Showing papers on "Metropolitan area published in 1999"

Public goods and ethnic divisions

Abstract: The authors present a model that links heterogeneity of preferences across ethnic groups in a city to the amount and type of public good the city supplies. Results show that the shares of spending on productive public goods - education, roads, sewers, and trash pickup _ in U.S. cities (metro areas/urban counties) are inversely related to the city's (metro area's/county's) ethnic fragmentation, even after controlling for other socioeconomic and demographic determinants. They conclude that the ethnic conflict is an important determinant of local public finances. In cities where ethnic groups are polarized, and where politicians have ethnic constituencies, the share of spending that goes to public goods is low. Their results are driven mainly by how white-majority cities react to varying minority-groups sizes. Voters choose lower public goods when a significant fraction of tax revenues collected from one ethnic group is used to provide public goods shared with other ethnic groups.

A Theory of Urban Growth

Abstract: In an economy experiencing endogenous economic growth and exogenous population growth, we explore two main themes: how urbanization affects efficiency of the growth process and how growth affects patterns of urbanization. Localized information spillovers promote agglomeration and human capital accumulation fosters endogenous growth. Individual city sizes grow with local human capital accumulation and knowledge spillovers; and city numbers generally increase, which we demonstrate is consistent with empirical evidence. We analyze whether local governments can successfully internalize local dynamic externalities. In addition, we explore how growth involves real income differences across city types and how urbanization can foster income inequality. Most nonagricultural production in developed countries occurs in metropolitan areas. The underlying reasons why economic activity agglomerates into cities—localized information and knowledge spillover—also make cities the engines of economic growth in an We gratefully acknowledge support of the National Science Foundation (grants SBR 9422440 and SBR9730142) for this research. The work has benefited from conversations with Harl Ryder on the dynamics of the model and from comments by Gilles Duranton and participants in seminars at Brown, Colorado, and Texas, Austin and a presentation at an ISIT Seminar sponsored by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Placing the food system on the urban agenda: The role of municipal institutions in food systems planning

Abstract: Food issues are generally regarded as agricultural and rural issues. The urban food system is less visible than such other systems as transportation, housing, employment, or even the environment. The reasons for its low visibility include the historic process by which issues and policies came to be defined as urban; the spread of processing, refrigeration, and transportation technology together with cheap, abundant energy that rendered invisible the loss of farmland around older cities; and the continuing institutional separation of urban and rural policy. Despite its low visibility, the urban food system nonetheless contributes significantly to community health and welfare; to metropolitan economies; connects to other urban systems such as housing, transportation, land use, and economic development; and impacts the urban environment. We examine existing or potential city institutions that could offer a more comprehensive look at the urban food system. These include the city department of food, the food policy council, and the city-planning department.

Do the Poor Pay More for Food? An Analysis of Grocery Store Availability and Food Price Disparities

Abstract: Do the poor pay more for food? To answer this question, this study was conducted to provide an empirical analysis of grocery store access and prices across inner city and suburban communities within the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area. The comparison among different types of grocers and geographic areas is drawn from a survey of approximately fifty grocery items for fifty-five stores. Results indicate that the poor pay only slightly more in the Twin Cities grocery market. More significantly, those who shop in non-chain stores pay a significant premium, and the poor have less access to chain stores. This study reveals that the biggest factor contributing to higher grocery costs in poor neighborhoods is that large chain stores, where prices tend to be lower, are not located in these neighborhoods.

Do the Poor Pay More for Food? An Analysis of Grocery Store Availability and Food Price Disparities

Abstract: Do the poor pay more for food? To answer this question, this study was conducted to provide an empirical analysis of grocery store access and prices across inner city and suburban communities within the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area. The comparison among different types of grocers and geographic areas is drawn from a survey of approximately fifty grocery items for fifty-five stores. Results indicate that the poor pay only slightly more in the Twin Cities grocery market. More significantly, those who shop in non-chain stores pay a significant premium, and the poor have less access to chain stores. This study reveals that the biggest factor contributing to higher grocery costs in poor neighborhoods is that large chain stores, where prices tend to be lower, are not located in these neighborhoods.

Quality of Life and City Competitiveness

Abstract: People love lists, especially lists which position one place, one person, one above another. In this paper, we explore initially public and other interest in one type of list the rating of cities and locations in terms of the quality of life they offer. In particular, the paper focuses on how quality of life has been viewed as part of the profile of acompetitive city'; one that is successful in attracting the attention of capital, and the ways in which quality of life factors have been identified as influential in patterns of urban growth and development. In the second part of the paper, we discuss the way that this use of quality of life as part of place promotion and city marketing has placed most emphasis on a rather narrow conception of quality of lift:, one that is place-based rather than people-based. Arising from the privileging capital's view of quality of life, we open up the discussion to alternative ways of conceiving of quality of life and consider if there are alternative visions of competitive cities which could arise from such conceptualisations. 2. City Ratings The calculation of comparison and ratings, increasingly expressed in the form of league tables, is far from new. But, since the 1980s, the rating of cities has reached new heights, with even the UK government presenting sets of official statistics in the form of league tables and comparative rankings-such as for education and health performance-and employing these ratings in the publicity associated with official statistics, such as recent Regional Trends. The present spate of interest in place ratings can probably be traced to the publication in the US of the Places Rated Almanac (Boyer and Savageau, 1981). This best-selling publication has been updated several times and reprinted many times, attracting a readership amongst the public as well as professionals concerned with the promotion of cities, with the selling or property in these cities, and with the construction of the city environments which are being assessed. However, the book also appealed to the general public and to companies and organisations who were interested in contemplating business or family moves. The conclusion that Pittsburgh-once seen as the city epitomising the legacy of declining manufacturing industries was the best place to live unsurprisingly challenged public perceptions of the cities of North America and generated considerable and at times legal debates about the merits of the study and the validity of the results and their applications in city promotion. What marks out the Places Rated Almanac however, is not the actual results, but the fact that it represents the first serious attempt to popularise a statistical ranking of metropolitan areas and to do so on the basis of what has been termedquality of life' factors - those elements which define the livability of a place. Earlier research which had also attempted to construct ranks of places in terms of quality of life had been less successful in achieving public acclaim (or notoriety). Smith's (1973) and Liu's (1976) studies, for example, of the US SMSAs had much greater statistical rigour than the Boyer and Savageau study, but achieved less public impact. Elsewhere, there has also been a growth in the quality of life indices at a variety of geographical scales which have been generated and have attracted media and public attention. International comparisons have formed the basis of Fortune Magazine's ranking of the world's best cities, whilst a similar title has been applied to Montreal, Seattle and Melbourne from the assessment of livability by the Population Crisis Committee (1990). Indeed, in many of the developed nations, league tables of urban areas have become common. In Britain, not all the studies have focused exclusively on quality of life issues. Some employ more

Metropolitan, urban, and rural commuting areas: toward a better depiction of the united states settlement system

Abstract: Discontent with the current definition of metropolitan areas and the lack of differentiation within nonmetropolitan territory provided the incentive for the research presented here. Census tracts rather than counties were used as the building blocks for assignment of tracts, not just to metropolitan areas, but also to larger towns (10,000 to 49,999) and to smaller urban places (2,500 to 9,999). The analysis used 1990 census-defined urbanized areas and tract-to-tract commuter flows. Results include a modest shift of population from metropolitan to nonmetropolitan, as well as a significant reduction in the areal size of metropolitan areas, disaggregation of many areas, and frequent reconfiguration to a more realistic settlement form. [Key words: metropolitan, urban-rural, commuting.]

Urban Competitiveness, Marketing and the Need for Organising Capacity:

Abstract: Fundamental changes in the economy, technology, demography and politics are reshaping the environment for towns and cities in Europe. These changes have induced competition between towns and cities at regional, national and sometimes international scales. Increasingly, cities and towns behave in a logic of competition in a highly dynamic and complex environment (Bramezza, 1996). In such a competitive environment, the policies of local governments need to be more market-oriented with an eye to chances and threats, bearing in mind the city’ s strengths and weaknesses. Cities and towns are waking up to the fact that an entrepreneurial and anticipatory policy is called for to cope with urban and regional competition. In the past two decades, a growing number of European cities and towns have acknowledged that marketing could be a powerful instrument in such a new style of urban management. Cities aspire to become and remain attractive places for (potential) residents, businesses and visitors. In this process, cities `invent’ their own marketing strategies, discovering that the marketing of a city or region is not as straightforward as many people think. Our contribution considers one of the main challenges in this respect: the need for organising capacity. What lessons can be drawn up to now? The next section of the contribution describes some of the main features of the pattern of urban development and the increase in competition, setting the scene for a more strategic and entrepreneurial approach to the control of the development of metropolitan regions. The third section touches upon some of the consequences for urban management and discusses the speci® c role of urban place marketing in that setting in more detail. For any urban place marketing strategy to succeed, organising capacity has become indispensable, as argued in the fourth section of the contribution. The ® nal section concludes.

Chapter 38 Agglomeration economies and urban public infrastructure

Abstract: This chapter reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on agglomeration economies and urban public infrastructure. Theory links the two concepts by positing that agglomeration economies exist when firms in an urban area share a public good as an input to production. One type of shareable input is the close proximity of businesses and labor, that generates positive externalities which in turn lower the production cost of one business as the output of other businesses increases. The externalities result from businesses sharing nonexcludable inputs, such as a common labor pool, technical expertise, general knowledge and personal contacts. Another perhaps more tangible type of shareable input is urban public infrastructure. Public capital stock, such as highways, water treatment facilities, and communication systems, directly affect the efficient operation of cities by facilitating business activities and improving worker productivity. The literature has devoted considerable attention to both topics, but not together. Studies of agglomeration economies in several countries find that manufacturing firms are more productive in large cities than in smaller ones. Studies of the effect of infrastructure on productivity show positive, but in some cases statistically insignificant, effects of public capital stock on productivity. Most of these studies are at the national and state levels. Only a handful of studies have focused on the metropolitan level, and even fewer have estimated agglomeration economies and infrastructure effects simultaneously. Results from studies that include both types of shared inputs suggest that both spatial proximity and physical infrastructure contribute positively to the productivity of firms in urban areas. More research is needed to explore the interrelationships between urban size and urban public infrastructure and to open the “black box” of agglomeration economies and estimate how the various other factors associated with urban size affect productivity.

The Effects of Metropolitan Economic Segregation on Local Civic Participation

Abstract: America's suburbs are often accused of being civically inhospitable, but researchers have yet to demonstrate whether suburban social contexts actually influence civic behavior. Part of the problem arises from the definition of suburb. Cities in metropolitan areas are not well distinguished by city/suburb dichotomies but are differentiated by their affluence and economic heterogeneity. These economic characteristics influence citizen participation in two ways. First, affluent cities have fewer social "needs" prompting citizen action. Second, heterogeneous cities have more competition for public goods, which stimulates citizen interest and participation. These hypotheses are supported with findings from a cross-level data set constructed from the 1990 Citizen Participation Study and the 1990 Census. Civic participation is lowest in homogeneous, affluent cities and highest in diverse, middle-income cities largely because of varying levels of local political interest. Such results demonstrate the importance of economic contexts for participation and the civic implications of political fragmentation in metropolitan areas.

The Effects of Local Growth Controls on Regional Housing Production and Population Redistribution in California

Abstract: Based on two surveys of 490 Californian cities and counties, the study examines the effects of local growth-control enactment between 1979 and 1988 on net housing construction between 1980 and 1990. It is shown that local growth-management measures significantly displaced new construction, particularly rental housing, possibly exacerbating the expansion of the metropolitan areas into the interiors of the state. Further, the measures impacted low-income households and minorities particularly. Not all growth-control measures were associated with this change. Measures which limited available land or which downsized existing zoning had stronger effects.

Crucibles of Hazard: Mega-cities and Disasters in Transition

Abstract: As a result of repeated experiences with devastating earthquakes, storms, floods, and wildfires, places like Tokyo, Mexico City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are already identified with catastrophe in both scientific literature and popular culture. Similar prospects face less obvious urban candidates like Dhaka, Miami, London, Lima, Seoul, and Sydney. In this collaborative study of environmental risks in ten of the world's major cities, geographers, planners, and other experts examine the hazard experiences of case study cities and analyze their future risks. They conclude that the natural disaster potential of the biggest cities is expanding at a pace which far exceeds the rate of urbanization. In addition to tracing hazard trends and arguing in support of management reforms that can be implemented quickly, Crucibles of Hazard directs attention to long-term issues of safety and security that must be resolved to sustain urban areas. Opportunities for such innovative policymaking include: capitalizing on the role of hazards as agents of urban diversification; broadening the scope for employing hazard-based contingency planning models in other urban governance contexts; and mobilizing hazard myths and metaphors as unifying sources of inspiration for diverse and sometimes fractious metropolitan constituencies. This study was led by the International Geographical Union's Study Group on the Disaster Vulnerability of Mega-cities.

Metropolitan Government and Governance: Theoretical Perspectives, Empirical Analysis, and the Future

Abstract: Written by two of the most prominent political scientists working in the field of local governmental theory and practice, this text offers explanations of a wide range of common governmental practices, and examines the nature of and issues relating to metropolitan government in the United States from several theoretical perspectives. Each approach is illustrated by concrete examples which highlight both its strengths and weaknesses. Particular emphasis is focused on suburban and African American resistance to metropolital governance and reform efforts, as well as on the problems of metropolitan governance during an era of decreasing federal funds and increasing local demands regarding quality-of=life issues. The authors also propose a new model for the future of governmental structure and governance in America's metropolitan areas.

Retracting Suburbia: Smart Growth and the Future of Housing

Abstract: Metropolitan areas throughout the United States increasingly experience sprawl development. States such as Oregon and Maryland have enacted land use legislation that curbs sprawl by promoting denser urban growth. Smart growth, a new method of metropolitan development leading to more compact regions, offers an alternative to sprawl. Given that housing comprises a major share of the built environment, policies that promote denser residential development form a key component of smart growth. This article provides an analytic review of the ways housing can be used to support successful smart growth policies. It focuses on three areas: the market for higher density housing, land use issues associated with denser housing development, and methods for financing higher density and mixed‐use housing. The literature on the link between smart growth and housing remains underdeveloped. We offer this synthesis as a way to advance the state of knowledge on smart growth's housing dimension.

“Every Breath You Take... ”: The Demographics of Toxic Air Releases in Southern California

Abstract: In this article, the authors investigate the relationship between ethnicity and potential environmental hazards in the metropolitan Los Angeles area Using a variety of techniques, including geographic information systems (GIS) mapping, univariate comparisons, and logit, ordered logit, and tobit regression analysis, the authors find that, even controlling for other factors such as income and the extent of manufacturing employment and land use, minority residents tend to be disproportionately located in neighborhoods surrounding toxic air emissions The results generally support the propositions of the proponents of “environmental justice”; in the conclusion, they consider what this might mean for urban land use and environmental policy

Competitiveness and the Urban Economy: Twenty-four Large US Metropolitan Areas

Abstract: During the past decade, as trade barriers have been lowered as a consequence of trade liberalisation negotiations conducted at both the international and the regional levels, urban economies have been increasingly vulnerable to competitive forces emanating from the most distant corners of the global economy as well as having been presented with previously unimaginable opportunities for penetration of markets equally distant. National governments have accepted self-imposed constraints on their capacity to intervene in their own economies, through adoption of limitations on the use of tariffs, quotas and other traditional devices, and through establishment of impartial, trade dispute resolution mechanisms. Technological change has only exacerbated the situation facing each urban economy and, in many industries, industrial agglomerations are giving way to plants, such as mini-mills in steel production, that can be located according to a new set of criteriaÐ proximity to consumers and access to transport, rather than proximity to resources; or to labour with certain qualities, rather than to other ® rms in the same industry. In many industries, clustering, of course, remains important. The result of these two forces is the creation of new economic spaces within which new actors, urban economies, must make decisions about production and distribution; notions of periphery and centre must be rethought; and relationships of competition and co-operation take on new meaning and importance. This increased exposure of urban economies to economic change and rationality has made it imperative that each local government pay more attention to the competitiveness of its tradable goods industries. While they did not examine, nor do they recommend, speci ® c policy initiatives at the level of the urban economy, Schmitz and Musyck (1994, p. 905) conclude in their study of industrial districts in Europe that:

Metropolitan Development as a Complex System: A New Approach to Sustainability

Abstract: A major national debate is under way about the effects of the regulation of development and land use patterns on metropolitan economies. Because this is often framed around whether sprawling development patterns are harmful or beneficial to the economy and environment, we are seemingly presented with an either/or choice. This article asserts that the debate misses the reality that metropolitan development occurs as part of a complex system. If we view metropolitan development as a complex system, there is no fundamental conflict between environmental goals and economic development. Examining the case of California, the authors demonstrate how the relationship between these is part of a larger system involving fiscal policy, governance structure, infrastructure policy, and other factors. The authors propose three strategies for improving metropolitan system performance to ensure sustainable metropolitan economies and environments: developing and using indicators for self-organizing urban systems, collabora...

The impact of particulate matter on daily mortality in Bangkok, Thailand.

Abstract: Several studies conducted in U.S. cities report an association between acute exposures to particulate matter (PM), usually measured as PM10, and mortality. Evidence of high concentrations of PM10 in Eastern Europe and in large metropolitan areas outside of the United States, such as Mexico City and Bangkok, underscores the need to determine whether these same associations occur outside of the United States. In addition, conducting studies of mortality and air pollution in regions that have distinctly different seasonal patterns than those of the United States provides an effective opportunity to assess the potentially confounding aspects of seasonality. Over the last few years, daily measures of ambient PM10 have been collected in Bangkok, a tropical city of over 6 million people. In this metropolitan area, PM10 consists largely of fine particles generated from diesel- and gasoline-powered automobiles, and from two-stroke motorcycle engines. Our analysis involved the examination of the relationsh...

Laws of the Landscape: How Policies Shape Cities in Europe and America

Abstract: For decades, concerns have been raised about the consequences of relentless suburban expansion in the United States. But so far, government programs to control urban sprawl have had little effect in slowing it down, much less stopping it. In this book, Pietro S. Nivola raises important questions about the continued suburbanization of America: Is suburban growth just the result of market forces, or have government policies helped induce greater sprawl? How much of the government intervention has been undesirable, and what has been beneficial? And, if suburban growth is to be controlled, what changes in public policies would be not only effective, but practical? Nivola addresses these questions by comparing sprawling U.S. metropolitan areas to compact development patterns in Europe. He contrasts the effects of traditional urban programs, as well as "accidental urban policies" that have a profound if commonly unrecognized impact on cities, including national tax systems, energy conservation efforts, agricultural supports, and protection from international commerce. Nivola also takes a hard look at the traditional solutions of U.S. urban policy agenda involving core-area reconstruction projects, mass transit investments, "smart" growth controls, and metropolitan organizational rearrangements, and details the reasons why they often don't work. He concludes by recommending reforms for key U.S. policies--from taxes to transportation to federal regulations--based on the successes and failures of the European experience. Brookings Metropolitan Series

Understanding Digital Cities

Abstract: As a platform for community networks, information spaces using the city metaphor are being developed in worldwide. This paper compares the trials of digital cities. Four digital cities, those of America Online, Amsterdam, Helsinki and Kyoto, are introduced. It is interesting to note that each digital city has a different goal: to explore a vertical market, a public communication space, a next generation metropolitan network, and a social information infrastructure for the 21st century, respectively. Their different services, system architectures, and organizations result from the different goals. Digital cities will change together with the advance of computer and network technologies. No digital city can remain at its current status. This paper reviews those digital cities to have a better understanding of their current status and future.

Metropolitan Governance Structure and Income Growth

Abstract: There has long been debate on the extent to which the structure of government in metropolitan areas helps or hinders income growth. Polycentrists contend that numerous local governments lead to com...

Beyond Manila: Walls, Malls, and Private Spaces

Abstract: Suburbanisation in the extended metropolitan area of Manila has produced new middle-class consumer landscapes of exclusive suburbs—alongside tower blocks, offices, residential estates, shop-ping malls, and golf courses—linked by freeways and flyovers. Economic growth, the emergence of a new and mobile middle class, and the lack of public planning have emphasised individualism and privatisation. Enclosed homogeneous suburbs, designed and marketed as fragments of Europe in a global era, enhance security, exclusivity, and isolation. Suburban village associations regulate community life through private legal regimes and strengthen class divisions. Malls and freeways are further forms of privatisation and social segregation as the city has become more fragmented and divided whilst public space diminishes. Social divisions are particularly acute in cities like Manila where uneven development is considerable, the public sector is weak, and metropolitan government is absent.

Land Readjustment, Urban Planning and Urban Sprawl in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area

Abstract: This paper examines the role of land readjustment (LR) projects in suburban planning and land development in a case-study area in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. LR projects have been the most importa...

Patent Places: Size Matters

Abstract: In this paper I investigate the United States urban system of technical advance by analysis of metropolitan patent data. Residents of metropolitan areas obtain most of the patents awarded to Americans and the largest areas predominate, signifying that urbanization externalities facilitate invention. The advantages of large areas arise from lopsided concentrations of technologically intensive manufacturing and an uneven distribution of well-educated people. Location with respect to the traditional manufacturing belt also plays a role. Metropolitan residents in the manufacturing belt remain the most industrious inventors. The contribution of leading educational and research institutions to technical advance is manifest in small urban centers and outside the traditional manufacturing belt.

Public School Segregation in Metropolitan Areas

Abstract: This paper presents measures of segregation in public schools for metropolitan areas. It shows that, not only are metropolitan areas very segregated, most of that segregation is due to racial disparities between districts rather than segregative patterns within districts. Metropolitan areas in the South and West tend to have larger districts, and thus feature less fragmentation by school district. Segregation at the metropolitan level appears to vary systematically with size, racial mix, and region. Because larger metropolitan areas tend to have more jurisdictions and exhibit greater differences in racial composition among jurisdictions, measured segregation rises with size, as measured by school enrollment

The Changing Forces of Urban Economic Development: Globalization and City Competitiveness in the 21st Century

Abstract: Economic development in U.S. cities will be driven increasingly by forces of global economic interaction in the 21st century. Where the export sector is thriving, international trade and investment are creating more and better paying jobs. U.S. cities will have to adjust quickly to these and other international forces. To grow and prosper, metropolitan areas must improve their education systems to produce a highly skilled and flexible work force, improve the quality of living conditions to attract international investment, provide services and infrastructure to support globally competitive firms, and develop stronger entrepreneurial and technological capacity among small and medium-size companies. Civic leadership and community action are essential to expanding and modernizing urban infrastructure, strengthening mechanisms of community cooperation within metropolitan areas, and fostering public-private partnerships to expand opportunities for employment. Demands for integrating the inner-city poor into economic activities will require innovative policies that build on business-oriented approaches to community development.

Deindustrialization, Inner-City Decay, and the Hierarchical Diffusion of AIDS in the USA: How Neoliberal and Cold War Policies Magnified the Ecological Niche for Emerging Infections and Created a National Security Crisis

Abstract: AIDS is well known to have diffused hierarchically among US metropolitan regions, from the larger to the smaller, along national travel routes. Here we relate that diffusion to economic and social policy, by using approaches from population and community ecology and quantitative geography. We find that patterns of deindustrialization driven by cold war policies have interacted synergistically with the ‘planned shrinkage’ hollowing-out of poor minority inner-city communities, and with the canonical national travel pattern dominated by the largest cities, to create conditions for the rapid spread of emerging infections. Application of this model to AIDS explains over 92% of the variance in observed case numbers through June 1995 for the 25 largest US metropolitan regions containing 113 million people. ‘Resilience’ analysis of the empirical AIDS model reveals that emerging infections, social disintegration, and national travel patterns constitute a sensitive ‘resonant eigensystem’ which greatly amplifies the...

Central-City/Suburban Inequality and Metropolitan Political Fragmentation:

Abstract: To test the proposition that metropolitan governmental structure has social, economic, and racial consequences, the authors assume that the proliferation of local governments in a metropolitan area...