A Brookings Institution Press and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy publication Since the demise of urban renewal in the early 1970s, the politics of large-scale public investment in and around major American cities has received little scholarly attention. In Mega-Projects, Alan Altshuler and David Luberoff analyze the unprecedented wave of large-scale (mega-) public investments that occurred in American cities during the 1950s and 1960s; the social upheavals they triggered, which derailed large numbers of projects during the late 1960s and early 1970s; and the political impulses that have shaped a new generation of urban mega-projects in the decades since. They also appraise the most important consequences of policy shifts over this half-century and draw out common themes from the rich variety of programmatic and project developments that they chronicle. The authors integrate narratives of national as well as state and local policymaking, and of mobilization by (mainly local) project advocates, with a profound examination of how well leading theories of urban politics explain the observed realities. The specific cases they analyze include a wide mix of transportation and downtown revitalization projects, drawn from numerous regions—most notably Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Portland, and Seattle. While their original research focuses on highway, airport, and rail transit programs and projects, they draw as well on the work of others to analyze the politics of public investment in urban renewal, downtown retailing, convention centers, and professional sports facilities. In comparing their findings with leading theories of urban and American politics, Altshuler and Luberoff arrive at some surprising findings about which perform best and also reveal some important gaps in the literature as a whole. In a concluding chapter, they examine the potential effects of new fiscal pressures, business mobilization to relax environmental constraints, and security concerns in the wake of September 11. And they make clear their own views about how best to achieve a balance between developmental, environmental, and democratic values in public investment decisionmaking. Integrating fifty years of urban development history with leading theories of urban and American politics, Mega-Projects provides significant new insights into urban and intergovernmental politics.
Innovation does happen—even in government! Despite all the news about government scandals and failures, public officials are innovative. This book analyzes numerous examples of ingenious problem solving—in education in California, in the Department of Juvenile Justice in New York City, in government operations in Minnesota, in human service programs across the country. All organizations, both public and private, need innovation, but making innovation work in government is a greater challenge than doing so in business. This book identifies a number of dilemmas that complicate the process of innovating in American government. For example, there is the "trust dilemma": Innovation may be necessary to establish public faith in the ability of government agencies to perform, but before the public grants agencies a license to be truly innovative, it needs to be convinced that these same agencies have the ability to perform. The contributors to this book analyze a number of issues raised by the task of innovation, including: Who is responsible for innovating? How can innovative individuals and teams be held accountable? What kinds of organizational arrangements beget the most innovation? How can innovation be fostered in agencies devoted to routinization? How should innovative ideas be disseminated? And what exactly is an "innovation" anyway? The contributors gathered data for this book from winners and finalists in the Ford Foundation's Innovations Awards program, as well as from other innovators and innovations. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Babak J. Armajani, Michael Barzelay, W. Lance Bennett, Paul Berman, Richard F. Elmore, Robert M. Entman, Lee S. Friedman, Thomas N. Gilmore, Olivia Golden, James Krantz, Laurence E. Lynn Jr., Mark H. Moore, Beryl Nelson, Ellen Schall, Malcolm Sparrow, William Spelman, Deborah A. Stone, and Marc D. Zegans.
America's cities have symbolized the nation's prosperity, dynamism, and innovation. Even with the trend toward suburbanization, many central cities attract substantial new investment and employment. Within this profile of health, however, many urban areas are beset by problems of economic disparity, physical deterioration, and social distress. This volume addresses the condition of the city from the perspective of the larger metropolitan region. It offers important, thought-provoking perspectives on the structure of metropolitan-level decisionmaking, the disadvantages faced by cities and city residents, and expanding economic opportunity to all residents in a metropolitan area. The book provides data, real-world examples, and analyses in key areas: Distribution of metropolitan populations and what this means for city dwellers, suburbanites, whites, and minorities. How quality of life depends on the spatial structure of a community and how problems are based on inequalities in spatial opportunity--with a focus on the relationship between taxes and services. The role of the central city today, the rationale for revitalizing central cities, and city-suburban interdependence. The book includes papers that provide in-depth examinations of zoning policy in relation to patterns of suburban development; regionalism in transportation and air quality; the geography of economic and social opportunity; social stratification in metropolitan areas; and fiscal and service disparities within metropolitan areas.
A Brookings Institution Press and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy publication Over the past two decades Americans have become increasingly skeptical about the benefits of community growth and hostile to new taxes--while continuing to demand improvements in local services. One response to this tension has been a burgeoning movement to raise public revenue by regulating growth. In this timely book, the authors explain that most growing localities now require private developers to finance public improvements as a condition for receiving permits to build. These permit conditions, known as "exactions," are most commonly used to ensure that infrastructure capacity will be adequate to serve the occupants of new real estate developments and to lessen the harmful effects of these developments on other local citizens. Exactions are often used to finance new roads, water and waste disposal facilities, and public open space, but some communities have begun to require developer financing for such services as day care, job training, low-cost housing, and ride sharing. The authors see the dramatic growth of exaction financing as an epochal shift in the character of American land use regulation. A function once isolated from the local government mainstream is now close to heart of fiscal and public works decisionmaking. Politicians find exactions an extremely valuable tactic for resolving land use conflict. Lawyers and developers worry about how to establish appropriate limits on the use of exaction, economists debate their equity and efficiency, and planners consider their effect on urban reform. Regulation for Revenue offers an integrated appraisal of exaction financing, showing that exactions come in many forms and that they can be meaningfully evaluated only by comparison with realistic alternatives. These include growth restrictions, tolerance of infrastructure overload, and increased tax and user charges.
Cited by Business Week as one of 1984's ten best books on business and economics, The Future of the Automobile is the most comprehensive assessment ever conducted of the world's largest industry.
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