New Visions for Metropolitan America


Book Description

This text provides a considered proposal to restructure the land-use pattern that prevails in most American metropolitan areas. It is intended for students studying urban issues.




Megapolitan America


Book Description

With an expected population of 400 million by 2040, America is morphing into an economic system composed of twenty-three 'megapolitan' areas that will dominate the nation’s economy by midcentury. These 'megapolitan' areas are networks of metropolitan areas sharing common economic, landscape, social, and cultural characteristics. The rise of 'megapolitan' areas will change how America plans. For instance, in an area comparable in size to France and the low countries of the Netherlands and Belgium – considered among the world's most densely settled – America's 'megapolitan' areas are already home to more than two and a half times as many people. Indeed, with only eighteen percent of the contiguous forty-eight states’ land base, America's megapolitan areas are more densely settled than Europe as a whole or the United Kingdom. Megapolitan America goes into spectacular demographic, economic, and social detail in mapping the dramatic – and surprisingly optimistic – shifts ahead. It will be required reading for those interested in America’s future.




The City Reader


Book Description

This third edition juxtaposes the very best publications on the city. It reflects the latest thinking on globalization, information technology and urban theory. It is a comprehensive mapping of the terrain of urban studies: old and new.




Governance and Opportunity in Metropolitan America


Book Description

America's cities have symbolized the nation's prosperity, dynamism, and innovation. Even with the trend toward suburbanization, many central cities attract substantial new investment and employment. Within this profile of health, however, many urban areas are beset by problems of economic disparity, physical deterioration, and social distress. This volume addresses the condition of the city from the perspective of the larger metropolitan region. It offers important, thought-provoking perspectives on the structure of metropolitan-level decisionmaking, the disadvantages faced by cities and city residents, and expanding economic opportunity to all residents in a metropolitan area. The book provides data, real-world examples, and analyses in key areas: Distribution of metropolitan populations and what this means for city dwellers, suburbanites, whites, and minorities. How quality of life depends on the spatial structure of a community and how problems are based on inequalities in spatial opportunity--with a focus on the relationship between taxes and services. The role of the central city today, the rationale for revitalizing central cities, and city-suburban interdependence. The book includes papers that provide in-depth examinations of zoning policy in relation to patterns of suburban development; regionalism in transportation and air quality; the geography of economic and social opportunity; social stratification in metropolitan areas; and fiscal and service disparities within metropolitan areas.




Governing Metropolitan Areas


Book Description

Interest and research on regionalism has soared in the last decade. Local governments in metropolitan areas and civic organizations are increasingly engaged in cooperative and collaborative public policy efforts to solve problems that stretch across urban centers and their surrounding suburbs. Yet there remains scant attention in textbooks to the issues that arise in trying to address metropolitan governance. Governing Metropolitan Areas describes and analyzes structure to understand the how and why of regionalism in our global age. The book covers governmental institutions and their evolution to governance, but with a continual focus on institutions. David Hamilton provides the necessary comprehensive, in-depth description and analysis of how metropolitan areas and governments within metropolitan areas developed, efforts to restructure and combine local governments, and governance within the polycentric urban region. This second edition is a major revision to update the scholarship and current thinking on regional governance. While the text still provides background on the historical development and growth of urban areas and governments' efforts to accommodate the growth of metropolitan areas, this edition also focuses on current efforts to provide governance through cooperative and collaborative solutions. There is also now extended treatment of how regional governance outside the United States has evolved and how other countries are approaching regional governance.




Metropolitan Governance in America


Book Description

Metropolitan government and metropolitan governance have been ongoing issues for more than sixty years in the United States. Based on an extensive survey and a review of existing literature, this book offers a comprehensive overview of these debates. It discusses how the centrifugal forces in local government, and in particular local government autonomy, have produced a highly fragmented governmental landscape throughout America. It argues that in order for 'governance' to occur in metropolitan areas (or anywhere else, for that matter), there has to be some form of an actual governmental institution that possesses the power and ability to compel compliance. Everything else is just some form of cooperation, and while cooperation is not trivial, it does not enable metropolitan areas to address the really tough and controversial issues that divide rather than unite governments in those areas. The book examines the principal factors that prevent the development of either metropolitan government or metropolitan governance in the USA. Norris looks at several examples where some form of metropolitan government or governance can be said to exist, from voluntary cooperation (the weakest) to government (the strongest). He also examines each type of arrangement for its ability to address metropolitan-wide problems and whether each type is or is not in use in the USA. In sum, the book uncovers the extent of metropolitan government and governance, the possibility for its existence, what attempts (if any) have been made in the past, and the problems and issues that have arisen due to the lack of adequate metropolitan governance.




Managing America's Cities


Book Description

This work describes the operations of a typical municipal government and examines the many productivity trends that are occurring in city halls across America. Much of the focus is on the increasing need for planning in city government to ensure that productivity goals are met. It thoroughly examines the roles of the council, manager, and clerk in promoting increased productivity. It then looks at such municipal departments as legal, finance, fire, human services, library, police and public works, demonstrating proven techniques and structures in each that improve service. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.




Rebuilding Urban Neighborhoods


Book Description

Rebuilding Urban Neighborhoods presents a timely look at some of the most troubled neighborhoods in eight American cities: Atlanta, Camden, Chicago, Cleveland, East Saint Louis, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City. The authors, W. Dennis Keating and Norman Krumholz, review past federal policies and early assessments of the latest federal initiative, the Empowerment Zone. They find some signs of revival even in the most distressed urban neighborhoods, but often as an overlay to persistent poverty and social problems. The case studies emphasize the important roles played by Community Development Corporations, and the book concludes with an analysis of the future prospects for distressed urban neighborhoods.




Managing Local Government


Book Description

Managing Local Government: An Essential Guide for Municipal and County Managers offers a practical introduction to the changing structure, forms, and functions of local governments. Taking a metropolitan management perspective, authors Kimberly Nelson and Carl W. Stenberg explain U.S. local government within historical context and provide strategies for effective local government management and problem solving. Real-life scenarios and contemporary issues illustrate the organization and networks of local governments; the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of city and county managers; and the dynamics of the intergovernmental system. Case studies and discussion questions in each chapter encourage critical analysis of the challenges of collaborative governance. Unlike other books on the market, this text’s combined approach of theory and practice encourages students to enter municipal and county management careers and equips them with tools to be successful from day one.




A Research Agenda for New Urbanism


Book Description

New Urbanism, a movement devoted to building walkable, socially diversity cities, has garnered some successes and some failures over the past several decades. A Research Agenda for New Urbanism is a forward-looking book composed of chapters by leading scholars of New Urbanism. Authors focus on multiple topics, including affordability, transportation, social life and retail to highlight the areas of research that are most important for the future of the field. The book summarizes what we know and what we need to know to provide a research agenda that will have the greatest promise and most positive impact on building the best possible human habitat—which is the aim of New Urbanism.