Module 1: Discussion

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MODULE

Seminar in Urban Problems

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University of Memphis Department of Public &

Nonprofit Administration

Edwards & Imrie (2015) Intro; Chapters 1 & 2

1

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INTRODUCTION Edwards & Imrie (2015) The Short Guide to Urban Policy

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Introduction

 Urban policy  “purposive interventions by government

and non-governmental actors seeking to respond to a broad range of social, welfare, economic, and ecological problems related to urbanization.” (p. 1)

 No unified agenda on what is urban policy  Geographic focus on the city  Founded on solving/addressing poverty

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Introduction

 Urban policy 1980s-present  Focused on urban regeneration, economic

development, and investment  Belief that “people’s well-being and welfare can best

be maximized by disciplining individuals into an acceptance of the efficacy of the market.” (p. 4)

 Edwards and Imrie challenge this approach to urban policy  Does urban policy really challenge the status

quo and seek to address the roots of poverty?  Is current policy further expanding the

inequality gap?

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Introduction

 Six aims of the book (p.5) 1. To provide a concise description of major

problems associated with urbanization 2. To describe and evaluate the main elements of

urban policy responses to problems 3. To outline and evaluate the significance of political

processes as drivers of urban policy 4. To identify and explore different theoretical

understandings of urban policy 5. To assess future for cities and urban policy in

context of austerity and sustainability 6. To draw on international examples to highlight

ubiquity and mobility of urban policy

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CHAPTER 1: THE URBAN CHALLENGE

Edwards & Imrie (2015) The Short Guide to Urban Policy

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The Urban Challenge

 Government policy is heavily intwined in the lives of city residents

 Cities are a dramatic imprint of human life on the natural environment

 Long span of urbanization, yet common recurrence of urban problems

 Urban problem – “the different social, economic, and ecological challenges that urbanization has posed for both inhabitants of cities and policymakers” (p. 12)

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The Urban Challenge: Early and Pre-Modern Urbanization

 4000 BC – first human settlements, which were conscious decisions on location (e.g., for shelter benefits)

 Urban planning evident for defensive structures and division between religious and secular spaces

 Urban architecture communicated ideas of wealth and power

 BUT mostly hazardous and poorly constructed built environment

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The Urban Challenge: Early and Pre-Modern Urbanization

 800-1300 AD medieval settlements – significant challenges to ensure health and well-being of city residents  Sanitation, water supply, fires  Crime, inequality and ethnic segregation

 Prompted multiple actions of the state to create policy around sanitary regulations

 Roughly same goals as today – continue to support social reproduction and ensure the population thrives to sustain and grow the city

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The Urban Challenge: The Rise of the Industrial City

 18th century industrialization is an explosion of urbanization and beginning of the “modern” city – an industrial- economic complex

 Job opportunities sparked massive population growth (see Table 1.1 for England, similar pattern in United States)

 Major rural to urban migration within country, as well as substantial immigration

 Poverty and social inequality were prevalent

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The Urban Challenge: The Emergence of an Urban World

 Urban population continued to increase through first half of 20th century

 By 1950 more of the world’s population was living in urban areas than rural or non-urban

 Two large waves of migration of rural African-American southerners to northern, mid-west, and western industrial cities between 1910 and 1970

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The Urban Challenge: The Emergence of an Urban World

 Mid-19th century deindustrialization – manufacturing companies moving to cheaper rural or suburban land or overseas – began to decimate cities

 Cities no longer had many middle-class blue-collar jobs – middle class “white- flight” destroyed the city tax base

 Inner-city social protests throughout 1960s through 1980s evidenced anger with the lack of opportunity racial minority groups were left with in cities

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The Urban Challenge: The Emergence of an Urban World

 1980s Reaganism did not help the cause of poverty-stricken cities – policy that rejected welfare and social support programs

 City politicians adopted a market-led approach to regenerating cities

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The Urban Challenge: Post-Industrial Landscape and the Remaking of the City

 Cities shifted to attract knowledge-based industries (e.g., information technology, professional services)

 Idea was to attract businesses that would employ skilled, high-pay employees and improve the tax base

 Gentrification of the inner-city was the new urban renewal

 People already living in the city were expected to adapt, gain skills, and compete in the new job market

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The Urban Challenge: Post-Industrial Landscape and the Remaking of the City

 Socio-ecological impacts of urbanization (smog, light pollution, traffic) were beginning to gain more public attention

 Cities have a proportionally larger ecological footprint than non-urban areas

 Idea of city “sustainability” began to take hold

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The Urban Challenge: A New Urbanism – Austerity and Markets

 Market-led efforts helped to stop the population hemorrhaging of U.S. cities

 Most of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050 (driven by growth in Africa and Asia)

 Drawbacks of 21st century urbanization  Emergence of privatized governance and

withdrawal of traditional government  Cuts to public welfare programs  Lack of affordable housing

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The Urban Challenge: Web Links

 Brookings Institute – Problems and Prospects for Urban Areas  https://www.brookings.edu/research/problem

s-and-prospects-for-urban-areas/  City-Lab  https://www.bloomberg.com/citylab

 United Nations Environment Program, Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics  https://web.unep.org/dtie

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CHAPTER 2: UNDERSTANDING URBAN POLICY

Edwards & Imrie (2015) The Short Guide to Urban Policy

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Understanding Urban Policy

 Like any public policy, urban policy is shaped by a wide range of individuals, organizations, and interests (think Advocacy Coalition Framework)

 Urban policy is heavily intertwined with addressing (or not addressing) inequality – race, gender, disability, class, economic

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Understanding Urban Policy: What is Urban Policy?

 No agreed upon definition, but typically related to functioning of cities – it has a spatial/geographic component  Even what is “urban” is debated – see Billingham &

Kimelberg (2018) reading  Broadest – urban policy seeks to ensure social

growth of a city by ensuring citizens have access to life necessities (safety, housing, food, jobs, etc.) to lead a productive life

 Urban policy is anything from (for example) giving small grants to communities to large-scale multi- partner riverfront regeneration

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Understanding Urban Policy: What is Urban Policy?

 Two common methods to understand urban policy:

1. Place – target policy to remedy problems (e.g., crime) in a specific geographic area

2. Person – target policy that focuses on a broader scale of inequality in society larger than city geography

 Post-WWII to 1970s – national urban policy based in Keynesian economics (more “person” focused)

 Late 1970s to present – urban policy focused more on place, particularly with economic development

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Understanding Urban Policy: Liberalism, Moral Object & Urban Policy

 Western urban policy shaped largely by classical liberalism – government ensures the people have conditions for freedom and liberty, and then gets out of the way

 Philosophy that is related more directly to modern-day “conservatives” not “liberals”

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Understanding Urban Policy: Liberalism, Moral Object & Urban Policy

 “Much of urban policy has been shaped by a moral discourse of what the good citizen ought to be…” (p. 51) – this is contested and debated, with the answer being won through the political process

 Policy that disperses and distributes populations (e.g., move poor into wealthier neighborhoods or vice-versa) has been prominent in 20th century – think gentrification, success is debatable

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Understanding Urban Policy: Place-based & People-based Regeneration

 Most urban policy is place-based – thought is fixing the place, fixes the people in the place (e.g., decreases poverty)

 Commonly results in racial segregation (e.g., mass housing projects) and white vs. black/minority areas of cities

Note: Reminder that several parts of this book discuss urban policy outside of the U.S., specifically the United Kingdom (UK), great comparative examples but be aware. Discussion of the “Urban Programme” (p. 59-63) in this section is UK policy and politics.

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Understanding Urban Policy: Urban Policy, Politics, & Governance

 Urban politics and urban policy are inseparable

 Urban politics defined:  “the contestation between different social

groups about the meaning and materiality of urban life, and it is illustrated by the actions of various protagonists, ranging from community groups to politicians and property developers, seeking to assert their vision and viewpoint of what the good city is or ought to be” (p. 64)

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Understanding Urban Policy: Urban Policy, Politics, & Governance

 Pluralist theory of urban politics – policy is a “best fit” outcome of competing interests

 Power elite theory of urban politics – policy follows the demands of powerful interests (such as corporations) regardless of the interests of the less powerful  Urban regime theory looks at how public

officials are influenced by (and/or predisposed for) certain powerful interests

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Understanding Urban Policy: Urban Policy, Politics, & Governance

 Urban policy as politics –  “the struggle to (re)produce the means for

people to live, and the lives of many poor people in urban society are shaped by crises of collective consumption, or the unaffordable nature of many goods and services [e.g., adequate housing] necessary for their sustenance” (p. 66)

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Understanding Urban Policy: An Evaluation of Urban Policy

 After decades of urban policy many cities are on the “rebound” from late 20th century and early 21st century down-turns but many are not, and many city dwellers are still left behind

 Urban policy does not typically garner national attention – presidents don’t run on how cure inner city poverty

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Understanding Urban Policy: An Evaluation of Urban Policy

 Factors for urban policy failures:  Policy-makers look for short-term

improvements, not long-term change  Cities are a “fragmented system of

governance”; difficult to coordinate policy implementation

 Typically, not a high priority for state or national governments

 Focused on economic development at the expense of community-based social concerns

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Understanding Urban Policy: Web Links

 Urban Institute (U.S.)  https://www.urban.org/

 Center for an Urban Future (U.S.)  https://nycfuture.org/

 Centre for Cities (U.K.)  https://www.centreforcities.org/

 The Policy Exchange (U.K.)  https://policyexchange.org.uk/