Elizabeth Strom

Comparative Urban Governance An Integrated Approach

This article develops an integrated framework for comparing urban governance cross nationally. Joining together structural, cultural, and rational actor approaches to cross-national comparison, it explains the institutional milieux of urban governance in the United States, Great Britain, France, and Germany. Comparison of public-private partnership arrangements in cities of these four countries is used to demonstrate the utility of this integrated framework.

CONVERTING PORK INTO PORCELAIN Cultural Institutions and Downtown Development

The importance of cultural institutions to contemporary revitalization efforts in U.S. citiesis attributed to several factors. First, the transformation of the urban political economy has made cities more dependent on their consumption economies. Second, urban cultural institutions have a strong interest in improving their surroundings, especially now that they have become more dependent on revenue-generating activities and on funding sources interested in attracting broad audiences. Finally, cultural hierarchies have become less rigid, allowing cultural institutions to draw on serious and popular art forms.

RETHINKING THE POLITICS OF DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACT: In the political science literature, downtown redevelopment has long been seen as the project of a region’s economic elites. But in recent years, large corporations, banks, and department stores have in many cases abandoned central business districts, and downtowns are now more likely to be developed as centers of entertainment and culture, or as residential districts. This article posits that changing downtown land uses are accompanied by changes in the downtown influence structure, with nonprofit sector and real estate industry leaders now dominating downtown business organizations.

In Search of the Growth Coalition American Urban Theories and the Redevelopment of Berlin

The author considers the relevance of American urban theories, particularly regime approaches, to an understanding of development politics cross-nationally. Studying recent developments in Berlin, she suggests that both political and cultural characteristics influence the nature of local coalition building. In Berlin, patterns of federal support, the nature of the state bureaucracy, and the weak organization of the private sector have all shaped the citys approach to redevelopment. In addition, architects and architectural debates have historically carried great weight in Berlins planning culture.

Urban Perennials: How Diversification has Created a Sustainable Community Garden Movement in The United States

Our research seeks to understand how the contemporary community garden movement in the United States differs from its predecessors and whether its new foundation increases the political and financial sustainability of todays gardens. To this end, this article reviews historical and contemporary literature, and surveys participants in three distinctive community gardens, to answer several related research questions. First, what is the current state of the US community garden movement, and how have its historical roots shaped its response to current policy concerns? Second, which populations comprise todays community gardeners, and what motivates them to participate? After considering the findings from our three study gardens, and from a review of secondary and “gray” literature, we conclude by positing that a greater diversity of gardeners and gardening motivations, accompanied by changing leading views on urban land uses, will lead to such urban gardens remaining a more lasting feature of city neighborhood landscapes.

Artist Garret as Growth Machine? Local Policy and Artist Housing in U.S. Cities:

While artists have always lived in cities, never before have city governments so actively sought to court artists, most notably by supporting the development of subsidized artist housing. This article relies on a survey of municipal officials, interviews, and secondary sources to document the spread of publicly supported artist housing. The article argues that artist housing programs can be found even in cities not known as cultural cities. It further demonstrates that in most cities, artist housing programs are considered part of an economic development agenda. It concludes that the unique class position of artists render them well suited in the eyes of public officials to play a transformative role in urban neighborhoods.

Rethinking Foreclosure Dynamics in a Sunbelt City: What Parcel-Level Mortgage Data Can Teach Us About Subprime Lending and Foreclosures

The dynamics of mortgage foreclosures can be studied by examining parcel-level sales and mortgage data, alongside aggregate data reporting on defaults. This research relies on such microlevel analysis to explore three issues in high-foreclosure census tracts located in Hillsborough County, Florida. First, it notes the prevalence of investor-owners in high-foreclosure areas. Second, it considers the high percentage of adjustable rate mortgages identified in these areas and the frequency with which mortgage defaults occur before interest rate adjustments take effect. Third, it suggests that high levels of investor ownership and extreme volatility of housing and mortgage markets in these neighborhoods complicate the analysis of, and solutions to, the foreclosure crisis.

The Homegrown Downtown: Redevelopment in Asheville, North Carolina

The successful transformation of Asheville’s downtown from desolate to vibrant is noteworthy. This article shows how successful redevelopment coalitions have shaped the downtown, with focus on the post-1980 period. In recent decades, public-sector officials and private investors have collaborated to create a downtown rooted in an architecturally significant historic built environment and based on independent business. Those most active have often crossed business, creative, and philanthropic sectors in ways we describe as “social entrepreneurial.” The Asheville downtown coalition differs from the progrowth as well as the populist (progressive) regimes identified in other literature, but offers insights into downtown development efforts as urban governance becomes more fragmented and city development policy more focused on tourism and consumption.

How Place Matters: A View from the Sunbelt

Place Matters speaks eloquently of the shifts within and between US metropolitan areas, and the problems of growing racial and economic segregation. It’s argument is more compelling, however, in describing the “legacy” cities of the Northeast and Midwest than it is in illuminating the most pressing issues for Sunbelt cities. Sunbelt metropolitan areas continue to grow, but they exhibit different economic geographies and political dynamics. This article probes some of these differences and suggests future avenues for research.

The Subsequent Market Value of Former REO Properties

In this study, we find the subsequent price for a property initially sold as a REO property occurs at market prices. The subsequent price to the REO purchaser is related to indicators that the property has been remodeled, renovated, or updated. This suggests that the difference between the price received by servicers/lenders that foreclose and sell a REO property, and the price received by subsequent property owners that sell is in large part due to timely improvements made post-foreclosure. Lenders are not selling REO properties at irrational prices, but rather at prices that reflect the condition of the properties.