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.     

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT IN THE METROPOLITAN ECONOMY: A Policy Review

ABSTRACT: This article introduces policymakers and scholars to several issues in the development of city neighborhoods and their residents. It constructs a literature review around a tree diagram of problems and solutions, arguing that this is a more useful way to organize information than the social science questions that typically interest academics. Following this structured overview, I make the following arguments about space and scale in neighborhood policy: (1) Even if we adopt an individualistic model of economic behavior, we do not necessarily need to choose “people” over “place.” (2) The rationale for the development of neighborhood export jobs remains weak. However, we may be able to identify a “preferred policy scale” for job development and placement connections. This is defined as the scale at which the problem of spatial mismatch is not solved at the expense of broader economic development considerations, and vice versa. The research agenda underlying this simple idea would require more sophisticated and policy-relevant work on commuting patterns and on the interaction behavior and other competitive advantages of firms situated in intra-metropolitan space.     

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT,HOUSING AND ZONING: A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Extensive economic development and central business district expansion generate both positive and negative public impacts; assessing those impacts is a major challenge for urban social and economic analysts. For students of urban politics and policy processes, the strategies and conflict patterns surrounding the generation and distribution of these impacts are of central interest. This paper examines exactive zoning/housing trust fund programs in San Francisco and Boston…the most far-reaching examples of emerging policies adopted by cities to shift pan of the public costs of private economic development back to the developer. The paper suggests that two conditions must be present for exaction programs to be implemented: (1) CBD demand so high that monies can be “creamed off” for redistribution without causing developers to “exit,” and (2) the mobilization of community and neighborhood interests to counter pro-CBD-growth advocates. The exaction programs in both cities, though not panaceas, appear to be generating substantial funds for housing.     

Santo Domingo: City profile of the Caribbean's metropolis

As the oldest city of the New World, Santo Domingo has undergone major institutional, political, economic and urban restructuring in five centuries of urban history. This city profile article investigates first the historical urban development of the city and then scrutinizes contemporary urban policies and projects that respond to challenges of rapid growth, inequality, and vulnerability to climate change. The article highlights how centralized policies initiated by divergent political regimes have resulted in a segregated city where Presidents used urban space to leave their legacies without adhering to planning mechanisms. The article also uncovers how rapid growth and absence of urban planning have produced two city making approaches, the “formal” and the “informal” cities converging parallel to each other. Furthermore, as the capital city of a Small Island Developing State, Santo Domingo's recent urban policies are embedded in global frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement; in this line, inequality and climate change vulnerabilities continue to be the city's main challenges in the 21rst century.     

Emerging Planning Challenges in Retail: The Case of Wal-Mart

The future growth of the world's largest company hinges on its “supercenter” format, a bold evolution that made it the nation's largest grocer in a few short years. While proposals for big-box retail have long involved politically sensitive tradeoffs for planners, supercenters bring these into sharp focus by concentrating substantial wage impacts on one group, grocery workers. With much at stake—we estimate direct impacts of hundreds of millions of dollars on each side in the San Francisco region alone—these battles promise to be more intense and challenging than in the past. Yet many regulatory strategies are weakly rationalized, poorly targeted, and legally untested. We clarify key policy questions and offer a case study as a model for understanding the extent and character of expected tradeoffs between winners and losers. In the end, our analysis supports planning strategies explicitly aimed at mitigating costs while leveraging benefits. This will require a thorough assessment of each proposed store's costs and benefits in order to provide a clearer rationale for when super-centers should be approved, denied, or mitigated. Such an approach permits planners to do what they do best: inform, mediate, and resolve.     

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.     

WRITING THE RULES TO RANK THE CANDIDATES: EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF INSTANT‐RUNOFF VOTING ON RACIAL GROUP TURNOUT IN SAN FRANCISCO MAYORAL ELECTIONS

Instant‐runoff voting (IRV)—a relatively new electoral reform adopted in several cities in the United States—gives voters the option to rank‐order more than one candidate preference for each office. When no candidate initially obtains a majority of first choice votes, rank‐ordered preferences are used to “instantly” calculate a winner without requiring a separate runoff election. The impact of IRV on racial group voter turnout in urban elections has not previously been subject to rigorous analysis. Based on racial group interest theory, I argue that the complexity of IRV increases information costs and obscures racial group interests for voters. Analysis of precinct‐level racial group voter turnout rates in five San Francisco mayoral elections from 1995 to 2011 reveals a significant relationship between IRV and decreased turnout among Black and White voters. IRV exacerbates turnout disparities related to age and education in the population, but decreases the effect of income. The relationship between turnout and racial diversity is diminished among some groups.     

Die Geschichte der San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge

The history of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. The San Francisco‐Oakland Bay Bridge is an eminent example of american bridge engineering. It consists of a twin suspension bridge and a cantilever truss bridge which are connected by a tunnel through Yerba Buena Island. This article describes the way from the feasibility studies to the present time. In addition, it details some specific design and construction features, for example the steel construction work and the foundation of the central anchorage which connects the two suspension bridges. Recent reinforcement measures, and the plans for the replacement of the East Bay Crossing by a self‐anchored single tower suspension bridge to improve earthquake safety, are also discussed.     

IS THE PRICE RIGHT? GAUGING THE MARKETPLACE FOR LOCAL SUSTAINABLE POLICY TOOLS

Local government sustainability has become a cause célèbre in urban policy. Extant research has attempted to construct narratives of sustainable environmental, economic, and social equity motivations by grouping together multifaceted types of policies adopted to deal with multidimensional problems of land use, transportation, energy, solid waste, carbon emissions, and other functional areas of local government. Yet, decades of policy adoption and implementation research suggest some policies or policy tools require a far greater commitment of resources and administrative and political buy‐in than others. We explore whether the degree of such commitment reflects different motivations at play and test for distinct political economies for specific categories of energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction policy tools. We find evidence that the determinants for the two types of policies are distinct, and subsequent research requires refocusing theoretical and empirical efforts at differentiating “win‐win” tools from more “altruistic” commitments to sustainable action by governments.     

Socio‐economic position and housing tenure in Finland 1971–85

This article analyses the development of socio‐economic differences in housing tenure in Finland between 1971 and 1985. The home‐ownership rate of fanners and entrepreneurs was clearly higher than that of wage earners. In employee groups theliome‐ownership rate was low in the early 1970s but increased rapidly. Much of the change was due to the declining proportion of employees renting employer‐provided dwellings. Among workers the proportion of renters decreased less than in the other groups. The worker home‐owners differ from the employee home‐owners in the respect that they are more often house‐owners than condominium‐owners. Only the “lowest” social groups remained overrepresented in renting. This development can be interpreted as increasing segregation of renting. The home‐ownership rate followed the social hierarchy more clearly at the end than at the beginning of the period.     

INSTITUTIONAL CREATION AND DEATH: URBAN DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS IN CANADA

ABSTRACT: Urban development agreements (UDAs) in Canada represented an innovative governance approach that involved all three levels of government and civil society organizations jointly deliberating and setting policy to address enduring and seemingly intractable issues like homelessness and economic development. By 2010, however, all UDAs in Canada had been terminated. This article applies a new institutionalism framework to analyze and explain the creation and termination of UDAs in Canada. First, I argue that the creation and termination of these institutions are most productively explained by applying both historical institutional and discursive institutional analytical frameworks. Second, I examine the specific UDAs in Vancouver and Winnipeg to illustrate the historical, institutional, and ideational context under which they emerged. Finally, I consider the institutional termination literature to frame a discursive institutional analysis of the “death” of UDAs in Canada, concluding that there was an ideational or discursive turn stemming not simply from political turnover, but cognitive (how to do it) and normative (what is appropriate) ideas.     

The Danish housing market: Housing policies for different housing tenure

Since 1987 interest and publication in Norwegian housing policies have increased significantly. This article deepens and widens my earlier published work on Norwegian housing policy, and it responds to some earlier reviews of my work. The central themes of the article are that Norway has used state policy to develop its housing sector over many decades; that since the mid‐1970s policy makers have had to adjust their housing system to national and international macro‐economic change; and that in a comparative perspective, Norway has pursued housing policies which have important anti‐poverty elements, some egalitarianism, and some useful choice and efficiencies. Norway has used balanced state, market, and self‐help roles to develop its housing sector, and the institutional framework in which these roles operate has been reformed since the late‐1970s in the light of changing economic, social, and political conditions. Changes in the international economy have been particularly significant as Norway depends upon the international economy to sustain its living standards, including its housing standards.     

From elevated freeways to surface boulevards: neighborhood and housing price impacts in San Francisco

Freeway “deconstruction” marks an abrupt shift in urban policy. Priorities are shifting away from designing cities to enhance mobility toward promoting livability. This paper investigates the neighborhood, traffic, and housing price impacts of replacing elevated freeways with surface boulevards in two corridors of San Francisco in California, USA: Embarcadero along the city's eastern waterfront and Central Freeway/Octavia Boulevard serving a predominantly residential neighborhood west of downtown. Using informant interviews, literature reviews, and statistical analyses, the research suggests that freeway conversions generally gentrifies neighborhoods, although policies like affordable housing mandates can temper displacement effects. Empirical evidence on residential sales transactions reveals that the disamenity effects of proximity to a freeway have for the most part given way to amenity benefits once roadways are converted to landscaped multiway boulevards. It is concluded that freeway‐to‐boulevard conversions have yielded net positive benefits without seriously sacrificing transportation performance.     

Economics,politics, and housing finance

Some recent work in housing research seems to downplay the role of politics in forming the content of housing policy. Building on the “power resources” and “state autonomy” approaches developed in welfare state research, this article outlines an explanatory framework including ideological and constituent factors most important to policy choice, as well as such institutional factors which may hamper or help policy choice. Using the Swedish debate over the 1984 housing tax proposal, it is shown that parties on each side of the capital‐labour divide recommend policy alternatives which are (a) in line with their ideological preferences, and (b) conducive to satisfying the perceived demands of the parties’ main constituencies. It is concluded that while economic factors may initiate policy action, ideological, political, and institutional factors are decisive for the content of such action.     

The Politics of Alternative Economic Development: Revisiting the Stone‐Imbroscio Debate

Abstract: A recent debate between Clarence Stone and David Imbroscio focused on the transformative potential of regime theory. Imbroscio proposes a research agenda for regime theory in which the identification of alternative economic development strategies and ideas figures prominently. Stone questions whether such a shift represents a theoretical advance, arguing that Imbroscio's proposed agenda fails to link ideas with political action. This article seeks to further this debate through a case study of an alternative economic development strategy in Chicago, the Local Industrial Retention Initiative (LIRI). The experience of the LIRI program partially supports Imbroscio's optimism about the regime altering potential of alternative economic development strategies and ideas. However, it also suggests that regime theory's lessons about coalition building are crucial in moving such alternatives forward.     

Auckland: Rescaled governance and post-suburban politics

The nature and politics of urban development in Auckland have undergone rapid transformation following amalgamation of eight separate authorities in 2010. Institutions governing metropolitan planning and infrastructure provision were rescaled to form the Auckland ‘Super City’ Council in 2010, with an ambitious vision to become the world's most liveable city and ongoing political contestation between the local and central government. Amalgamation of Auckland's governance was conceived and imposed by the central government as part of a broader economic strategy for “competitive cities”. However, Auckland Council's first strategic plan adopted a contrasting agenda, centred around the goal of “liveability”. Auckland's recent developments illustrate the challenges of a distinctly post-suburban polity. The majority of employment is located in suburban areas and the city has variegated and overlapping patterns in spatial form generated through inconsistent infrastructure interventions across local and national authorities. Conflicting urban policy agenda at national and local scales shows a tension between the pursuit of economic development and provision for collective needs. The politics of post-suburban development create specific challenges for Auckland's governance. Liveability and economic competitiveness are treated as complementary terms in political rhetoric, however trade-offs emerge at a smaller spatial scales. Public concern over housing affordability and risks to the financial stability of New Zealand's economy have led to central government intervention and renegotiation of authority between different tiers of government for land use and infrastructure provision. Auckland's position as New Zealand's largest city and economic centre frequently blurs the distinction between issues of local and national significance. Auckland's governance challenges are not unique, however the current tensions are exacerbated by its dominance in a small and geographically-isolated nation.     

Agency transformation and state public utility commissions

The demise of public utility commissions has been periodically predicted (sometimes hoped for). In their long history they have been attacked by critics as ineffective, inefficient, expensive, or unnecessary. Further, the demonstrated survivability of the commission concept has often been uncharitably attributed to powerful political constituencies, self-preservation maneuverings by commissioners themselves, and inertia. The implications of this article point another way. Commission regulation of public utilities has survived mainly because of continued need for social oversight of these critical industry sectors and the capacity of PUCs strategically to adapt to fundamental changes in their surroundings. Two transformational upheavals are treated here – a challenge of flexibility and responsiveness by the dramatic run-up in costs and prices in the 1970s and challenge to relevance by the policy shift to greater reliance on market competition in the 1990s – and regulation's successful accommodation to them. Viewed this way commission regulation is more in a position of “second wind” than “last breath.”     

The housing provision chain as a comparative analytical framework

This article argues a number of points, some to do with comparative analysis and some with political choices. In relation to comparative housing study it argues that: Ex‐socialist systems in transition are seeking to learn partly by drawing on western housing experience; comparative study to form the basis for this learning depends upon a sound analytical framework; the Housing Provision Chain model provides one such framwork; the “private/public” division is better seen as a “democratic/non‐democratic division”; the various stages of the Chain and the various forms of subsidy input need to be clearly separated out. In relation to policy‐making it argues that: The notion of housing provision by “free market plus safety net” is fallacious; all western markets are carefully regulated; the central financial question concerns the distribution of state support between supply and demand side subsidies; the central political question concerns the distribution of power, money and initiative between the Democratic and Non‐democratic sectors; the questions of the optimal tenure mix needs to be approached pragmatically not ideologically.     

PUSHING THE URBAN FRONTIER: TEMPORARY USES OF SPACE,CITY MARKETING,AND THE CREATIVE CITY DISCOURSE IN 2000s BERLIN

ABSTRACT: In spite of the amount of urban development that followed the Fall of the Wall, Berlin's urban landscape has remained filled with a large amount of “voids” and disused sites, which have gradually been occupied by various individuals, groups, or entrepreneurs for “temporary” or “interim” uses (such as urban beach bars). This paper analyzes how, and why, such temporary uses of space have been harnessed in recent economic and urban development policies and in the official city marketing discourse in Berlin post‐2000, in the context of the discursive and policy shift toward the promotion of Berlin as a “creative city.” The gradual process of enlistment of new forms of cultural and social expression by policy‐makers and real estate developers for urban development and place marketing purposes has put pressure on the very existence and experimental nature of “temporary uses” and “interim spaces.” These have consequently been going through various trajectories of displacement, transformation, commodification, resistance, or disappearance, and in particular cases have become the focus of intense local conflicts.     

What makes a great city great? An American perspective

This article takes up the question of what makes a great city great? It begins by using historical examples to extrapolate and define city greatness. The concept is synthesized in a simple formulation of the “4Cs”; with each “C” respectively standing for currency, cosmopolitanism, concentration and charisma. Currency conveys the unique attributes of a city’s fundamental values and its ability to form, lead or dictate the temper of the times. Cosmopolitanism entails an ability to embrace international, multicultural or polyethnic features. Concentration is defined by demographic density and productive mass. Charisma is based on a magical appeal that generates mass enthusiasm, admiration or reverence. Four American cities (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco) are examined through a sequence of thumbnail sketches. These sketches are complemented by data that measure the standing of each city relative to each of the 4Cs The article concludes with a discussion of how a city (Chicago) can find a niche for asserting greatness, whether a “post modern city” (Los Angeles) can be a model for future greatness and the limitations of reaching for greatness.