DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT AS AN URBAN GROWTH STRATEGY: A Critical Appraisal of the Baltimore Renaissance

ABSTRACT: Since the early 1970s, Baltimore has been heralded as a model of how declining, older U.S. cities can be revitalized Baltimore's economic development strategy has hinged on the creation of a “good business climate”; the linchpin of the strategy has been the redevelopment of downtown into the “corporate center” of a new Baltimore economy based on advanced services and tourism. Despite the favorable publicity accorded Baltimore's transformation, systematic analysis of social and economic trends suggests that corporate center-business climate redevelopment has done little to boost aggregate levels of prosperity in the city. Moreover, the Baltimore strategy has generated uneven patterns of growth and exacerbated urban dualism Baltimore has become “two cities”: a city of developers, suburban professionals, and “back-to-the-city gentry who have ridden the downtown revival to handsome profits, good jobs, and conspicuous consumption; and a city of impoverished blacks and displaced manufacturing workers, who continue to suffer from shrinking economic opportunities, declining public services, and neighborhood distress. The article explores three main reasons for these results: (1) business domination of Baltimore's public-private “partnership,” (2) the absence of explicit mechanisms linking downtown redevelopment to the revitalization of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, and (3) the inherent pitfalls of building an urban economy on downtown-centered corporate services and tourism. The article concludes by briefly examining the implications of the Baltimore case for the general problem of how to generate equitable, sustainable economic development in older U.S. cities.     

Shifting land-based coalitions in Shanghai's second hub

Hongqiao is one of China's largest ever urban development projects, and within Shanghai second only to Pudong. It is designed to kick-start growth in the western part of China's economic capital, just as Pudong did in the east. The project comprises a transport hub and a new central business district and involves the participation of an array of organizations, including government at various levels, specially created bodies, property developers and banks. The central argument of this paper is that these organizations formed what can best be conceived of as a government-led land-based urban growth coalition and that this coalition became the driving force behind the Hongqiao project. It further argues that, rather than being one monolithic coalition, this was a shifting constellation of corporate actors, forming informal subcoalitions with different but interlocking roles and functions. The paper concludes by arguing that land-based urban growth coalitions rely on participants benefitting from rising land and property values once land has been developed, but for this debt financing is required, and this comes with its own substantial problems. The concept of land-based urban growth coalition can be useful in helping to interpret urban change in China so long as the coalition is examined in some detail.     

SURVIVING THE ERA OF DEINDUSTRIALIZATION: THE NEW ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF THE URBAN RUST BELT

This article details the transformation of the urban rust belt over the course of economic restructuring. It begins by building typologies of cities at the starting point of restructuring and by showing how cities vary in socioeconomic performance by the endpoint. Multiple methods and data sources are then used to provide a general and detailed story of change for successful and unsuccessful performers. Results show that, in general, deindustrialization is not associated with performance. However, manufacturing still matters. Detailed stories show successful cities of one type have diversified manufacturing, becoming post‐industrial producers. Successful cities of another type have specialized, retaining old manufacturing in branch plants. For the first type of city, policies aimed at developing the labor force and encouraging collaboration between local manufacturers is recommended. For the second type, policies targeted at improving the local business climate are encouraged. Results also show all unsuccessful cities have become healthcare‐based economies.     

Negotiating risk in property-based arts economic development: Exploring the innovative but untimely development partnership between the Seattle Art Museum and Washington Mutual

Property-led arts development (PAD) is central to urban policy and planning. The demand for physical arts infrastructure runs parallel with the public call for arts nonprofits to act more entrepreneurial in shaping and re-imaging urban space. Increasingly, these groups have become active property developers negotiating the risks and rewards of land development rather than remaining passive fundraisers of bricks and mortar campaigns. This shift in organizational identity raises questions about whether the politics of urban arts development have changed. This study asks four questions: (1) how are nonprofit arts organizations becoming more entrepreneurial in property development, (2) how are nonprofit arts organizations reshaping the urban landscape through development partnerships, (3) how are nonprofit arts developers responding to the 2008 economic crash, and (4) how does PAD align with new thinking on downtown development alliances? This research explores the innovative but failed land development deal between the Seattle Art Museum and the now-defunct Washington Mutual to build a joint tower in the central business district. Their atypical private/nonprofit partnership changed Seattle’s downtown landscape through flexible ownership structures, generous planning incentives and off-budget municipal maneuvers. The lauded project turned sour when the homegrown financial institution collapsed, forcing the museum into debt with limited private or public sector solutions. While SAM overcame the immediate crisis, the case is a cautionary tale about the long-term risk of contemporary PAD. The case shows that innovative practices do not predetermine success. Further, the partnership study illuminates how contemporary arts investments reflect as well as contradict new thinking in urban politics literature about evolving patterns of influence in U.S. downtowns.     

WHO BENEFITS FROM NONPROFIT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT? EXAMINING THE REVENUE DISTRIBUTION OF TAX‐EXEMPT DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS AMONG U.S. CITIES

ABSTRACT: Questions surrounding the distribution of benefits have served as the focus for much research on local economic development. While nonprofit community development corporations (CDCs) emerged in the 1960s as one means of redistributing economic development benefits by targeting job training and business growth programs toward the urban poor, CDCs now represent only a portion of all nonprofit economic development organizations (NEDOs) in the United States. Newer forms of these organizations have emerged in recent years, carrying out diverse economic functions. This evolution of the nonprofit economic development subsector raises a critical question: Do nonprofit economic development activities remain concentrated today in poorer cities, or do wealthier cities also have high levels of nonprofit economic development activity? This study aggregates finance data for several types of NEDOs to the city level, for all U.S. cities with population 50,000 and over, in order to examine this question. Multivariate regression is used to estimate the effects of city‐level demographic, institutional, and fiscal explanations on the level of NEDO revenues per capita. The findings demonstrate that revenues from some types of NEDOs, such as CDCs, remain concentrated in higher‐poverty cities. However, wealthier cities have higher concentrations of revenue generated by nonprofit business assistance organizations and nonprofit real estate organizations. This paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for current federal and local policies related to tax‐exempt organizations.     

PROGRESSIVE AND SUSTAINED SCHOOL REFORMS: FRAMING AND COALITION BUILDING IN SWISS CITIES

ABSTRACT: Urban politics in the early 21st century is structured by conflicts over social cohesion and economic competitiveness. Education policy takes center stage in this struggle as schools are institutions of both social and economic reproduction. I draw on arguments of urban regime and policy frame analysis to examine the politics of urban school reform in two Swiss cities. Empirically, I analyze neighborhood‐embedded bottom‐up school reforms committed to social cohesion. The paths these reforms eventually take were shaped by different coalitions geared around specific school policy frames. Frames indeed play a crucial role in building a coalition toward progressive school reforms. In addition, their sustainability in a political environment, increasingly shifting toward development policies, hinges on the dominant frame underlying the reforms as well as the properties of the network advancing them.     

THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF A LAND-BASED ELITE: The Case of the Failed Chicago 1992 World's Fair

ABSTRACT: Growth machine theorists argue that metropolitan development patterns represent the concerted activities of powerful growth coalitions who manipulate public agendas and guide local development, devoid of public accountability. This article investigates the organization and activities of the Chicago growth coalition which promoted a large development project—the 1992 World's Fair. Using interlocking directorates, it examines the corporate and institutional networks among coalition members and shows the constellation of interests that established this development agenda. As indicated by the extent of connections, this coalition is shown to be a corporate, civic, and social community. Although holding the potential for power as represented by the highly linked interests believed to hold sway in development issues, this coalition is unsuccessful in bringing this project to fruition. Changing political structures and dynamics diminished the power of the resources held by Chicago's growth coalition to bring in this project and altered the business-as-usual framework for growth coalition governance. A more open development politics combined with incompetent elite leadership and faulty project design contributed to this failure. This case study suggests that interlocking directorates and static studies of power are insufficient for understanding development outcomes and pro-growth strategy, success and failure. Studies of the resources held by those at the top must account for the politics that maintain local quiescence, support participation, or instigate local opposition This article also shows the large role that changing local political structures and government can play in mitigating power inequities over development and growth issues in urban areas.     

Vernacular Culture and Urban Economic Development: Thinking Outside the (Big) Box

Problem: This article addresses the increasing homogeneity of urban commercial areas and the loss of local culture associated with this trend. It seeks to identify strategies that build effectively on vernacular culture as an asset in neighborhood development.

Purpose: We aim to identify tools that advance the cultural preservation approach to urban economic development and to describe instances in which planners and neighborhood groups have applied these tools successfully.

Methods: We completed a wide-ranging literature review to identify the characteristics of places that have employed cultural preservation approaches and conducted six case studies involving 43 interviews in five cities.

Results and conclusions: Our interviews and case studies showed us that there are at least three types of anchors in neighborhoods with strong vernacular culture: 1) markets; 2) ethnic areas and heritage sites; 3) and arts-and-culture venues and districts. Although the balance between preservation and development will be different in each place, we did cull some widely applicable lessons learned while conducting our fieldwork: a) involve residents; b) find assets in local needs; c) transfer lessons rather than replicating others' work; d) create opportunities for ownership; e) if it doesn't exist, invent it; and f) balance culture and commerce. Our analysis also suggests that a neighborhood wishing to pursue a neighborhood development strategy based on vernacular culture should have at least one of the anchors listed above and strong, community-based organizations.

Takeaway for practice: We argue that it is both possible and preferable to advance an urban economic development strategy based on the local cultural assets that exist in urban neighborhoods. Our research illustrates different paths that places have taken to advance this kind of strategy and provides several ways for local planners and policymakers to integrate the maintenance of vernacular culture into their larger economic development plans.

Research support: Our research was supported by the Fannie Mae Foundation.     

Familification: Family,Neighborhood Change,and Housing Policy

This paper proposes the term familification to describe one type of gentrification: the process of neighborhood change by families moving into a neighborhood. This study, drawing upon in-depth interviews, document analysis, and ethnographic observations, focuses on an urban familification program—one city's attempt to benefit families by restricting participation in its downtown housing programs. The paper first describes the programs and then explores how leaders, program participants, and neighbors understand the programs' intentions and effects. While family is not prominent in the programs' grant proposals, leaders indicated that promoting traditional families was a central objective. Implementing these programs revealed difficulties in defining family and in managing the programs' outcomes. Implications for fair housing laws are considered, and it is argued that fostering diversity in family life course stages may be a compelling government interest to promote neighborhood stability, and an inclusive strategy for urban development.     

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.     

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.     

Pedestrianization Strategies for Downtown Planners: Skywalks Versus Pedestrian Malls

Enhancing pedestrian activity is usually an important goal of downtown development plans. Two leading strategies for separating pedestrians from vehicular traffic are outdoor pedestrian malls and enclosed skywalk systems. Each strategy presents a different set of potential benefits and problems. This article compares pedestrian malls and skywalks in terms of their urban design, economic impacts, transportation and access, and contribution to downtown image. The article concludes with a series of questions that planners need to address before formulating recommendations for their downtown.     

SLOW CITIES: SUSTAINABLE PLACES IN A FAST WORLD

ABSTRACT: This article examines the Slow Food and Slow City movement as an alternative approach to urban development that focuses on local resources, economic and cultural strengths, and the unique historical context of a town. Following recent discussions about the politics of alternative economic development, the study examines the Slow City movement as a strategy to address the interdependencies between goals for economic, environmental, and equitable urban development. In particular, we draw on the examples of two Slow Cities in Germany—Waldkirch and Hersbruck, and show how these towns are retooling their urban policies. The study is placed in the context of alternative urban development agendas as opposed to corporate‐centered development. We conclude the article by offering some remarks about the institutional and political attributes of successful Slow Cities and the transferability of the concept.     

Decentralization,Localization, and the Emergence of a Quasi-participatory Decision-making Structure in Urban Development in Shanghai

China is in transition not only in the economic sense but also in restructuring its decision-making system. The research examines impacts of decentralization as a top-down initiative and localization as a bottom-up response to maximize local interests in the decision-making structure in urban development in Shanghai. The study reveals the emergence of a quasi-participatory decision structure in urban development in the form of 'expert consulting' within municipal government, sub-districts' (street offices) active involvement in local development issues, and the newly created owners associations at the neighborhood level.     

Urban Interests and Campaign Contributions: Evidence from Los Angeles

Abstract: Political activity is a key determinant of group influence in urban politics. This article examines a form of political activity often ignored by urban scholars, namely, campaign contributions. Using data from the 2001 Los Angeles municipal elections, I explore contributions from various urban interests. Because of its ability to overcome collective action problems, I expect business to be the main contributors, and among corporate interests, I expect development concerns to predominate. Although business contributes the vast majority of funds, contrary to expectations, land use interests are not the most active contributors, a spot reserved for professional concerns. As a whole, non‐corporate interests, often allied against the business community, are as active or more active than many corporate contributors. And, in general, patterns of contributions reflect individual, rather than organizational, activity.     

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: SHIFTING PATTERNS OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS IN FIVE DUTCH CITIES

Cities are oftentimes seen as undergoing a process of “emergence” in the “new economy.” However, this process has largely remained empirically underdetermined. This article examines the intra‐city geography of emerging businesses in newly dominant sectors of the urban economy. The change in dominant sectors coincides with a shift towards small‐ and medium‐sized businesses, creating new economic opportunities for urban residential areas. The residential neighborhood is introduced as a place where supply and demand side drivers operate to attract or limit such new economic activity. Allen Scott's perspective of the cognitive‐cultural economy is used to analyze which neighborhoods are flourishing sites of the cognitive‐cultural sectors. His perspective on industries that are on the rise in urban environments and their growth potential proves very valuable. Social demographic characteristics on the level of the neighborhood are used as predictors of the composition of the local economy. The analyses show that in particular wealthy, gentrified neighborhoods are more prone than others to becoming “hubs” of the cognitive‐cultural economy. However, disadvantaged neighborhoods may under certain conditions serve as incubators for business start‐ups as they offer low‐rent office spaces. This has important consequences for their future economic growth potential as well as the distribution of successful businesses in the city.     

CASTLES IN TORONTO'S SKY: CONDO‐ISM AS URBAN TRANSFORMATION

This article analyzes the evolution and spatial dynamics of condominium development in Toronto, the largest housing market in Canada and the site of a rapid take‐up of condominium tenure and construction over the last 40 years. The article probes the most influential policies that fostered and regulated condominium growth, and explores the implications for the continued restructuring of the city. A host of factors, including neoliberal state policies, have played a decisive role in fostering what we term condo‐ism, referring to an emerging nexus of economic development, finance, and consumption sector interests that have coalesced around condominium construction and culture. Policies have redirected growth to the urban core, channeled capital investments and young residents, and promoted gentrification, ultimately transforming the character of Toronto's central business district. The article explores these changes, and discusses their implications for contemporary emerging forms of capitalist urbanization and restructuring of the city.     

城市社会空间分异:倡导还是控制

通过对美国当代城市开发中"同利开发"(CommonInterest Development)与"城市控制"(Urban Containment)两大现象对于居住空间分异影响的综述和分析,探讨如何解读当前我国城市发展面临的居住空间分异问题.欧美城市开发的经验表明同质型社区对居住分异的正向影响.基于以上认识,提出对居住分异的调解应通过政府介入和规划的控制在一定空间尺度上实现空间利用的高效率.     

Conflicting élites and changing values: designing two historic districts in downtown Seattle, 1958–73

Seattle's Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market have maintained their reputation as symbolic urban places in the city and as exemplary historic districts in the United States. This paper illuminates the emergence of these two historic districts from the standpoint of the conflict between the two élite camps, as well as their motivations in shaping downtown urban forms during the 1960s. The conflict occurred as part of a transition from the time when business leaders' economic values fuelled a CBD-centred promotion, through the point where planning for downtown fringe districts came to incorporate art and design professionals' cultural values. The local élites played their distinctive roles in creating the two historic districts in downtown Seattle, sometimes in line with the nationwide trends and sometimes apart from them. The making of the two historic districts was eventually realized as a part of federally funded urban renewal and demonstration programmes, which the business élite initially ushered in and the cultural élite later tailored to fit its downtown values. While the shift in perspective did yield, as many have recalled, moments of a 'people's victory against the establishment' and 'preservation virtues against redevelopment harms' in downtown planning, this paper suggests that the shift involved local planning circumstances that were too complex to be characterized in such dualistic terms.