GIS and Spatial Knowledge Production for Neighborhood Revitalization: Negotiating State Priorities and Neighborhood Visions

Abstract: In this article, we examine the role of geographic information systems used by neighborhood organizations in their planning and revitalization efforts in US inner cities. The use of GIS is related to marked changes in the roles and responsibilities of neighborhood organizations as part of a neoliberal policy agenda that expects them to play an increasing role in neighborhood revitalization. Drawing upon research about neighborhood organizations in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, we show how the spatial knowledge and revitalization strategies produced by these organizations frequently reflect and reinforce those promoted by the state. At the same time, some neighborhood organizations construct alternative knowledge through their use of GIS and employ alternative visions of neighborhood revitalization as they navigate the tensions between community visions and state priorities.     

THE BACK-TO-THE-CITY MOVEMENT REVISITED

ABSTRACT: Mounting evidence of residential neighborhood revitalization in the early to mid-1970s and impressions that such activity was based on a back-to-the-city movement promoted optimism about the future of cities However, studies conducted during the late 1970s to evaluate this phenomenon questioned its existence. This not only had a chilling effect on the belief in the renaissance of cities, but also undermined concerns about the major liability that had become associated with the back-to-the-city movement: residential displacement An evaluation of these studies indicates that their findings and conclusions about the back-to-the-city movement were not justified The results of this study show that many home buyers are moving into cities from non-city areas. It also shows that this migration causes considerable displacement problems. This article is organized into two sections. The first presents a background for the back-to-the-city movement including an evaluation of the previous studies. The second describes a study of two neighborhoods undergoing revitalization in the city of Hartford Connecticut, which attempts to address the questions raised about the previous studies and presents its findings.     

NEIGHBORHOOD SATISFACTION,EXPECTATIONS, AND URBAN REVITALIZATION

This study examines the role of residential satisfaction and expectations as determinants of neighborhood revitalization in a working class neighborhood. An extensive set of background and social-psychological factors are identified, and their effects on housing renovation and the wish to move are assessed. The findings suggest that renovation is a more complex activity than often portrayed with neither the objective characteristics of the neighborhood or the residents adequate as explanations for explaining revitalization. Only when combined with subjective indicators do they provide reliable guides for policy decisions.     

青岛观海路历史街区的发展策略探讨

近年来,历史街区的复兴受到广泛的关注．人们逐渐认识到,静态的保护不利于街区的复兴．在保护的基础上,实现发展与再利用,既是有效的保护又利于街区的发展．青岛观海路历史街区就面临着在保护的基础上实现复兴的难题．通过找到街区衰败的根本原因,挖掘街区潜在的发展优势,结合街区的现况及历史街区保护的基本要求,对多种发展模式的可行性予...     

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.     

Cultural entrepreneurs and urban regeneration in Itaewon,Seoul

The paradigm of urban development policy of Seoul has changed from wholesale redevelopment to cultural regeneration since the 2000s. While many cultural regeneration projects are led by the city government and supported by public funds, the presence of cultural entrepreneurs in Itaewon, a camp town in central Seoul, has led cultural regeneration of old neighborhoods through their artistic pursuits combined with entrepreneurial practices. Contrary to the social recognition that revitalization of Itaewon would be difficult without relocating military bases within the area, Itaewon is undergoing a rapid transformation from a camp town to a culturally vibrant neighborhood. In this paper, cultural entrepreneurs refer to artists who pursue not only cultural works but also entrepreneurial practices as business owners. Though many cultural entrepreneurs are regarded as symbolic precursors of gentrification displacing low-classes residents including themselves, cultural entrepreneurs in Itaewon led the revitalization of old neighborhood by reimagining its negative image into culturally vibrant space, identifying themselves as residents, and having self-awareness of becoming precursors of gentrification.     

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.     

Road Congestion Pricing in Europe: Implications for the United States

As the neighborhood increasingly becomes the focus of urban policy, seriously deteriorated neighborhoods may be, with increasing frequency, discounted in resource allocation decisions as beyond hope of revitalization. In large part, this is due to the growing use of neighborhood classification schemes that generalize variations in physical, economic, and social conditions across an entire neighborhood. Through a more microanalysis of neighborhood conditions, however, the planner may find that many areas that would normally be considered beyond salvation, actually have block-specific characteristics that lend themselves to some form of nonmarket community-based reinvestment activity.

Using HUD's sweat equity multifamily home-steading demonstration in New York City as a case example, a model analysis of block-specific variations in housing and related conditions is carried out for a target neighborhood. The analysis suggests not only that there is substantial variation around the mean values of important housing and neighborhood variables, but also that there is a significant consistency in the spatial patterns of these differences. This information can become a useful input into a comprehensive block-stabilizing planning process.     

LINKING CHARTER SCHOOL EMERGENCE TO URBAN REVITALIZATION AND GENTRIFICATION: A SOCIO‐SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THREE CITIES

ABSTRACT: The link between neighborhood quality and school quality is long‐standing and well established. Over the last two decades there have been several federally sponsored initiatives aimed at revitalizing the urban core; initiatives that emerged around the same time as charter schools. Despite the changing urban context that has occurred alongside charter school emergence, little research has addressed the link between urban revitalization efforts and charter school emergence. Using three cities that have experienced massive urban core revitalization and metropolitan growth since the early 1990s (Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia), we examine whether demographic changes resulting from urban revitalization and gentrification are associated with the opening of a charter school. Our findings illustrate a somewhat mixed account. We find some evidence to support this link in Chicago and Philadelphia, whereas we find little support for it in Atlanta.     

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.     

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.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS: A PILOT STUDY

This study reports the results of a nationwide evaluation of community development corporations. Collective models of neighborhood economic revitalization are compared with other strategic approaches to community development. Special attention is given to the policy implications of the findings. The future of community development corporations is discussed, especially in light of Reaganomics and the decline in funds for the urban poor.     

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.     

重庆湖广会馆的复兴

重庆湖广会馆是重庆城市中心区的重要古建筑群,具有很高的文物和历史文化价值。文章重点介绍了湖广会馆及其周边的社区复兴,湖广会馆古建筑的修复和再利用。修复设计中,将历史建筑保护与市场文化经济相结合,发挥其社会经济价值; 坚持文物保护的科学技术观,强调文物修复的“可识别性”原则,结合现代科技手段, 探索适合东方木结构体系的符合中国传统审美观念的有地域特色的历史建筑修复方法。     

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.     

CITIES AS PEOPLE,CITIES AS PLACES: URBAN REVITALIZATION AND URBAN CONFLICT

Just as the decades of the 50s and 60s were the age of suburbia, the 70s brought, for many, a return to the city and to an increasingly urban way of life. Analysis of this phenomenon by social scientists has resulted in the production of a large number of displacement studies, virtually all of which demonstrate the same thing: young, middle-class, usually childless professionals move into an urban neighborhood and, while materially improving the neighborhood, typically displace the indigenous population. This paper argues that in the long run, this process of displacement, as important as it is, is but one of a large number of consequences ensuing from urban revitalization. Many of these are far more subtle and far more potentially troublesome, and, to the degree to which they leave legacies of intraurban conflict and result in the loss of a sense of community, are likely to be far more difficult problems with which urban areas shall have to deal.     

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.     

NEIGHBORHOOD DIVERSITY,ECONOMIC HEALTH,AND THE ROLE OF THE ARTS

Policymakers pursue a range of strategies aimed at diversifying neighborhoods despite research indicating the complicated and potentially damaging results of these efforts. One increasingly common approach is to incorporate the arts into planning efforts in the hope of enhancing diversity and catalyzing positive neighborhood change. Using data from the Cultural Data Project, the authors determine where newly established New York City arts organizations locate in terms of neighborhood racial, income, and industry diversity. They then analyze how diverse contexts interact with an arts presence to impact neighborhood economic health over time. They find that neighborhoods with high levels of racial diversity and low levels of income and industry diversity benefit most from an arts presence. However, the arts are attracted predominantly to neighborhoods with moderate levels of racial diversity and high levels of income and industry diversity. This complicates the use of the arts as a tool in urban revitalization policy.