Abstract Urban regeneration has emerged as a critical strategy for addressing housing shortages and spatial inefficiencies in rapidly urbanizing megacities. However, many urban regeneration approaches are market-driven and often prioritize economic growth over social equity, leading to persistent gaps in affordable housing delivery. This study investigates the institutional barriers to affordable housing provision in Shenzhen, China—a pioneer in market-oriented urban regeneration—through a neo-institutional economics (NIE) lens. Combining policy analysis and 26 semi-structured interviews with government officials, developers, and residents, the research identifies three interconnected institutional obstacles: (1) ambiguous property rights rooted in the rural-urban dual land system, which prolongs negotiation and approval processes; (2) high transaction costs arising from fragmented governance and bureaucratic complexities; and (3) misaligned incentives among stakeholders that prioritize commercial gains over public welfare. Empirical findings reveal that over 80% of urban village regeneration projects face delays exceeding one year due to tenure disputes, while 70% of developers spatially marginalize affordable housing to maximize profits. These dynamics form a self-reinforcing “institutional trap,” where path dependency on land-finance regimes and weak regulatory constraints perpetuate housing inequity. The study contributes to urban scholarship by adapting insights from New Institutional Economics into an integrative tripartite analytical lens (“institutional structure–transaction costs–behavioural choices”, STB) that traces cascading transaction costs across project stages and links them to actors’ strategic, normative and reputational behaviours in Shenzhen’s market-driven regeneration regime. It challenges the assumption that market efficiency aligns with social goals and underscores the need for institutional reforms to reconcile growth with equity. Policymakers must address structural contradictions, such as rigid land ownership regimes and decentralized governance, to break the low-equilibrium trap. The findings hold global relevance for megacities grappling with similar tensions between market-driven regeneration and inclusive development.
A tanulmány Bécs és Budapest 1880 és 1910 közötti várospolitikai hatékonyságát a két város infrastrukturális kiépülésének, valamint az azt irányító városi kormányzási kontextus komplex kvantitatív és kvalitatív elemzésén keresztül vizsgálja. A kutatási módszertan két dimenzió (kormányzási és infrastruktúrakiépítési), valamint három szempont (építési, pénzügyi és területi) ötvözésén alapul. A kormányzási dimenzió keretében – elsősorban jogszabályok elemzésével – a szerző feltárja Bécs és Budapest autonómiájának általános jellemzőit, építési és költségvetési jogköreik gyakorlásának részleteit, valamint kerületeik hatásköreit. Az infrastruktúrakiépítési dimenzióban a kutatás Bennett-féle komplex mutató, duál-mutató, valamint lánc- és bázisindex számításával, továbbá költségvetési adatok bevonásával végez több infrastruktúrára kiterjedő kvantitatív elemzést fővárosi és kerületi szinten, bemutatva Bécs és Budapest alapvető humán és fizikai infrastruktúrafejlesztésének eredményességét, továbbá területi egyenlőtlenségeinek 1880 és 1910 közötti alakulását. A dimenziók és szempontok eredményeinek szintézise rámutatott arra, hogy az autonómabb és decentralizáltabb kormányzású Bécs – két jelentős városbővítési hullám kihívásai mellett – a statisztikai adatok tükrében hatékonyabban és kisebb egyenlőtlenségekkel építette ki főbb infrastruktúráit, mint az állami befolyásnak fokozottan kitett, centralizáltabb szervezetrendszerű Budapest. A kutatás nem csupán a két város dualizmus kori történeti feltárása, hanem – az infrastruktúrák és intézményi struktúrák korokon átívelő útfüggőségének elvére alapozva – későbbi korszakok várospolitikai eredményességének vizsgálatához is komplex módszertani alapot szándékozik biztosítani. | This study examines the urban policy effectiveness of Vienna and Budapest between 1880 and 1910 through a complex quantitative and qualitative analysis of the cities' infrastructural development and the urban governance context that managed it. The research methodology is based on the integration of two dimensions (governance and infrastructure development) and three aspects (construction, financial, and territorial). Within the governance dimension – primarily by the analysing of legal regulations – the author explores the general characteristics of Vienna’s and Budapest’s urban autonomy, the details of the exercise of their construction and budgetary powers, as well as the competencies of their districts. In the infrastructure development dimension, the research performs a multi-infrastructure quantitative analysis at both the capital and district levels using Bennett’s composite indicator, dual indicator, chain and base index calculations, as well as budgetary data. This provides an overview of the effectiveness of Vienna’s and Budapest’s fundamental human and physical infrastructure development and the evolution of spatial inequalities between 1880 and 1910. The synthesis of the results across dimensions and perspectives revealed that, in light of statistical data, Vienna – with a more autonomous and decentralized system of governance – developed its key infrastructures more efficiently and with fewer inequalities, despite the challenges of two major waves of urban expansion, than Budapest, with its more centralized organizational structure, which was more strongly exposed to state influence. Beyond offering a historical analysis of the two cities during the dualist era, the research also aims to provide a complex methodological foundation for examining urban policy effectiveness in later periods, based on the principle of path dependency in infrastructures and institutional structures across different eras.
Hungarian Social, Economic and Educational Studies
Land serves as a crucial repository of resource elements, and enhancing the green use efficiency of urban land (GUEUL) is essential for attaining sustainable development. Based on 296 cities in China from 2006 to 2022, this study explored the relationship between land system innovation and GUEUL by integrating multi-source data, ArcGIS analysis, the EBM-DEA model, and the DID model, and elucidating the temporal trend and spatial utilization characteristics of GUEUL in China. Based on the natural experimental scenario of the pilot reform of China’s urban construction land use approval system, this study finds through in-depth analysis of the double-difference model that the vertical transfer of land approval authority has fundamentally optimized the development pattern of GUEUL, and that this positive impact is mainly reflected in two dimensions: on the one hand, it reduces the systematic transaction costs, and on the other hand, it enhances the density of industrial spatial agglomeration. Second, the lower the initial level of infrastructure and the lower the degree of dependence on land finance, the more significant the decentralization of land approval power in the promotion of GUEUL. Currently, China is undergoing a swift phase of urbanization and industrialization, and this study provides policy support for improving the comprehensive efficiency of green land use and promoting high-quality and sustainable development of the region.
Urbanization in China has transitioned from an era of urban construction focused on incremental land development to an era of urban renewal focused on stock land development. Implementing urban renewal and achieving high-quality development has become a significant challenge for urban development in the second half of China's urbanization process. In response to this challenge, experts and scholars from relevant academic fields were invited to explore and discuss the fundamental issues of how urban renewal should be implemented under the new historical conditions and value orientations. The key aspects and solution pathways of this issue were discussed, with a focus on the following areas: the institutional and strategic issues that impact urban renewal, the practical and technical questions of how urban renewal is carried out, and the potential negative effects arising from urban renewal. The paper has extensive discussions and reflections on these topics. Based on the main viewpoints of the invited experts, urban renewal under the background of high-quality development transformation needs to pay attention to the following key issues. First of all, the goals of urban renewal should be determined synthetically with the full consideration of the national development strategies pertaining to urban development, with the effort to promote the innovation of urban renewal system in the areas of spatial planning, land supply and management, development models, financing, and public participation. Second, it is suggested that new models of urban renewal driven by the combined efforts of government, market, and society needs to be established to ensure the publicness, efficiency, and fairness of urban renewal projects. In particular, the government should play a role of guiding and encouraging through decentralization and empowerment; the role of market should pay attention to the advantages of cooperation between private capital and state-owned enterprise capital; the society should play a role by activating the subjective role of property rights owners. Third, with the aim to promote a people-centered development, the damage of urban renewal to historical and cultural protection and adverse effects of gentrification it brings should be regulated and avoided. There is a need to enhance exploration of the urban renewal models beneficial to historical and cultural protection and social justice. This paper concludes by calling on scholars from multiple disciplines including geography, resources and environmental sciences, planning, and management to jointly promote research of urban renewal theories that fit to the Chinese path to modernization, with the aim to make Chinese contribution to theories on global urban renewal.
(English) Hegemonic organization of space and architecture as its essential means respond to political and economic intentions whose determination is out of most people’s reach. Representations of dominant practices are embedded in the order and form of space, reaching the spaces and practices of everyday life. The reform of architecture alone has been understood as insufficient in addressing the imbalance of power, indicating the necessity of more fundamental changes in the societal context that architecture depends on. The possible politics of space that would be based on decentralization and inhabitants’ self-determination have been approached theoretically. However, investigations into architectural practices that are, in fact, taking place in counter-hegemonic contexts are few. This study investigated architecture that emerges within the prefiguration of social change, focusing on social movements whose autonomous politics are characterized by horizontal, egalitarian, and non-capitalist principles. The research questions were: What are the characteristics of architectural decision-making, and, what are the characteristics of the architecture carried out in occupied, largely self-built autonomous geographies? The research was based on grounded theory and was guided by simultaneous collection and analysis of data as well as theoretical sampling. Data was collected in three different autonomous geographies in Central Europe. The methods of data collection were participant observation, drawing, mapping, and interviews. The analysis was based on qualitative coding and followed the constant comparative method. The study found first that, in the examined geographies, the collective organization of space is carried out in a direct democratic, transparent manner. Collective decision-making highlights the direct participation of everyone in relevant decisions, from the founding principles of organization to the specific patterns and forms of space. Second, the collective organization of space is voluntary and partial. It is combined with decentralization of decision-making and individual autonomy of intervening in space. Autonomy facilitates a certain freedom to transform space and the social relations implied within, beyond their collective determination. In the examined geographies, spatial organization develops through simultaneous collective and autonomous interventions in a partially non-planned manner. Third, the inhabitants question the property of space and the permanence of architectural form. The open, common, and malleable nature of space enables its transformation according to horizontal lines, referring directly to the inhabitants present. The findings provide new insights into an architecture based on the politics of participation. While the study supports previous theorizations, one of its main contributions is the elaboration of architectural participation as it relates to the shifting negotiation between the individual and the collective. Furthermore, the principal theoretical implication of this study is the questioning and negation of overarching planning that the findings suggest. Instead of exhaustive instruments such as the urban plan, the findings indicate a less invasive idea of coordination-in-space that arises voluntarily from the bottom up. Finally, while questioning certain precepts of normative planning, the study also indicates directions to explore further the possibilities of an indeterminate, horizontal organization of space. (Català) L'organització hegemònica de l'espai i l'arquitectura com el seu mitjà essencial responen a intencions polítiques i econòmiques la determinació de les quals està fora de l'abast de la majoria. Les representacions de les pràctiques dominants s'incrusten en l'ordre i la forma de l'espai, aconseguint espais i pràctiques de la vida quotidiana. S'ha entès la reforma de l'arquitectura per si sola com a insuficient per a abordar el desequilibri de poder, la qual cosa indica la necessitat de canvis més fonamentals en el context social del qual depèn l'arquitectura. S'han abordat teòricament les possibles polítiques de l'espai que es basarien en la descentralització i l'autodeterminació. No obstant això, són escasses les recerques sobre pràctiques arquitectòniques que estan tenint lloc en contextos contra-hegemònics. Aquest estudi va investigar l'arquitectura que sorgeix en la prefiguració del canvi social, i se centra en moviments socials les polítiques autònomes dels quals es caracteritzen per principis horitzontals, igualitaris i no-capitalistes. Les preguntes de recerca van ser: Quines són les característiques de la presa de decisions arquitectòniques, i, quines són les característiques de l'arquitectura duta a terme en geografies ocupades autònomes i majorment d'autoconstrucció? En la recerca es van aplicar mètodes de la teoria fonamentada; es va fer mitjançant la recopilació i l'anàlisi de dades de manera simultània, així com amb un mostreig teòric. Les dades es van recopilar en tres geografies autònomes distintes d'Europa Central. Els mètodes de recollida de dades van ser l'observació participant, el dibuix, la cartografia i les entrevistes. L'anàlisi es va basar en la codificació qualitativa i va seguir el mètode comparatiu constant. L'estudi va constatar en primer lloc que, en les geografies examinades, l'organització col·lectiva de l'espai es fa de manera transparent i mitjançant democràcia directa. La presa de decisions col·lectiva posa en relleu la participació directa de tots en les decisions rellevants, des dels principis fundacionals de l'organització fins a les pautes i formes específiques de l'espai. En segon lloc, l'organització col·lectiva de l'espai és voluntària i parcial, i es combina amb la descentralització de les decisions i l'autonomia individual per a intervenir en l'espai. L'autonomia facilita una certa llibertat per a transformar l'espai i les relacions socials implícites en ell, més enllà de la seva determinació col·lectiva. L'organització espacial es desenvolupa mitjançant intervencions col·lectives i autònomes de manera simultània i parcialment no planificada. En tercer lloc, les conclusions indiquen que els habitants posen en escac la propietat de l'espai i la permanència de la forma arquitectònica. Aquesta relació i interacció amb l'espai permet la seva transformació segons línies horitzontals, que remeten directament als habitants presents. Els resultats aporten noves perspectives sobre una arquitectura basada en la política participativa. Mentre l'estudi dona suport a teoritzacions anteriors, una de les seves principals aportacions és el desenvolupament de com es relaciona la participació arquitectònica amb la negociació canviant entre l'individual i el col·lectiu. La principal implicació teòrica d'aquest estudi és el qüestionament i la negació de la planificació global que suggereixen els resultats. En comptes d'instruments exhaustius com el pla urbanístic, els resultats indiquen una idea menys invasiva de coordinació que sorgeix voluntàriament de baix a dalt. Finalment, mentre qüestiona uns certs preceptes de la planificació normativa, l'estudi també apunta per a continuar explorant les possibilitats d'una organització no-determinada i horitzontal de l'espai. (Español) La organización hegemónica del espacio y la arquitectura como su medio esencial responden a intenciones políticas y económicas cuya determinación está fuera del alcance de la mayoría. Las representaciones de las prácticas dominantes se incrustan en el orden y la forma del espacio, alcanzando espacios y prácticas de la vida cotidiana. Se ha entendido la reforma de la arquitectura por sí sola como insuficiente para abordar el desequilibrio de poder, lo que indica la necesidad de cambios más fundamentales en el contexto social del que depende la arquitectura. Se han abordado teóricamente las posibles políticas del espacio que se basarían en la descentralización y la autodeterminación. Sin embargo, son escasas las investigaciones sobre prácticas arquitectónicas que están teniendo lugar en contextos contrahegemónicos. Este estudio investigó la arquitectura que surge en la prefiguración del cambio social, y se centra en movimientos sociales cuyas políticas autónomas se caracterizan por principios horizontales, igualitarios y no-capitalistas. Las preguntas de investigación fueron ¿Cuáles son las características de la toma de decisiones arquitectónicas, y, ¿cuáles son las características de la arquitectura llevada a cabo en geografías ocupadas autónomas y mayormente de autoconstrucción? En la investigación se aplicaron métodos de la teoría fundamentada; se hizo mediante la recopilación y el análisis de datos de manera simultánea, así como con un muestreo teórico. Los datos se recopilaron en tres geografías autónomas distintas de Europa Central. Los métodos de recogida de datos fueron la observación participante, el dibujo, la cartografía y las entrevistas. El análisis se basó en la codificación cualitativa y siguió el método comparativo constante. El estudio constató en primer lugar que, en las geografías examinadas, la organización colectiva del espacio se hace de forma transparente y mediante democracia directa. La toma de decisiones colectiva pone de relieve la participación directa de todos en las decisiones relevantes, desde los principios fundacionales de la organización hasta las pautas y formas específicas del espacio. En segundo lugar, la organización colectiva del espacio es voluntaria y parcial, y se combina con la descentralización de las decisiones y la autonomía individual para intervenir en el espacio. La autonomía facilita cierta libertad para transformar el espacio y las relaciones sociales implícitas en él, más allá de su determinación colectiva. La organización espacial se desarrolla mediante intervenciones colectivas y autónomas de forma simultán
The chapter explores how brownfields in a third-tier city in the Western Development Region of Romania (Reșița) became an important issue due to both deindustrialization and new investments. The author examines the role of the entrepreneurial local administration in encouraging large residential and retail real estate development in a locality that seems unlikely to attract big investors. This happens when the neoliberal national framework enforces the local state to cope with administrative decentralization and autonomous financing, while the development of city infrastructure depends on attracting and managing European-funded projects and on creating adequate conditions for foreign direct investments. The analysis describes how developers are supported through public infrastructure investments, as the “entrepreneurial” municipality is hoping to make its city appealing to middle class, tourists, and further investors. This chapter is relevant for deindustrialized and impoverished cities worldwide, including in the Global North, advancing inquiries into local state restructuring and strategizing in third-tier cities.
Fundamental institutional reforms, as well as changes in the political, economic and social system, are the cause of the very complex and dynamic urban development of post-socialist cities. The transition from the single-party socialist political system into the system of parliamentary democracy and the decentralization of public state institutions and administration led to a greater responsibility of the local community for the creation of urban policies and the financing of urban development programs. The reduced role of the state in the economic system, the established capitalist principles of private ownership and market-lead economy have significantly influenced changes in the management of urban development, which is mainly driven by short-term goals and private interests. In conditions where local communities have insufficient financial resources to implement public policies based on neo-liberal principles, the role of the private sector in urban development becomes dominant, and the needs of citizens are neglected, which is the cause of significant spatial-social urban problems. Due to the low level of involvement of civil society in the decision-making process of urban planning, which is only declarative, but also due to the non-transparency of the process itself, it is also evident that citizens are not interested in participating in planning of urban development. This often results in the emergence of urban resistance movements and non-acceptance of imposed planning solutions. Regarding this, the issue of social sustainability of the transformation of post-socialist cities and the strengthening of civil society has become increasingly prominent in the post-socialist research discourse. This paper deals with the problem and impact of the "bottom-up" planning approach on the transformation of post-socialist cities. The aim of the paper is to point out the complexity of the process of post-socialist development of cities and to re-examine the role of civil society initiatives in the planning process of urban transformation. The paper presents a case study of the action of a civil initiative with the aim of preserving and transforming open public space in a residential area in the centre of Banjaluka. The presented example indicates the importance of informal and formal forms of self-organization of citizens for strengthening social inclusion, improvement of neighbourhood and preservation of public interest in the process of urban transformation. Finally, the example indicates the need to change the current planning approach and develop new planning tools aimed at achieving a higher level of citizen participation in the planning process and achievement of long-term social goals of the sustainability of the urban development of post-socialist Banjaluka.
<p>The suburbs of Tokyo Metropolis are experiencing path-dependent, multifaceted shrinkage in socio-demographic, economic, and political and administrative (including fiscal) dimensions. The following two contradictory processes taking place in the opposite direction are at work, namely: the political and administrative decentralization of authority and responsibility (although without much fiscal devolution), and the socio-demographic, economic, and fiscal recentralization of workplaces, residences, and municipal finance. As Tokyo’s suburbs confront these contradictory processes of decentralization and recentralization, they fall into the gap between, on the one hand, policies that prioritize the internationally competitive metropolitan center by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and, on the other hand, policies that address the growing problems of lagging provinces by the Government of Japan. These phenomena are affecting radical, but barely visible, changes in public affairs of municipal governments on the lowest tier. We thus examine the emerging modalities of intra- and inter-municipal affairs in Tokyo’s shrinking post-suburbs. First, we explore the intra-municipal upheavals, incorporating instabilities and disarrays, of ideas and practices inside a municipal government. Next, we investigate the inter-municipal upheavals that involve oscillations between unification and fragmentation among municipal governments. These interrelated intra- and inter-municipal upheavals hinder the consistency and timeliness of planning and decision-making in the local arena. In conclusion, we emphasize the importance of taming these upheavals and creating integrated governance systems by exploiting the emerging sense of the increasingly intertwined future among municipal governments. This is vital to strengthen local solidarity and promote inter-municipal collaborations at scales that can ensure metropolitan and suburban sustainability.</p>
The federal government is often cited as the primary driver of postwar suburbanization in the United States. This chapter argues that the insurance industry also played a central, but largely overlooked, role in financing and shaping suburban development. Decentralization and a successful assault on existing investment regulation allowed the industry to revolutionize its investment practices during the 1950s and 1960s. Insurance companies poured billions of dollars into single-family home mortgages, suburban shopping centers, and office buildings located on the periphery of urban centers. These investments helped standardize and increase the pace of suburbanization on a national scale while expanding the governing reach of the insurance industry.
In this article, the author analyzes the unrealized project of the department store "Na-Ma" in the neighborhood Trnje in Zagreb from 1960. Planned as a part of the new center of state-socialist Zagreb, this project offers insight into the professional context of imagining department stores as modern retail spaces and specific architectural types, as well as into the economic and social conditions that defined the processes of planning and building department stores, the modern retail network and urban space in Zagreb under Yugoslav state-socialism in the early 1960s. The author argues that the unrealized department store "Na-Ma" shows through the sphere of modern retail the ambitions and challenges present in architecture and urban planning, as well as in the decision-making and financing processes on the city level, and in this way reveals in more detail the functioning of the decentralized Yugoslav administrative and economic system in Zagreb in this period.
Urban renewal in the USA derived from slum clearance movement in the early 20th century under the background of urban sprawl and inner city blight, and had shifted its target from slum clearance and blight area elimination to economy revitalization, and has been a kind of comprehensive public policy in the field of urban governance since 1950s.During the institutional transition of marketization and decentralization, ideology change of urban renewal promotes the establishment and replacement of policy tools.Renewal policy instruments try to response the demands of local economic development and try to protect private property right and social justice, however, confronts policy objective deviation under the marketization operation.Urban renewal in China is in short of supply of continuous and systematic policy instruments, subject to the traditional material planning paradigm and power division of urban construction and management, resulting in the failure of implementation of ideal spatial scheme.This paper aims to explore the regularity elements behind the evolution of urban renewal policy instruments from the perspective of tax and financing, land use regulation and development management and provides learning experience and enlightenment to urban renewal practice in contemporary China.
This Study investigates time-series change of employment centers by nine industries between 2000 and 2010. The study discusses different distribution pattern of employment centers of Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) by industries. The spatial concentration level is calculated by Global Moran’s I and Local Moran’s I. The results are summarized as follows. First, overall employment distribution change shows decentralization. High density areas were connected to the traditional employment centers and made employment corridor. Second, basic industries like manufacturing and transportation had moved from the old business centers to outskirts. Third, public services including education and human health and social work activities have been relatively well distributed and showed minor change during the study period. Fourth, finance and insurance and real estate activities are clustered in the 3 major centers. The results imply that employment distribution analysis by major industries are necessary as well as total employment distribution in order to improve efficiency of urban spatial structure. For instance, if we can assume the different housing demand by industries, employees of manufacturing companies need to move to near suburban areas while residential buildings for FIRE industries are planned in the traditional business centers.
This report describes the process of shrinkage as it has occurred within the city of Leipzig. It examines the reasons, dynamics and patterns of change as well as the consequences for different fields of urban development and planning. The period covered in the report runs from the 1980s to the present day; in particular cases, longer or shorter time periods are considered. Over this time, Leipzig has moved from a (more or less rapidly) shrinking city until the late 1990s to a point where ist population stabilized and even returned to a slight growth during the last few years. Today, Leipzig is no longer a shrinking city. When one looks only at the total population numbers, Leipzig represents one of a few large cities in eastern Germany that have undergone reurbanization processes (Haase, A. et al. 2010). However, urban shrinkage continues to be an important topic for the city. The city is still facing the consequences of long-term shrinkage and will have to cope with it during the years to come. At the same time, shrinkage still affects some parts of the city and will also do so in the future. Moreover, Leipzig awaits a new wave of shrinkage due to ageing and a decrease in households after 2015.
The political transformation in Poland led to the decentralization of many activities from the state level to that of democratically elected governments at regional and local levels. Since 1999 each of the newly established regions has to formulate and implement policies in numerous fields, including culture and heritage. The cultural policies that they have pursued are influenced not only by structures inherited from socialist times, regional artistic traditions, perceived development needs and aspirations but also by the ability of particular regions to seize the opportunities provided by them (for example by the European Union funds) and by approaching culture as an important factor in economic and social development. Using the example of the Małopolska region, the author examines the regional cultural policy as evident in strategic documents, the financing of cultural institutions, programmes and projects on the regional level.
Policy and its consequences pervade outcomes within cities. Whether through initiatives and incentives on behalf of urban economic development, political control in support of environmental protection or reinforcements of as well as constraints on spatial advantages and disadvantages, governments at higher levels have affected outcomes in all three domains. Yet mapping even these measures forward from above demonstrates how important the local influence on them has been. Politicians, businesspeople, activists and electorates within metropolitan settings often play as crucial a role as national, regional and supranational policy elites. Higher-level governments may finance vast expansions in physical infrastructure, education and research, but local initiatives often decide which places receive these assets. Higher-level governments may legislate protections on land, but local decisions determine what land is in fact protected. Higher-level officials may allocate funds for new public housing, but local choices can decide whether that housing will create ghettos. In all of these areas, and in urban regions across the advanced industrial world, localized decision making has proliferated even as policy making at higher levels has in many respects expanded. What has become known as regulation theory has analyzed these actions as essentially the consequence of capitalist interests in economic production. Yet not only interests besides those of business but also institutional logics inherent in government and policy give shape to these policies. Beyond formal devolution from above, the localization of policy has also grown directly out of expanding state activity. The more that national, intermediate and transnational governments have tried to shape urban political economies, the more that governing from above has depended on governance from below.
Financial services industries have been an important source of central-city employment, including new jobs. Although decentralization occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, widespread national growth in the sector generally resulted in central-city employment gains. In the 1990s, despite continuing national growth in the sector overall, financial services became a key source of job losses in many cities. From 1991 to 1996, financial services employment declined by 5% in a sample of 40 large cities but increased by 9% in corresponding suburbs. Twenty-five of these cities lost finance jobs, with losses exceeding 10% in 11 cities. Moreover, financial services were often a disproportionate contributor to total employment losses. This article describes these trends and explores the relationship between industrial structure, city size, and region on the suburbanization of financial services employment.
Much recent North American research has focused on the decline of the central business district (CBD) as the economic core of metropolitan areas, and the corresponding rise of suburban employment centres. According to the literature, this trend is particularly evident in the case of high-order service functions: business services, finance, insurance, and real estate services, and head offices. In this paper, we argue that the decentralization of high-order service activities and the corresponding CBD decline may be neither as strong a trend nor as universal a phenomenon as certain authors have indicated. Rather, the growth of suburban office employment may reflect a strong CBD whose economic base is becoming increasingly specialized. Using data from the Montreal metropolitan area, we first examine intrametropolitan decentralization in a shift-share framework, then document the mobility of establishments and employment. Our findings suggest that, in spite of a certain level of intrametropolitan decentralization, the CBD continues to be the primary locus of high-order services.
Certaines activités tertiaires ont la capacité de jouer un role de ‘moteur’économique. Ces activités du ‘tertiaire moteur,’ ou ‘services supérieurs,’ constituent une partie importante de la base économique des régions métropolitaines. Récemment, aux États‐Unis, des chercheurs ont commencéà remarquer la tendance de ces activitès à quitter leur ‘habitat naturel’ dans le centre d'affaires des grandes villes pour se relocaliser dans des ‘edge cities’ ou ‘magnet areas’ vers la périphérie de la zone métropolitaine. Le but principal de cet article est de vérifier si la région métropolitaine de Montréal se caractérise, elle aussi, par des tendances semblables de décentralisation des services supérieurs. Nous utilisons la base de données longitudinales sur les entreprises canadiennes de Statistique Canada pour examiner la question de la décentralisation de ces activités dans la région montréalaise. Nos résultats indiquent que pour 11 des 17 secteurs d'activité compris dans les services supérieurs, la période 1981–1989 a vu un transfert du poids relatif de la ville de Montréal vers les deux couronnes périphériques de la région métropolitaine. Ce transfert été plus fort dans les services financiers, d'assurances et d'affaires immobilières que dans les services aux entreprises. Certain service activities have the capacity to play the role of a ‘motor’ of economic development. These ‘hight‐order services’ now form one of the principal components of the economic base of metropolitan areas. Recently, researchers in the U.S. have begun to notice a new propensity for these activities to leave their ‘natural habitat’ in the downtown business district of large cities and to relocate in ‘edge cities’ or ‘magnet areas’ toward the periphery of the metropolitan region. The purpose of this article is to verify if the Montreal metropolitan region is characterized by similar patterns of spatial decentralization of high‐order services. Our study uses Statistic Canada's Longitudinal Database on Businesses in the Canadian Economy to examine this issue. Our results indicate that for the period 1981‐1989, 11 of 17 high‐order service sectors were marked by a relative shift from the City of Montreal towards the periphery of the metropolitan area. This shift was more pronounced for the finance, insurance, and real estate group than for the business service group.
Key Settlement Policy divides rural settlements into two types?those in which expansion is allowed and those in which it is not. Although suitability for residential expansion is not completely synonymous with suitability for infrastructure investment (nor vice versa) the designation of Key Settlement or non-Key Settlement status does not have a significant impact on infrastructure and service provision. In the light of central and local public expenditure economies and of the 1985 Transport Act, therefore, key Settlement Policy takes on a renewed political importance. In 1982 the Warwickshire policy was changed, involving some changes in designation, and also a beginning of decentralization of designation decisions away from the county to the constituent districts. The change was justified by the argument that the policy had previously been ineffective. However, analysis of the 17 key settlements and 17 control non-key settlements from 1966 to 1981, with respect to population change, refusal rates, Planning Inspectors' decision letters, and appeal decisions, shows that the policy was effective. It is argued that the reason for the policy change in 1982 stems from central government and County Council political objectives, and that decentralization of designation powers to districts constitutes a loss of accountability for rural policy in Warwickshire. PRESENT GOVERNMENT POLICIES toward rural areas emphasize efficiency, rationalization, and cost-cutting of rural services. Many village schools are closing as school rolls fall nationally, and as local authorities search for economies. The national bill for subsidizing the bus companies is threatening to reach ?1 billion annually, and legislation now before Parliament seeks radically to reduce this vast sum by means of privatization, a measure which will cut unprofitable bus routes considerably, mainly in rural areas. Also, as the Post Office looks for greater efficiency, an acceleration of closures of rural post offices may occur. It is in this context that we investigate Warwickshire County Council's rural settlement policy. Rural settlement policies, because of the trend towards cutbacks in services, are increasingly coming to the forefront of politics in rural areas. Such policies are, and will increasingly become, the main instrument for deciding which settlements should suffer from loss of rural services, since they indicate settlement hierarchies, and therefore serve as a means of discriminating between those settlements which should be favoured ('key settlements') and those which should suffer from cutbacks. Although many of the threatened services are being privatized and thus are moving ostensibly out of the local political arena, any decision on specific cutbacks in specific areas will necessarily implicate local government. Local politicians will be unable to avoid the political storms and subsequent unpopularity thus created. The government has repeatedly made clear that any loss of services resulting from privatization should occur only after consultation with the relevant local authority. Other services, such as education and social services, obviously implicate local politicians more directly, in their continuing search for economies. Moreover, changes in government thinking on the financing of local government continually emphasize the need to make local politicians more accountable for the costs of local services to the local voters. The present Conservative Government has, since 1979, carried an election pledge to implement this change?by reforming the rating system. Furthermore, suggestions currently being considered emphasize a
This paper investigates corporate headquarters relocation in the United States for the period 1957-1980. Corporate relocations are one explanatory element in the overall spatial process of headquarters evolution within post industrial urban systems. All major corporate relocations, mergers, bankruptcies, and new incorporations that effectively transfer corporate decision making to or from any metropolitan area are recorded for the five major sectors of the economy. A series of cartograms and bargraphs provide a summary of corporate headquarters relocations for the resource, manufacturing, and service, as well as utility and financial sectors of the economy. The cartographs indicate the magnitude and direction of all headquarters relocations as well as the location of major bankruptcies and new incorporations. The bargraphs indicate the relative gains and losses through move and merger activity for all members of the urban system. The findings indicate that, in contrast to other Western economies, the dominant national center, New York, is in absolute decline as a home for corporate headquarters. This decline and decentralization is seen as a response to the general maturation of the American urban system and emergence of an entire system of urban centers rapidly acquiring large corporate headquarters status. The decentralization process is evident in all sectors of the economy except finance.
An attempt was made to relate variations in metropolitan characteristics to those in rates of commutation between central cities and rings of 95 SMSAs that contained 250,000 inhabitants or more in 1960 based on the data drawn from the U.S. Census of Population. Net commutation rate and ring-to-city commutation rate were employed as dependent variables and twelve independent variables reflecting demographic, socioeconomic, and industrial characteristics of each SMSA were used for the analysis. Multiple stepwise regression and correlation techniques were utilized in order to identify the relevant variables linked to the commutation rates. Several metropolitan characteristics have been found to explain significant portions of variation in commutation rates after controlling for the effect of the location of the line between central city and ring. Factors showing a positive association are manufacturing job concentration in the central city, percent Negro in the central city, median earnings of SMSA workers, and percent of workers in centralized industries. Those showing a negative association are population size of SMSA and percent of workers in extractive industries. Findings of this study clearly indicate that the level and direction of the commutation between the central city and ring of SMSAs are largely determined by the industrial and socioeconomic structure of SMSA and the locational pattern of manufacturing jobs between the city and ring. The growth of the metropolitan areas has been a dominant feature of urbanization in America since the beginning of the twentieth century. The number of metropolitan areas as well as the population living in them have increased greatly. By 1960 there were 212 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) containing 63 percent of the American population. During this period, a combination of technological and other factors has contributed to complex changes in the functions and structures of the cities and suburbs. Prominent among these are: centralization of such activities as wholesale trade and finance; decentralization of heavy manufacturing activities and of high-income residences; and an increasing separation between home and workplace over greatly extended spatial areas in the metropolitan community. This trend in home-and-work separation has resulted in a tremendous volume of daily commuter movements between the central and surrounding areas of modern metropolis. A basic understanding of commuter movements is essential for a sound urban, regional, and transportation planning. A number of analyses of commuting have been made for the United States and for European countries. Most investigations are confined to one city or region. Thorough analyses of nationwide commuting patterns are rare. Many studies are mainly concerned with direction, distance, cost and volume of commuting, and have not attempted to relate the commuting patterns to social and economic characteristics of the area being studied (Schnore, 1960). Despite the abundant data on journey to work available from the 1960 census (Bureau of the Census, 1963c) there has been little comparative analysis of the patterns of commutation in metropolitan areas in the United States. The present study therefore attempts to relate variations in metropolitan characteristics to those in rates of commutation that were taking place between the central city and the ring of the large metropolitan areas of the United States at the time of the 1960 census. * This is a revised version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Atlantic City, New Jersey, April 1969. The paper is based on the author's Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania, May 1969. I wish to express my appreciation to Hope T. Eldridge, Edward P. Hutchinson, Ralph Thomlinson, and Eli S. Marks for their advice and comments.