bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Housing Tenure and Neighborhood Activism
Authors: Cox Kevin R.
Published: November 2009

In the literature on neighborhood activism, common hypotheses are that home ownership is a major explanatory variable, and that this is due to a concern for the home as an investment. The first hypothesis is validated but the second is not. Rather, the greater activism of homeowners when confronted by problems in the neighborhood stems in all likelihood from transaction cost barriers to relocation. Concern for the home as an investment, on the other hand, has little to do with the emergence of neighborhood problems and seems to be mainly a function of length of residence.
The Impact of General Revenue Sharing on Spending in Fifty Cities
Authors: Newcomer Kathryn , Welch Susan
Published: November 2009

This study examines the net effect of General Revenue Sharing (GRS) funds on city expenditures in the areas of public safety/public works and social welfare. Using a linear trend analysis, spending patterns over a 15-year period (1963-1977) are examined for such city services as police, fire, sewage, health, and housing. Political characteristics of the cities are identified to explain variations in the use of revenue sharing for social welfare functions. Short-or long-term spending increases after the introduction of revenue sharing appear in the spending patterns of a little less than one-fifth of the cities studied; in contrast to previous findings, pulbic safety spending does not seem to benefit disproportionately from the GRS program. The prevalence of long-term declines in spending patterns across service areas, despite the availability of GRS funds, confirms observations made in the urban literature.
The U.S. Metropolitan System
Authors: South Scott J. , Poston Dudley L.
Published: November 2009

This article confronts three persistent problems in the analysis of the U.S. urban system by (a) employing a continuous, rather than a discrete, classification scheme that (b) has been replicated successfully for three time periods to (c) describe regional variations and changes in the U.S. metropolitan system from 1950 to 1970. Two fundamental dimensions describe the system in 1950, 1960, and 1970; an industry structure (manufacturing-service) continuum and a financial-commercial hierarchy. Familiar regional variations in the structure of metropolitan areas are summarized by these dimensions. Unique to this analysis is a description of clear regional changes in the metropolitan system from 1950 to 1970. Northeastern SMSAs became more service oriented, North Central SMSAs became more manufacturing oriented and less financially dominant, and Southern SMSAs increased dramatically in their degree of financial-commercial dominance. Theoretical interpretations of these regional shifts are discussed.
The Social Neighborhood
Authors: Galster George C. , Hesser Garry W.
Published: November 2009

This article analyzes both theoretically and empirically the relationship between owner-occupants' housing maintenance behavior and their social relationships within their neighborhoods. This "social dimension" of the neighborhood is posited as affecting maintenance through pressures for conforming to group housing standards. Hypotheses are derived from this theory and empirical tests are conducted using a sample of homeowners from Wooster, Ohio, in 1975. Through factor analysis a number of variables measuring an individual homeowner's social "attachment" to neighborhood are reduced to two dimensions: "commonality" and "integration." These factors are aggregated to form neighborhood levels of "cohesiveness." Both sets of attachment and cohesiveness factors are employed as independent variables in a multiple-regression analysis of maintenance frequency and expenditures, where the effects of homeowner characteristics, structural features, and physical and demographic dimensions of the neighborhood are controlled for. Results show that there is a significant relationship between both individual and aggregate measures of the social neighborhood and maintenance, but only when there exists a high aggregate level of neighborhood cohesiveness.
Explaining Racial Differences
Authors: Goodman John L. , Streitwieser Mary L.
Published: November 2009

Although black city-to-suburb residential mobility increased markedly during the 1970s, the rate of outmovement by whites was still much higher. In this article we examine empirically three explanations for this continuing racial difference in suburbanization: (1) socioeconomic differences between the white and black central city populations, (2) racially motivated outmovement by whites (white flight), and (3) abnormally low outmovement by blacks (black retention). Using 1974-1976 Annual Housing Survey data from 35 large SMSAs, we begin by replicating Frey's (1979) analysis of white outmovement during the late 1960s. We then modify the model and apply it to black outmovement. We conclude from our analysis that black retention, attributable to actual or anticipated racial discrimination against blacks, is responsible for most of the white-black gap in rates of city-to-suburb movement. The other two explanations play only secondary roles.
Blacks in Segregated and Desegregated Neighborhoods
Authors: Scott Richard R.
Published: November 2009

A stepwise discriminant function analysis is used to determine those variables that best distinguish those blacks who live in low percentage black neighborhoods from those who live in high percentage black neighbohoods. Using data from the 1970 U.S. Census One-in-a-Hundred Public Use Sample with Neighborhood Characteristics, this study expanded the results of previous studies in which more limited samples from a different sociolegal context were used. These results suggest that social and psychological factors may be important mediators in the decisions of blacks to seek desegregated housing. In particular, it is suggested that future research in this area incorporate family type as a variable, as well as measures of status concern or status discrepancy. Further, future research should utilize designs that allow the indirect effects of factors such as income, education, and life cycle on housing decisions to be estimated.
Changing Distribution of the Black Population
Authors: Winsberg Morton D.
Published: November 2009

Ten Florida Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas were chosen to ascertain the degree blacks were able, during the 1970s, to change their geographical distribution with regard to whites. It was found that most black population growth during the decade took place within white census tracts contiguous to tracts that were at least half black in 1970. By 1980, many of these tracts had acquired a black majority. Very little black population growth took place in white tracts distant from established black neighborhoods.
Origins and Evolution of a Social Movement Strategy
Authors: Lawson Ronald
Published: November 2009

To what extent, and how, do social movement strategies change over time? Why are particular strategic options selected by social movement organizations? A wide range of theories bearing on these questions are used to analyze the birth and evolution of the rent strike as used within the tenant movement in New York City. The emergence and diffusion of six key groups of innovations over a 76-year period are examined. The analysis considers the origins of the strategy, the extent of change in it over time, how and why innovations occurred, and how and to what extent they were diffused through the multitude of organizations making up the movement. It also examines the extent, consistency of, and reasons for patterns in variations in the use of strategic forms among the constituent organizations of the movement, the impact of both housing and politics of the various innovations, and the ultimate institutionalization of the strategy.
Metropolitan Hierarchy and Income Distribution
Authors: Maume David J.
Published: November 2009

The objective of this article is to test what are in many ways complementary approaches to the problem of income inequality in the metropolitan hierarchy. The traditional urban economic approach sees a direct link between the distinctive industrial structure of an apex metropolis and increased levels of income inequality. The neo-Marxist perspective does not deny this link, but argues that class structure has a strong mediating influence on the distribution of income. The latter argument is supported by the fact that 66% of the total effect of hierarchical position on income inequality is mediated by the size of the underclass. Other interesting findings include the fact that while unionization directly suppresses income differentials, unionization also raises inequality by enlarging the size of the underclass. In addition, the location of an SMSA in the South does not directly raise inequality, but the massive size of the South's underclass ensures higher levels of income inequality. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Policy Outputs and Bureaucracy
Authors: Robins Barbara J.
Published: November 2009

One of the most significant findings of past policy research is that policy outputs are largely determined by environmental pressures rather than by any structural features of the policymaking unit itself. Yet this conclusion is problematic because it is limited in two major respects. First, there are serious problems with the measurement of concepts basic to all policy output studies. Second, past research has focused almost exclusively on the policymaking activities of legislative bodies, neglecting the increasingly important role that bureaucracies play in the policy process. This article overcomes these limitations through a bureaucratic-level analysis of policy outputs that circumvents the measurement problems of previous research. Using data on the noise abatement policies of public airport departments in the United States, two models of outputs are developed: one emphasizing the effects of environmental factors on the adoption of noise abatement policies, and the other emphasizing the effects of the structure of the airport agency. The ability of these models to explain policy responsiveness is also examined.
Government Performance as a Basis for Machine Support
Authors: Fuchs Ester R. , Shapiro Robert Y.
Published: November 2009

In this article we examine how well the classic model of the urban party organization, with its emphasis on patronage and other particularized incentives (Banfield and Wilson, 1963), explains the survival of Chicago's machine. Our analysis of survey data collected after Mayor Daley's last primary campaign suggests that the machine had expanded its base of support to include voters concerned with a more collective good: the efficient delivery of city services. "The city that works" was a public good that the machine had to deliver to continue its control of Chicago politics.
Market, State, and Community
Authors: Hill Richard Child
Published: November 2009

In this article, central elements making up national urban policy are reviewed and evaluated critically in light of the assumptions New Federalists make about market, state, and community. It is argued that the key challenge for urban theory and urban policy in the 1980s is to reconcile economic planning with political democracy in the city.
Entry-Level Jobs, Mobility, and Urban Minority Unemployment
Authors: Kasarda John D.
Published: November 2009

This article documents the functional transformation of our older, larger cities from centers of goods processing to centers of information processing. It shows that their entry-level industries, which once provided ready employment for less skilled residents, are declining precipitously. These industries are being replaced, in part, by knowledge-intensive industries whose requisites for employment entail substantial education and, hence, preclude large segments of inner-city minority populations. Urban demographic-employment base mismatches are analyzed, as are their consequences, including rising rates of minority unemployment, labor force nonparticipation, and welfare dependency. Special attention is given to place-targeted welfare programs anchoring unemployed minorities in areas of severe blue-collar job decline, and to new policies that would enhance the spatial mobility of minorities from economically distressed inner cities.
The Politics of Profit and the Geography of Growth
Authors: Friedland Roger
Published: November 2009

The growing mobility and economic dominance of multilocational corporations have given them a decisive advantage over residents in the determination of local fiscal policy. The Reagan administration's austerity measures for social programs have reduced the flow of federal funds that had helped to balance strained local budgets. This is being done to reduce social wages while increasing social capital spending at national and subnational levels of government. This policy will not contribute to higher rates of economic growth. Nevertheless, the federal government's encouragement of local and regional competition for growth will reinforce current trends toward lower living standards.
The Social Stratification-Government Inequality Thesis Explored
Authors: Ostrom Elinor
Published: November 2009

For several decades scholars have accepted a social stratification-government inequality thesis that municipal fragmentation in metropolitan areas is an institutional arrangement for enhancing inequality in the distribution of scarce resources. Policy recommendations to eliminate suburbs through consolidation are based on this thesis. Key propositions underlying this presumption are presented, and the lack of evidence in support of many of these propositions is examined. Scholars are urged to view public policies aimed at eliminating large numbers of municipalities in metropolitan areas with considerable skepticism.
Urban Policy and National Political Economy
Authors: Yago Glenn
Published: November 2009

This article reviews theoretical and research problems in both ecological and urban political economy perspectives on cities. Several specific areas are identified-generic historical processes of the internationalization of the economy, uneven development within and between urban regions, economic concentration, political centralization, changes in family and community organization, and environmental limits to spatial differentiation. The connection between these structural issues and urban policy areas (social welfare policy, housing, transportation, and industrial structure) are discussed.
The Social Organization of Local Areas
Authors: Guest Avery M. , Lee Barrett A.
Published: November 2009

Consistent with previous theorizing, two forms of social organization exist at the local level in metropolitan Seattle: the "urban village," which rests on a foundation of close primary relationships, and the "community of limited liability," which is composed of less intimate social relations. l he thirst torm of organization most often appears in areas of low residential and functional mobility, while the second type is concentrated in higher-status and childbearing areas. Other dimensions of lifestyle and behavior are also found to vary between the two types of locality. In general, those areas that approximate the urban village model engender relatively strong emotional feelings of attachment, while the limited liability areas are more frequently perceived as "nice" places in which to live.
Code Enforcement and Housing Quality Revisited
Authors: Meier Ron B.
Published: November 2009

Given the current emphasis on urban conservation efforts, accompanied by significant reductions in urban redevelopment spending, housing programs that successfully preserve existing housing stock are of critical importance to urban policymakers and planners. Previous studies of code enforcement impact on housing quality have examined cyclical enforcement programs in urban slums with findings of uniformly negative effects. The current housing literature suggests that code effectiveness is neighborhood linked. The present research studies the effects of differential code enforcement on housing quality in a sample of upper-middle-class, middle-class, and lower-middle-class neighborhoods, where code enforcement occurred at the point of population turnover. Findings demonstrate that code enforcement induced no quality change in the upper-middle-class areas but induced significant housing improvements in middle-class and lower-middle-class areas.
French Urban Sociology
Authors: Kaufmann Jean-Claude , Laigneau Monique
Published: November 2009

This article presents a synopsis of French urban studies, now in crisis after 10 years of exceptional expansion (1968-1978), due to the rhythm of urban growth, the setting up of many research teams, and the amount of data actually analyzed. The critical reappraisal of their own work has led researchers to question the emphasis placed on economic and political factors in the explanation of urban phenomena and in the approach whereby a single frame of reference (predominantly Marxist) was used to analyze every aspect of urban reality. Many urban sociologists are now moving away from general objects of study toward microsociology. They are concentrating more on the modes of life of specific social groups and this change of focus has also led to new theoretical points of view. The article explores the potential results of the new approach.
Group Influence versus Decision-Making Rules
Authors: Steger Mary Ann
Published: November 2009

Using data from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this analysis compares the impact of decision-making rules (embodying citywide funding priorities) on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocational decisions with the impact of support exerted on behalf of neighborhood-specific priorities. It is found that in addition to the amount of funding requested and the constraints imposed by ongoing projects, both the city's funding guidelines (a decision-making rule) and influence on behalf of neighborhood concerns that is channeled through neighborhood advisory councils have an impact on allocational decisions. Rules constrain the decision-making process: if political pressure on behalf of neighborhood concerns exists, it must be built into the process and procedures must be created that allow group input.
Citizen Participation in the Coproduction of Urban Services
Authors: Percy Stephen L.
Published: November 2009

Citizen coproduction is the productive involvement urban residents can supply to the provision of city services. This article introduces the symposium on citizen coproduction of urban services by tracing the concepts and arguments in the coproduction literature. Definitions of coproduction are reviewed, along with propositions that relate citizen coproduction to outcomes such as effectiveness, efficiency, and responsiveness. Also considered are impediments to the implementation of coproduction programs related to urban service delivery. This article also introduces the other articles in this symposium.
Coproduction, Equity, and the Distribution of Safety
Authors: Warren Robert , Rosentraub Mark S. , Harlow Karen S.
Published: November 2009

In response to decreases in federal funding affecting a number of urban services and substantial reductions in other fiscal resources, municipal governments have developed several new methods to deal with their new financial constraints. One such strategy, labeled "coproduction" by researchers, has been the transfer of part or all of the costs of producing some municipal services to individuals. When citizens engage in coproduction activities, equity questions can be raised with respect to citizens' access to services. This article explores the equity issues related to one service, personal and property safety. Using data from surveys in two cities describing citizens' security-related activities, the implications of citizens' action for the equitable distribution of productions costs for personal security are considered. The article concludes by focusing on the policy issues raised as a result of coproduction activities.
Local Coproduction of Services and the Analysis of Municipal Productivity
Authors: Brudney Jeffrey L.
Published: November 2009

This article examines local coproduction of services as an approach to enhancement of municipal productivity. Coproduction programs are analyzed with respect to three models of productivity: (1) cost efficiency, the effect of changes in service inputs on the outputs of service delivery; (2) cost effectiveness, comparison of alternative service delivery arrangements with respect to cost and quality and/or quantity of outputs achieved; and (3) program worthiness, evaluation of service delivery programs according to legal, moral, or political criteria. The analysis suggests that the addition of citizens to the production of services can increase cost efficiency in municipal government. However, large mass-volunteer programs that aim to replace a sizable portion of the public work force with citizen labor are unlikely to offer a cost-effective alternative. From the perspective of program worthiness, although coproduction programs confront pragmatic problems of political acceptance and challenges to service equity, they may enhance democratic values in urban governance.
Is Revitalization Detectable?
Authors: Lee Barrett A. , Mergenhagen Paula M.
Published: November 2009

Models of revitalization contend that variations in population, housing, and real estate indicators can be used to detect this new form of neighborhood change. Drawing upon census block, city directory, and property sales data for five Nashville residential areas with revitalizing reputations, we test two sets of predictions made by the models, the first about trends in neighborhood characteristics after the perceived onset of revitalization and the second about reversals of prior trends. In general, the first set receives support but the second does not: While demographic and housing market changes during the 1970s are consistent with expectations, they often represent continuations rather than "turnarounds" of patterns evident in the 1960s. On the basis of these findings, an imbalance would appear to exist between the revitalizing images and objective experiences of the five areas. We conclude by suggesting that more research attention be devoted to the labeling process through which neighborhood images are transformed.
City-Suburban Population Redistribution
Authors: Tucker C. Jack
Published: November 2009

Current Population Survey (CPS) data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census quite clearly document continued population redistribution away from SMSAs to nonmetropolitan areas in the United States in the second half of the 1970s. Also, despite popular and some professional allegations of a return of population to cities from suburban rings-which would herald another dramatic migration turnaround during the 1970s CPS data reveal even heavier migration away from central cities to both suburbs and nonmetropolitan areas than in earlier years. Suburban rings are continuing to gain and central cities are continuing to lose population as a result of migration patterns. Decline in population growth rates in the suburban sector is clearly associated with lowered levels of natural increase not to a decline in net immigration. Overall, from a strictly demographic perspective, the data reveal no evidence of a "return-to-the-city" trend.
Urban Politics and Communality
Authors: Steinberger Peter J.
Published: November 2009

This study considers some of the political implications of the so-called community question, in particular the relationship between communality and levels of participation in local politics. Communality is here understood as a cultural phenomenon residing in the action orientations and symbolic constructions of individuals. Original survey data are used to test the hypothesis that communality and participation are correlated positively. The findings do indeed confirm the hypothesis. Further, they suggest that so-called symbolic measures of communality predict the less demanding forms of participation better than do measures of social status, but the latter better predict the more demanding forms of participation. Finally, the results suggest that the communality-participation relationship persists when certain status characteristics are held constant, although the precise impact of such characteristics remains unclear.
Need, Awareness, and Contacting Propensity
Authors: Sharp Elaine B.
Published: November 2009

Recent research on citizen-initiated contacting propensity has generated two different findings: one of a parabolic relationship between contacting and neighborhood social well-being, the other a negative relationship between the two. It has been argued that the latter pattern is to be expected in cities with central complaint-handling units, owing to the effect of such units on citizen awareness of urban service systems. Results reported here from a city with a central complaint unit yield the expected pattern. In addition, survey research data provide a test of the need-awareness model that has been posited to explain the two patterns.
SoHo
Authors: Hudson James R.
Published: November 2009

Human ecological theory has been consistent in its formulation of the process of invasion-succession. Early studies that employed these concepts tended to focus on a particular example of the process, racial residential succession. This focus produced several empirical generalizations as well as a number of normative and ideological connotations. As a result, more recent studies on gentrification and neighborhood revitalization have not employed the concepts even though the empirical studies meet the theoretical criteria. A unique example of the process of invasion-succession is presented in which a residential population successfully invades a commercial and industrial area. This example is used to demonstrate the general application of the concepts to current changes in urban social organization and argues for restoration of the concept of its more generic application as the theory provides.
Factors Influencing the Residential Location of Female Householders
Authors: Cook Christine C. , Rudd Nancy M.
Published: November 2009

Currently, 25% of all households are headed by females. Although 75% of all female householders are urban dwellers, few investigations have examined factors contributing to their centralization. This study focused on the dynamics of residential location among female householders living in one-person, two-or-more person family, and nonfamily configurations. A path model was designed and evaluated that examined the relationships among such variables as tract distance from the central business district (CBD), proportion of structures in the tract built before 1950, tract density, urban! suburban tract designation, median rent per tract, proportion of elderly householders and black householders per tract for each of the female householder groups. The results suggest that female-headed households live close to the CBD, in urban and densely populated tracts, in pre-1950 buildings, and in lower rent units and that socioeconomic and spatial organization factors impact differently on the residential location of each of the household configurations considered.
Communication and Neighborhood Mobilization
Authors: Jeffres Leo W. , Dobos Jean
Published: November 2009

In a communication model of neighborhood mobilization, communication variables are seen as mediating between measures of neighborhood mobilization and indicators of social status, perceptual frames and neighborhood commitment. Using data from a survey of three inner city neighborhoods, four path models are constructed, one for each dependent variable. Attention to neighborhood newspapers predicts to awareness of local groups and their activities but not to actual participation, which is more closely linked to interpersonal communication. The exogenous variables predict to communication but some direct paths also persist. Education is directly connected to the two awareness measures, income is related to the estimation of turnout for self-help projects, and fear of gentrification predicts to group participation.
Urbanism and Racial Attitudes
Authors: Wilson Thomas C.
Published: November 2009

National survey data are used to test the relationship between urbanism and racial attitudes among whites, and a liberalizing effect of urbanism is found. The relationship is independent of differences in population composition occurring across the rural-urban continuum, and it operates largely in the same way in both the North and the South. Of the urban theories considered, the relationship is best explained by that portion of subcultural theory dealing with diffusion. Specifically, it appears that urbanism liberalizes racial attitudes by increasing equal-status, cooperative, and relatively personal contact between members of racial subcultures.
Public Policy and Community-Oriented Uses of Cable Television
Authors: Moss Mitchell L. , Warren Robert
Published: November 2009

Little is known about the role of cable television systems as an element of the communications infrastructure of cities. This research looks at local cable systems in terms of households served, total channels and community-oriented channels per system, interactive capacity, and local origination programming. A considerable gap is found between the vision of the "wired city" and the current performance of cable systems on these measures. The findings suggest that there is serious question whether cable will ever provide an excess of broadcast capacity and interactive programming and services to a majority of residents in most communities unless such provision becomes a clear goal of public policy.
"Where have all the People Gone?"
Authors: Denowitz Ronald M.
Published: November 2009

An examination of recent growth in suburban Chicago suggests that rates of population and housing increase tend to vary principally by age of housing, and secondarily by distance from the central city's business district. Population loss or small increases relative to housing gains typified the most centrally located older suburbs. Although much higher rates of population and housing increase characterized newer places, especially those between 21 and 30 miles from the CBD, their population gain was smaller than that accompanying comparably high levels of residential development in earlier periods.
Patterns of Metropolitan Service Dominance
Authors: Benton J. Edwin , Rigos Platon N.
Published: November 2009

This study found that large central city service roles were dependent on state laws providing for greater functional responsibility, easy annexation procedures, and less restrictive property tax limitations and receipt of substantial state aid. When such factors were not present, a large central city service role was more likely where its population was socially and racially similar to its suburb(s) and the city contained an adequate supply of managerial and professional talent. On the other hand, large central county service roles were associated with substantial state and federal aid, less restrictive property tax limitations, greater county functional responsibility, and large urban populations.
Interjurisdictional Externalities and Cooperation
Authors: McKinney Scott
Published: November 2009

This article investigates the influence of interjurisdictional externalities and cooperation on police expenditures and crime rates. Police protection generates both positive externalities (protection provided to individuals commuting into a jurisdiction) and negative externalities (crime diverted out of ajurisdiction); cooperation among police agencies has both an internalization effect (which compensates for the influence of externalities) and an efficiency effect (which reduces the cost of providing police services). Empirical analysis of 1970 data for a sample of 64 SMSAs suggests that crime diversions are the dominant externality and that cost reductions are the dominant effect of cooperation.
Explaining Citizen Evaluations of Urban Services
Authors: Hero Rodney E. , Durand Roger
Published: November 2009

This study evaluates alternative models of citizen satisfaction with urban services. More specifically, it compares and assesses three models of satisfaction at two points in time. The availability of cross-section survey data on city residents at two time points, supplemented with aggregate evidence, make possible a test of what Coleman (1964) refers to as the "equilibrium assumption." Only one of the three models, referred to as the "personal contact" model, was found to be supported by the evidence. Further, this model was supported at two points in time and was found to have nearly identical parameters of influence at the two time points.
Private versus Public Provision of Refuse Removal Service
Authors: Marlowe Julia
Published: November 2009

The debate over public versus private provision of community services has been extensive since Ronald Reagan became President. However, more empirical evidence, especially regarding citizen satisfaction, is needed before the broad policy question can be addressed effectively. Refuse collection is one service provided by the private sector in several communities. This study compares citizen satisfaction with public and private provision of residential refuse removal service in one metropolitan area of the United States.
Housing Opportunities and Vacancy Chains
Authors: Marullo Sam
Published: November 2009

Vacancy chain and vacancy transfer analyses are two methods used to assess housing market filtering as a policy tool. The vacancy transfer method is better suited for ascertaining the beneficial impact of housing turnover for particular subgroups of the population. Policy considerations dictate that we consider who benefits from improved housing opportunities. The vacancy transfer method proposed by White (1971) is carried out with data not available to him. His policy implications are not justified by the results when we explicitly consider the social utility of housing vacancies. By establishing a priori weights or a welfare function, it is possible to ascertain the maximum benefits for given levels of expenditures.
What Urban Crisis?
Authors: Monkkonen Eric H.
Published: November 2009

The urban crisis of the past decade is placed in historical perspective. Only in the context of the anomalously stable period of fiscal expansion and social prosperity following World War II did it seem like a crisis. Put in a more appropriate and longer historical context, three aspects of the postwar urban era need addressing: urban finance, welfare, and crime. Although troubled, cities are relatively well-off financially, while poverty and crime are social problems that have become urban for reasons other than those associated with any particular urban causal mechanism. All three have followed different dynamics, requiring separate analytic treatment.
Where has the Urban Crisis Gone?
Authors: Ganz Alexander
Published: November 2009

Two national phenomena, economic transformation and the baby boom's young households, have brought new life to the Boston economy and that of other cities. The transformation has been largely downtown-oriented, however, and few of the benefits have spilled over into the poorer neighborhoods where most of the city's population lives. Substantial public infrastructure investment and the urban renewal write-down of land costs helped stake the private investment boom evident since the mid-1970s. Property values have skyrocketed. The rise in one-and two-person households and nonfamily households also has been accelerating since the mid-1970s and ushering in a return to the cities. The expanding concentration of minority and other poor populations in the cities have lagged behind, real income has eroded, poverty has increased, housing has become scarce, and gentrification holds a threat of displacement. The beneficence of the economic boom has not flowed into the public coffers; Boston, New York, and other large cities have been held on a tight fiscal leash by cutbacks in federal aid, state parsimony, and tax limitation legislation. City public services have been reduced. Boston is attempting to cope with new populist directions. New city legislation and zoning regulations (patterned, in part, on San Francisco's pioneering effort) are designed to induce developers to fund and become involved in neighborhood housing and development. With the shift from throw-away housing to scarcity, investment and fix-up have become more attractive, and there is new interest in the neighborhood potential.
Structural Theories and Urban Fiscal Stress
Authors: Rubin Irene S.
Published: November 2009

This article compares neo-Marxist and public choice theories of urban fiscal stress with descriptive data about the generation and consequences of fiscal stress in a number of cities in the 1970s. Each theory was found to be only partly descriptive of real life events. To create a more complete description, I integrate commensurable elements of neo-Marxism and public choice theory with more contingent factors, such as political vulnerability to citizen demands and the quality of local management. The article then describes the way cities have been changing as a result of fiscal stress and the implications of this process for theories of fiscal strain.
The Not-for-Profit Sector in Stable and Growing Metropolitan Regions
Authors: Wolpert Julian , Reiner Thomas
Published: November 2009

A regional focus on not-for-profit organizations leads to a better understanding of the not-for-profit (NFP) sector, adding to the insights coming from national studies. The research reported here, focusing on the Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Houston, and Los Angeles areas, shows major contrasts in funding and in certain structural features of the NFPs. For example, the NFP share of the service sector in Philadelphia is three times the share in Houston, pointing to the importance of an early start in determining NFP representation. The impact of the 1973-1974 recession provides some clues to the importance of a diversified funding base and the consequences of business cycles on NFP expenditures for program-related activities.
The Community Question
Authors: Connerly Charles E.
Published: November 2009

This article elaborates on Wellman and Leighton's discussion of the neighborhood's role as a community and attempts to integrate it with the concept of the "community of limited liability." Although in basic agreement with Wellman and Leighton's conclusions, the article argues that their definition of community focuses too narrowly on interpersonal relations, ignoring other important community functions performed at least partially in the neighborhood. The article describes the degree to which people participate in the community functions of their neighborhood and the extent to which Wellman and Leighton's conclusions are substantiated. The data used indicate a differentiated and specialized pattern of neighborhood participation in which there are at least four independent dimensions. These findings support the "community of limited liability" concept, which says that the neighborhood continues to play a varyingly important role in peoples lives, depending on their degree of "local status" in the community.
Corporate Strategies and the Decline of Transit in U.S. Cities
Authors: Whitt J. Allen , Yago Glenn
Published: November 2009

The urban transportation systems that carry us around are not solely the result of technological innovation or efficiency. They are also a product of the rising and sinking political and market power of industrial interest groups, the changing relations among social classes, the politics of urban development struggles, and the inherent dynamics of the economic system. We attempt to show how these factors, particularly corporate control of transportation policy, have profoundly shaped urban streetcar, automobile, bus, and rail transport in the United States during this century. We conclude that this private dominance over urban transportation policy has often led to narrow, profit-seeking behavior that has thwarted the development of more effective public transit.
Same City, Different Worlds
Authors: Shlay Anne B. , DiGregorio Denise A.
Published: November 2009

Studies of residential location typically have treated the household unit as an undifferentiated whole and have not accounted for divergent needs and desires between male and female household members. Using the factorial survey technique, this article examines different preferences for neighborhood characteristics between men and women, focusing on women with varying family and labor market responsibilities. Based on a sample of 177 Syracuse, New York, metropolitan residents, this article shows the desires of men, housewives, single women, and employed women for varying combinations of neighborhood attributes. Findings show that men's desires for neighborhoods suit them well for the typical suburb, whereas women's desired neighborhood characteristics are found both in suburbs and in central cities. Women expressed contradictory desires, wanting the density, residential homogeneity, and racial and socio-economic composition of suburbs, but with the diversity and proximity of services found in cities. These findings suggest that for women suburbs need to include higher densities, public services, and transportation, but should retain much of their residential ambience.
Urban Dependencies
Authors: Molotch Harvey , Logan John R.
Published: November 2009

Changes in the international division of labor and the territorial organization of multinational corporations have altered the forms of urbanization in the United States. Like the "primate cities" of the Third World, North American cities have increasingly specialized in economic activities that provide neither a balanced employment base for local residents nor opportunities for autonomously generated growth based on the local market. We describe several emerging forms of cities—the headquarter city, innovation center, module production city, border entrepot, and retirement center. We argue that the urban future for average residents of such cities is bleak, and that efforts to change this future will require coordinated action among people in different cities and in the Third World.
Economic Restructuring and the Rise of Urban Social Movements
Authors: Fainstein Susan S. , Fainstein Norman I.
Published: November 2009

The rise of social movements in postwar American cities has been associated with economic reorganization and urban redevelopment. But we argue that although economic change in the cities and social migration motivated by national economic forces provided the objective conditions within which movements arose, specifically political factors were determinative. The first part of this article explores in theory the linkages between economic change and social mobilization. It concludes that urban movements must be under-stood within the context of both routine urban politics and national political events. Using New York City as a case, we go on to show that before and after the national black movement of the 1960s, popular urban protest was commonplace, yet was channeled and contained by the political system. Thus, in recent years, despite enormous economic reorganization and decline in the situation of the lower classes in New York, urban movements have not arisen. Rather, communal protest is isolated, institutionalized in various mechanisms for citizen participation, and results, at best, in a few concessions. The final section of the article assesses the possibilities of social action rooted in urban movements. It argues that only a national movement and political party can establish the context for powerful mobilizations at the urban level.
Nine Fallacies of Local Economic Change
Authors: Kirby Andrew
Published: November 2009

This article examines current literature dealing with local economic change and concludes that there are serious confusions extant within that material. Nine specific fallacies are identified, and these are grouped into three distinct categories. In the first instance, definitional problems of time and space are dealt with, notably the assumptions that local economic initiatives are a recent phenomenon. The second group of fallacies examined includes discussion of the possibility of creating jobs, the political imperatives faced by local jurisdictions, and the extent to which local economic initiatives may benefit a specific locality. The third grouping extends the latter idea, and considers the nature of local economies within broader political and world economy contexts. The article concludes with an outline of how local economic development might be more successfully examined.
Swedish Housing in the Postwar Period
Authors: Appelbaum Richard P.
Published: November 2009

This article examines Swedish housing policy during the postwar period. It looks at the extent to which Social Democratic housing goals have been met, and some reasons for the successes and failures of Swedish housing programs. Of particular interest is the effort to steer housing production toward nonmarket alternatives, by means of "socialist market" mechanisms. Some of the problems created by this hybrid approach are identified and current efforts to resolve them are discussed.
The Impact of Metropolitan School Desegregation on Public Opinion
Authors: Raffel Jeffrey A.
Published: November 2009

Little research systematically examining changes in public opinion as a consequence of the implementation of a school desegregation plan involving busing has been reported. Four surveys were conducted to measure the impact of the implementation of a court-ordered metropolitan desegregation plan on a community (New Castle County, Delaware) over seven years. Results indicate that the general population remained opposed to busing after desegregation, that busing resulted in a primarily temporary decline in public school evaluations, and that feelings that blacks were receiving equal treatment in the public schools increased over time. Although white suburban opposition to busing lessened somewhat in magnitude and intensity, city and black opposition increased. Overall, those closest to the public schools were the most likely to react relatively positively to the change.
Whose Neighborhood?
Authors: Maher Timothy , Haas Ain , Levine Betty , Liell John
Published: November 2009

This report considers who is involved in urban revitalization, why some neighborhoods are more quickly revived than others, and whether participation by longtime residents in renovation of historic areas is feasible. Surveys of two preservation districts in Indianapolis revealed that recent in-migrants are in a stronger position than longtime residents to influence the revitalization process. Although incumbent homeowners are willing to join restoration activity, they often lack information and money, are less self-conscious as preservationists, and are less organized to shape the process in their own interest.
Urban Response to Federal Program Flexibility
Authors: Wong Kenneth K. , Peterson Paul E.
Published: November 2009

Categorical programs, considered the backbone of "creative federalism" in the 1960s, are no longer in vogue in the 1980s. The increasing prominence of block grants in our federal grant system merits a closer look at the likely policy consequences following program consolidation. Our longitudinal study of the Community Development Block Grant in two large cities suggests that the increased level of local discretion resulted in less emphasis on the redistributive needs of low-income residents. Moreover, decisions with respect to the block grant inevitably become part of the local political process, and in these two cities, were influenced by mayoral preferences.