Dennis R. Judd

Everything is Always Going to Hell Urban Scholars as End-Times Prophets

For some time urban scholars in political science have been estranged from the mainstream scholarship of their discipline. In this article I offer three explanations for this phenomenon. First, in the 1960s urban scholarship became wedded to the political project of savings the cities—an ideological commitment that still colors urban research. Second, urban scholarship continues to reflect the reform traditions inherited from the Progressive Period. Third, urban scholars have been prone to excessive rhetoric when describing the urban condition. These three tendencies have combined to make the study of cities a somewhat insular enterprise.

Reconstructing the Local State The Role of External Constituencies in Building Urban Tourism

The growth of tourism is fragmenting urban politics into a constellation of public/private institutions that operate largely independently from the democratic institutions of local government. In this article, the authors present preliminary evidence to show that the political interests that represent the tourism/entertainment sector are beginning to wield influence in municipal politics through campaign contributions and other political activity. They also show that those political interests have become largely independent of municipal authority through their control of institutions that undertake large-scale infrastructure projects connected to tourism/entertainment. It is suggested that mayors are able to forge alliances with these independent centers of power and, thereby, are able to bypass democratic processes.

El turismo urbano y la geografía de la ciudad

For post-structuralist urban literature, cities appear as landscapes fractured in protected and exclusionary enclaves, which colonize and replace local plac...

Commentary: Tracing the Commodity Chain of Global Tourism

ABSTRACT It is argued that current definitions of tourism are deficient because they define tourism as a system of consumption rather than production. Because such definitions makes tourism appear to be unlike any other industry, the study of tourism is virtually absent from the literatures of economic geography and globalization, and relatively neglected in the social sciences as well. It is suggested that tourism should be regarded as a production process involving a distinct product and identifiable inputs. As the first step towards realizing this goal, the concept of commodity chains is applied to construct a profile of the global tourism industry.

Convention Center Wars and the Decline of Local Democracy

ABSTRACT Convention centers have emerged as a focal point in an intense competition among cities for a share of the economically important meetings and exhibition market. In this paper, we present abundant evidence to show that cities can substantially benefit by capturing a share of this market. However, the cost and size of the meetings facilities that are appropriate for particular cities will vary with local circumstances. We argue that such local considerations are ignored because of the political influence that the meetings industry now exerts when cities make decisions about building or expanding convention centers.

The Changing Geography of Urban Tourism: Will the Center Hold?

Abstract During the last quarter of a century, urban centers in the United States have invested significant resources to develop a physical infrastructure to support the economic sectors of tourism and leisure. Cities of all sizes in Europe and the U.S. are aggressively promoting tourism and related sectors, and much of this activity is occurring outside the urban core. Using the case of metropolitan Chicago, this paper focuses on the evolving geography of urban tourism by examining how four satellite cities have embraced a strategy of development that mirrors the city of Chicagos strategy. In this paper we argue that, at least in the case of some metropolitan areas in the U.S., tourism development at the urban periphery may compete with and therefore slow the pace of redevelopment at the urban core.

The Several Faces of Civic Capacity

Richard Gendron asserts that Stone’s social production model cannot explain the temporary alliance between downtown business and progressive political leadership in Santa Cruz because “the consensus was counterfeit,” a “forgery designed to conceal backstage maneuvering undertaken to safeguard power, not to share it.” Progressive leaders in Santa Cruz felt pressured to join Vision Santa Cruz, which coordinated the effort to rebuild the downtown after the 1989 earthquake, because of the manifest problem that the damaged downtown created for the city. But they also recognized that their alliance with business might compromise their commitment to neighborhood preservation and to antigrowth policies. Accordingly, they abandoned Vision Santa Cruz as soon as downtown recovery was accomplished. The lesson that Gendron draws from all this is that it is not sufficient to study “power to” as the mechanism for achieving collective capacity; we must also attend to a “realist” position that it is necessary to address the problem of “power over” that is produced by the inequitable distribution of political resources—that is, reformers must directly confront the status quo and the inequalities it sustains. Stone’s analysis can be read as a convincing rejoinder. He points out that reformers often conceive that their task is to replace, through the ballot box or other means, the defenders of politics-as-usual; however, unless they are able to institutionalize their power, they will be unable to form “viable forms of cooperation” that are required for governance. The question of enduring power is not how reformers may mobilize to challenge the status quo, but how they may achieve a “lasting settlement.” Otherwise, as reformers are wont to do, they are likely to end up like “mornin’ glories” blooming brightly for a few hours then fading away. I agree with Stone’s premise that institutions are central to power and I believe the Santa Cruz case should be interpreted as the exception that proves Stone’s rule. In Santa Cruz, progressives had little, if any, motivation to play a permanent role in Vision Santa Cruz because they already controlled the institutions of the local state. Thus their political position was entirely different than in most cities where progressives are on the outside looking in. In most instances, progressives would have much to gain by joining in a coalition with business to achieve the “power to” even though their participation would necessarily come at the price of compromise. But in Santa Cruz, progressives did not need to remain part of a governing coalition to achieve lasting influence over agendas and institutional power. Stone’s observations apply to the more typical case, when reformers do not have access to institutional power. Without such access, reforms confront the difficulty of sustaining

Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City

Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. By Mary Pattillo. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. 400p.

The tourist city.

29.00. In her book, Mary Pattillo sets out to lay to rest any notion that there is a unitary political agenda binding all blacks to a common political cause. She accomplishes this goal by thoroughly dismantling the well-worn but persistent myth of a “black community” that speaks in one voice. She is not the first to discredit that hoary notion, but her book is likely to become the most effective and influential work to do so. The main reason for this may be that she brings a subtlety to her argument that goes far beyond mere critique. Her analysis is both more nuanced and ultimately more positive than any previous statement in the literature.