Dissertation•
Business Improvement Areas and the Justification of Urban Revitalization: Using the Pragmatic Sociology of Critique to Understand Neoliberal Urban Governance
01 Sep 2019-
About: The article was published on 2019-09-01 and is currently open access. It has received None citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Urban sociology & Social order.
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TL;DR: The emergence and rapid spread of business improvement districts (BIDs) is one of the most important recent devehpments in American cities as discussed by the authors, with both supporters and proponents viewing the districts as part of a trend toward the privatization of the public sector.
Abstract: The emergence and rapid spread of business improvement districts (\"BIDs\") is one ofthe most important recent devehpments in American cities. BIDs have been controversial, with both supporters and proponents viewing the districts as part of a trend toward the privatization ofthe public sector. By examining the legal and political structures that determine BID formation, functions, finances and governance, this Article determines that BIDs are not private entities but are, instead, a distinctive hybrid of public and private elements. Moreover, although the particular fusion of public and private institutions, values and concerns embodied in the BID is unique, Professor Briffault demonstrates that an interplay of public and pri? vate themes is a longstanding tradition in American local government law. BIDs depart from the norm of democratic governance and they raise ques? tions concerning equity in the delivery of hcal services. BIDs, however, are ultimately subject to municipal control and they provide a mechanism for providing the public services and investment that financially strapped cities need ifthey are to survive. With appropriate municipal oversight and limits, BIDs, and the experimentation in combining public and private roles that BIDs represent, can make a significant contribution to the quality of urban public life. Introduction: The Emergence of BIDs. 366 I. The Basics of BIDs. 377 A. The Law and Politics of BID Formation. 377 1. BID Enabling Legislation. 377 2. BID Formation in Practice. 381 3. Termination. 387 B. Finances. 389 C. Functions. 394
232 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an anatomy of the creative city and an understanding of the emergence and formation of creative processes in these particular local ecologies of knowledge, by defining three different layers (the upperground, the middleground and the underground) as the basic components of the creativity processes in local innovative milieus.
Abstract: The aim of this contribution is to depict and analyze the dynamics of situated creativity by presenting an anatomy of the creative city and an understanding of the emergence and formation of creative processes in these particular local ecologies of knowledge. We propose to study the anatomy of the creative city by defining three different layers—the upperground, the middleground and the underground—as the basic components of the creative processes in local innovative milieus. Each one of these layers intervenes with specific characteristics in the creative process, and enables new knowledge to transit from an informal micro-level to a formal macro-level. In order to illustrate this point of view, the creative city of Montreal is analyzed through two main case studies: Ubisoft and the Cirque du Soleil.
228 citations
TL;DR: Jones, Martin, et al. as mentioned in this paper, 'The rise of the regional state in economic governance: 'partnerships for prosperity' or new scales of state power?', Environment and Planning A 33(7) pp1185-1211 RAE2008
Abstract: Jones, Martin, 'The rise of the regional state in economic governance: 'partnerships for prosperity' or new scales of state power?', Environment and Planning A 33(7) pp1185-1211 RAE2008
227 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that power is not only about guards and gates, but also about surveillance techniques, and that it is present through the ambient qualities of the space, where the experience of it is itself the expression of power.
Abstract: In privatised public spaces where people mill around and cross over one another's paths in largely unforeseen ways, one could be forgiven for thinking that power is largely about guards and gates or that it is present through surveillance techniques. This paper puts forward a rather different view of power in public spaces that highlights its unmarked presence. It argues that closure in some of the more recent privatised public spaces is achieved in decidedly modest ways through a logic of seduction. Using the example of a privatised public space at the heart of Berlin's Potsdamer Platz redevelopment, it is suggested that the layout and design of the complex represent a seductive presence that effectively closes down options, enticing visitors to circulate and interact in ways that they might not otherwise have chosen. The suggestive practices, experiences and spaces are laid out for temptation in such a way that closure is achieved by degree, through inclusion rather than exclusion. Power in this instance works through the ambient qualities of the space, where the experience of it is itself the expression of power.
227 citations
TL;DR: The first barons were landed gentry as mentioned in this paper who made it big with a local company or in property, and now dabble in media, sit on the board of the development corporation, and chair the football club.
Abstract: The first barons were landed gentry. In late Victorian times, they were iron and rail magnates. In the earlier half of this century, they were manufacturers, engineers and shipbuilders. Not any more. [Now] the regional barons are jacks of all trades, who made it big with a local company or in property, and now dabble in media, sit on the board of the development corporation, and chair the football club ... everybody know the local Mr Big. He is a man - always a man, unfortunately- who more often than not started with nothing and now dominates business life in the area. Often maverick and outspoken, they are the first names that spring to mind when talking about business. [They] are the movers and shakers (Independent on Sunday 3 January 1993).
223 citations