The Politics of Urban and Regional Development and the American Exception


Book Description

Although all advanced industrial societies have urban and regional development policies, such policy in the United States historically has taken on a very distinct form. Compared with the more top-down, centrally orchestrated approaches of Western European countries, US cities and, to a lesser degree, states, take the lead, spurred on by developers and those with interest in rent. This bottom-up policy creates conflict as one city battles with another for new investments and as real estate developers fight over the spoils, resulting in highly contentious politics. In The Politics of Urban and Regional Development and the American Exception, Cox addresses the question of why US policy is so unique. In doing so, he illustrates the essential characteristics of American regional development through a series of case studies including housing politics in Silicon Valley; the history of the Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport; and a major redevelopment project that was rebuffed in Columbus, Ohio. Cox contrasts these examples with Western Europe’s tradition of centralized governmental involvement and stronger labor movements that historically have been more concerned with creating what he calls “the good geography” than profits for developers, whatever the shortfalls in policy outcomes might be. The differences illuminate the peculiar nature of political engagement and local competition in shaping the way US urban development has evolved.




Handbook on Urban Social Policies


Book Description

The importance of subnational welfare measures, and their complex embeddedness in wider multilevel governance systems, has often been underplayed in both urban studies and social policy analysis. This Handbook gives readers the analytical tools to understand urban social policies in context, and bridges the gap in research.




City Politics, Pearson eText


Book Description

This text provides a foundation for understanding the politics of America's cities and urban regions. Praised for the clarity of its writing, careful research, and distinctive theme - that urban politics in the United States has evolved as a dynamic interaction among governmental power, private actors, and a politics of identity - City Politics remains a classic study of urban politics.




Geography Indivisible


Book Description

In a context of disciplinary division between human and physical geography, the book seeks to reassert the unity of the field through an emphasis on a shared focus on the geographic configuration of things and how and why configuration is important. It first examines previous approaches to reestablishing unity, and why they have failed, before moving on to an explanation of fundamental differences in what is being studied and how. The role of configuration looms large in both. This is in the sense of contingency and the idea of emergence, suggesting that reconstruction of unity can proceed through an exchange of models of understanding. This book will appeal to those teaching courses or seminars in geographic thought or in the history of geographic thought.




City Politics


Book Description

City Politics has received praise for the clarity of its writing, careful research, and distinctive theme – that urban politics in the United States has evolved as a dynamic interaction between governmental power, private actors, and a politics of identity. The book’s enduring appeal lies in its persuasive explanation, careful attention to historical detail, and accessible and elegant way of teaching the complexity and breadth of urban and regional politics which unfold at the intersection of spatial, cultural, economic, and policy dynamics. This 11th edition has been thoroughly updated while retaining the popular structure of past editions. Key updates include: • Individual chapters introducing students to pressing urban issues such as race and racism, gentrification, sustainability and the environment, urban crises, shrinking cities, immigration, and suburbanization, political polarization, and the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on cities • The most recent census data integrated throughout to provide current figures for analysis, discussion, and a more nuanced understanding of current trends. • The effects of the events of 2020 on cities – namely the Coronavirus pandemic; the murder of George Floyd and its aftermath, and the growth of the Black Lives Matter Movement; and the U.S. presidential election in November • The new and present challenges of the climate crisis, and its growing significance for cities. Taught on its own, or supplemented with the optional reader American Urban Politics in a Global Age for more advanced readers, City Politics remains the definitive text on urban politics – and how they have evolved in the United States over time. This is a comprehensive resource for a new generation of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as established researchers in the discipline. This book is accompanied by Support Material online: www.routledge.com/9781032006352




European cities


Book Description

European cities: Modernity, race and colonialism is a multidisciplinary collection of scholarly studies which rethink European urban modernity from a race-conscious perspective, being aware of (post-)colonial entanglements. The twelve original contributions empirically focus on such various cities as Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Cottbus, Genoa, Hamburg, Madrid, Mitrovica, Naples, Paris, Sheffield, and Thessaloniki, engaging multiple combinations of global urban studies, from various historical perspectives, with postcolonial, decolonial and critical race studies. Primarily inspired by the notion of Provincializing Europe (Dipesh Chakrabarty) the collection interrogates dominant, Eurocentric theories, representations and models of European cities across the East-West divide, offering the reader alternative perspectives to understand and imagine urban life and politics. With its focus on Europe, this book ultimately contributes to decades of rigorous critical race scholarship on varied global urban regions. European cities is a vital reading for anyone interested in the complex interactions between colonial legacies and constructions of 'modernity', in view of catering to social change and urban justice.




Remaking American Communities


Book Description

Urban sprawl has gained much national attention in recent years. Sprawl involves not only land-use issues but also legal, political, and social concerns. It affects our schools, the environment, and race relations. Comprehensive enough for high school students and also appropriate for college undergraduates, Remaking American Communities delves into the challenges of urban sprawl by turning to some of America's top thinkers on the problem, including Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association. Other cutting-edge essays include a foreword about the emergence of sprawl by nationally syndicated columnist Neal Peirce, views about race and class by former mayor of Albuquerque David Rusk, and a discussion of transportation dynamics by Curtis Johnson, president of the Citistates Group. ø The essays in this collection explore the core issues of sprawl and the agenda for dealing with it. Complete with a glossary, resources, and contact information for smart-growth alliances, this book is extremely user-friendly. David C. Soule offers an unbiased viewpoint of this national phenomenon in a way that will be accessible to students and those with little background in the issue.




International Encyclopedia of Human Geography


Book Description

International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Second Edition, Fourteen Volume Set embraces diversity by design and captures the ways in which humans share places and view differences based on gender, race, nationality, location and other factors—in other words, the things that make people and places different. Questions of, for example, politics, economics, race relations and migration are introduced and discussed through a geographical lens. This updated edition will assist readers in their research by providing factual information, historical perspectives, theoretical approaches, reviews of literature, and provocative topical discussions that will stimulate creative thinking. Presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive coverage on the topic of human geography Contains extensive scope and depth of coverage Emphasizes how geographers interact with, understand and contribute to problem-solving in the contemporary world Places an emphasis on how geography is relevant in a social and interdisciplinary context




Regional Economic Development and History


Book Description

Regional Studies is inextricably intertwined with history. Cultural and institutional legacies inform choices between different policy options, meaning that the past plays a crucial role in how we think about regional economic development, planning and policy. Through a selection of accessible theoretical, methodological and empirical chapters, this book explores the connections between regional development and history. Drawing on the expertise of scholars in several disciplines, it links history to topics such as behavioural geography, interdependence, divergence and regional and urban policy. This innovative book will be of interest to researchers across regional studies, planning, economic geography and economic history.




The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics


Book Description

The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for urban politics. The scope of this handbook’s coverage and contributions engages with and reflects upon the most important, innovative and recent critical developments to the interdisciplinary field of urban politics, drawing upon a range of examples from within and across the Global North and Global South. This handbook is organized into nine interrelated sections, with an introductory chapter setting out the rationale, aims and structure of the Handbook, and short introductory commentaries at the beginning of each part. It questions the eliding of ‘urban politics’ into the ‘politics of the city’, reconsidering the usefulness of the distinction between ‘old’ and ‘new’ urban politics, considering issues of ‘class’, ‘gender’, ‘race’ and the ways in which they intersect, appear and reappear in matters of urban politics, how best to theorize the roles of capital, the state and other actors, such as social movements, in the production of the city and, finally, issues of doing urban political research. The various chapters explore the issues of urban politics of economic development, environment and nature in the city, governance and planning, the politics of labour as well as living spaces. The concluding sections of the Handbook examine the politics over alternative visions of cities of the future and provide concluding discussions and reflections, particularly on the futures for urban politics in an increasingly ‘global’ and multidisciplinary context. With over forty-five contributions from leading international scholars in the field, this handbook provides critical reviews and appraisals of current conceptual and theoretical approaches and future developments in urban politics. It is a key reference to all researchers and policy-makers with an interest in urban politics.