Cities as Political Targets

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Goldsmith
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Fiscal Crisis ◽  
Federal Administration ◽  
Political Targets

This chapter discusses austerity, which causes significant urban damage, directly and indirectly. Austerians—especially those who make key decisions in banks, corporations, the federal administration, Congress, and the courts—sometimes have cities in mind as they make policy, but usually not. If they do make the connection, they may aim to punish cities. They surely do not regard fiscal and economic policy as part of “urban policy.” Indeed, austerity was imposed not to resolve the fiscal crisis, nor to aid financial institutions to recover their losses, nor to earmark funds for building social capital or offering services. Yet austerity policies do constitute “upstream” flows that can flood cities and swamp their options. Austerity thus needs to be incorporated into discussions and actions on urban policy.

The Role of Livelihood Diversification and Social Capital in the Movement of Households: A Case Study from Central Nepal

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-50
Author(s):  
Saroj Pokharel ◽  
Dipak Tharu ◽  
Yagya Murti Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Livelihood Diversification ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Central Nepal ◽  
Qualitative Approaches

The study aims to investigate the role of livelihood diversification and social capital for the households’ movement, and also to explore the identity and bond of social capital and livelihood diversification to achieve an improved lifestyle. Human relations significantly create a network society, impalpable resource of community, shared values and trust which we draw upon in our daily lives. Livelihood diversification is a community-practised strategy for managing economic and income diversity in poverty reduction. It has highly emphasized income and well-being to diversify livelihood. It also turns the likely norms and networks with the households from exploiting new economic opportunities even in the future. This study responds to why people are migrating from the surrounding and the long distance of Kathmandu, and largely dependent on direct cash incomes from informal activities. It used qualitative approaches such as ethnography, case studies, participant observation, etc. to study the relationship between households and social capital level and livelihood diversification. Hence, the effects of social capital and livelihood diversification were found protecting households’ income. The major findings also show the social supportive network index which has significant effects on the households’ ability to learn a new livelihood. Income generations similarly affect the household capacity to secure a home and the socio-economic condition of households. This study can be advantageous for making both local and urban policy to diversify household livelihoods and social capital as well as applicable for new researchers in social sciences. Most importantly, it helps readers perceive new ways of promoting livelihood diversification and social capital and as a whole social advancement in Central Nepal.

scholarly journals “We just need the developer to develop”: Entrepreneurialism, financialization and urban redevelopment in Lexington, Kentucky

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442110450
Author(s):  
Kevin Ward ◽  
Andrew Wood
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Fiscal Crisis ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Financial Instruments ◽  
City Governments ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Us Cities

Since the 1980s US city governments have increased their use of more speculative means of financing economic redevelopment. This has involved experimenting with a variety of financial and taxation instruments as a way of growing their economies and redeveloping their built environments. This very general tendency, of course, masks how some cities have done well through the use of these instruments while others have not. The work to date has tended to pivot around a “winner-loser dichotomy”, which emphasises either the capacity of US cities to be able to experiment and speculate through the use of one financial instrument or another or their failings with these instruments, resulting in bankruptcy and fiscal crisis. This paper presents a case study of Lexington, Kentucky and using archival research and interviews we argue that speculative financial instruments are harder to choreograph for some cities than for others. We draw particular attention to US cities beyond those that tend to be over-represented in the metro-centric academic literature. This argument has conceptual significance. Building theory out of the experiences of US cities such as Lexington, Kentucky turns attention to the work required by city governments as they seek to finance the redevelopment of their downtowns. We make the case for a continued appreciation of the messy politics around the use of financial instruments, and its indeterminate, open and unpredictable nature in an era of fragile and uncertain entrepreneurial US urban policy-making.

Creating Neighbourhood Networks: Why the Alvalade Landscape Matters to Housing

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-53
Author(s):  
Romana Xerez
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Network Resources ◽  
Social Mix ◽  
The Social ◽  
Community Ties ◽  
Development Failure

How does social capital matter to the creation of neighbourhood networks in cities? Social housing in Portugal is some times viewed as a single architectural and building environment development failure. This article discusses a relevant Portuguese urban planning landscape and aims to contribute to the discussion of one of its main purpose – the social housing experiment. The author discusses the case of this landscape as urban policy-making and evaluates its implementation and relevance. She hypothesizes that “neighbourhood units” have become a relevant case in the context of neighbourhood planning and housing social-mix in Lisbon. Firstly, she uses theoretical arguments and findings to discuss an urban experiment - Alvalade Landscape. Secondly, the paper analyses relevant data that demonstrates its links to the housing policies thus enriching the urban design. The article offers evidence from the Alvalade Landscape case study in Lisbon of theoretical and empirical community ties in the 1940s. Thirdly, the paper identifies some elements such as community units, social mix, sidewalks, and that have an impact on neighbourhood design as well as people’s lives. The findings show that supportive neighbour ties provide important network resources (social capital) concerning daily life, illness, support or financial aid. Finally, the paper suggests the relevance that social neighbourhood community has in housing programs and policies.

Structurally adjusting: Narratives of fiscal crisis in four US cities

Urban Studies ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (9) ◽  
pp. 2123-2138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Hinkley
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Public Pension ◽  
Fiscal Crisis ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Fiscal Stress ◽  
Us Cities ◽  
Spending Cuts

The Great Recession unleashed a wave of fiscal stress in the USA, with austerity measures such as spending cuts, service reductions and privatisation predictably taking centre stage. Decades of federal withdrawal from urban policy and funding, combined with state retrenchment, have contributed to a landscape of urban fiscal stress exacerbated by the prolonged effects of the post-2007 recession. This article examines the experience of fiscal crisis in four US cities (Detroit, Dallas, Philadelphia, and San Jose), focusing on the narratives used by city and state government leadership to publicly describe local crises. Shared elements of the framing of urban fiscal crisis in this diverse set of cities provide insight into the unfolding of austerity in local politics. Blame for the crisis has centred less on social spending than in previous crises, and more on local governance failures, public pension commitments, and ongoing global economic precarity. Crisis governance has become widespread, even in fiscally resilient cities, driven by a vision of lean government in a ‘new normal’. While retrenchment effectively shrinks the state through spending cuts and privatisation, the governing power of cities is also being diminished by the narrative of fiscal responsibility reflected in the national move toward public pension restructuring and expanded state interventionism.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document