Economic development and urban growth are the contested grounds of
urban politics. Business elites and politicians tend to forge
"pro-growth" coalitions centered around downtown development while
progressive and neighborhood activists counter with a more balanced
approach that features a strong neighborhood component. Urban
politics is often shaped by this conflict, which has intellectual
as well as practical dimensions. In some cities, neighborhood
interests have triumphed; in others, the pro-growth agenda has
prevailed.
In this illuminating comparative study, Barbara Ferman
demonstrates why neighborhood challenges to pro-growth politics
were much more successful in Pittsburgh than they were in Chicago.
Operating largely in the civic arena, Pittsburgh's neighborhood
groups encountered a political culture and institutional structure
conducive to empowering neighborhood progressivism in housing and
economic development policymaking. In contrast, the pro-growth
agenda in Chicago was challenged in the electoral arena, which was
dominated by machine, ward-based politicians who regarded any
independent neighborhood organizing as a threat. Consequently,
neighborhood demands for policymaking input were usually
thwarted.
Besides revealing why the development policies of two important
American cities diverged, Ferman's unique comparative approach to
this issue significantly expands the scope of urban analysis. Among
other things, it provides the first serious study to incorporate
the civic sector-neighborhood politics-as an important component of
urban regimes. Ferman also emphasizes institutional and cultural
factors-often ignored or relegated to residual roles in other
studies-and expounds on their influence in shaping local politics
and policy. To add an analytical and normative dimension to urban
analysis, she focuses on the "non-elite" actors, not just the
economic and political elites who compose governing coalitions.
Ultimately, Ferman takes a more holistic and balanced view of
large cities than is typical for urban studies as she argues that
neighborhoods are an important, integral part of what cities are
and can be. For that reason especially, her work will have a
profound impact upon our understanding of urban politics.
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