation of these claims, although there is a preponderance of anecdotal evidence in the popular press. The study focused on a series of variables that estimate the well‐being of the neighborhoods in general and Garden Impact Areas in particular. The study applied GIS software to collect data from the 1990 and 2000 Census for 3‐block radii around the study gardens. Using difference of differences to measure change, the findings record Garden Impact Areas improved in indicators of resident quality of life and neighborhood conditions.     

EVIDENCE FOR NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION: MANHATTAN IN THE 1970s*

Systematic information about the extent and character of neighborhood revitalization in the inner city is rare. In this paper we measure overall and relative improvements in Manhattan neighborhoods by using various population and housing statistics gathered in 1970 and the mid-1970s. Only a few cases of neighborhood revitalization are found but they confirm hypotheses that three distinct types of revitalization may occur: upper strata revitalization, upgrading and lower strata revitalization. The utility of this approach, in comparison with methods now in use, is discussed.     

Neighborhood Integration: Temporality and Social Fracture

Abstract: This study focuses on two methodological aspects of neighborhood integration measurement: temporal variations and choice of demographic units. In the first case, I use a unified census tract database from 1940 to 1990 to examine the changing patterns of integration in Los Angeles County. In this section, I illustrate that use of the Entropy Index for integration classification may produce results that are in tune with the historical demography of a given metropolitan area. In the second case, I use a cluster analysis technique to illustrate the spatial fragmentation of racial and ethnic subgroups compared to the larger demographic units. This analysis suggests that spatial associations do not reflect the singularity of demographic nomenclatures such as those assigned to Latinos and Asian subgroups.     

Urban morphology and local citizens in China's historic neighborhoods: A case study of the Stele Forest Neighborhood in Xi'an

This paper analyzes the role of local citizens in the morphological transformation of China's urban historic neighborhoods. With a focus on ordinary neighborhood properties, this research explores how local citizens have consumed different types of properties, and critically investigates socio-spatial problems that arise from such consumptions. By the case of the Stele Forest Neighborhood in Xi'an, the study argues that both the local state and local citizens recognize heritage resources as an important source of profit and that the competition for exchange values between the two has contributed to historic neighborhood physical patterns. Local citizens' resistance against and dissent from local government's conservation policies are manifested through passive bargains and tolerated illegalities, and are eventually reflected in their neighborhood morphological forms. Morphological pattern-related decision-making and subsequent actions in China's neoliberal urban setting are no longer monopolized by the local state, but shared by the local state and non-state actors.     

Neighborhood Revitalization and Displacement A Review of the Evidence

Few issues have presented as great a challenge to urban policymakers and planners as the decline of the central city. As middle- and upper-income families migrated from the city to the suburban ring, they often left behind a decaying core increasingly populated by low-income and minority families. Despite evidence that these trends are continuing, numerous instances of spontaneous neighborhood revitalization have been occurring recently. While this new dynamic suggests that central cities may be staging a resurgence, it has also created concern that low-income city residents are being displaced from their neighborhoods as they find themselves unable to compete in the inflated housing market. The displacement phenomenon has received widespread attention in the popular press and has become a concern of many neighborhood groups and local planners. This paper reviews the evidence of displacement in revitalizing neighborhoods to determine if available data support the conventional wisdom. The conclusion is that, while displacement may be a serious problem in some neighborhoods, there is little support for the notion that a substantial trend is occurring or that in the aggregate large numbers of poor households are being affected.