From our May 2015 issue: Macro-Level Determinants of Local Government Interaction How Metropolitan Regions in the United States Compare

Macro-Level Determinants of Local Government Interaction

How Metropolitan Regions in the United States Compare

1. Rebecca Hendrick1
2. Yu Shi1

1. ¹University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

1. Rebecca Hendrick, Department of Public Administration, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago, 412 S. Peoria St., Chicago, IL 60607, USA. Email: hendrick@uic.edu

Abstract

Empirical and theoretical research on government competition and collaboration identifies several important macro-level characteristics that can affect these forms of interaction between local governments within the same large jurisdiction. These characteristics are fragmentation of governments, fiscal dispersion of governments, sorting of population by governments, and decentralized fiscal responsibility between state and local governments. This study presents indices to measure these characteristics and examines how metropolitan regions in the United States with populations greater than one million are distributed on these indices. The study also examines how these regions compare on conditions that are likely to motivate sales tax competition between municipal governments.

• fragmentation
 
• local government
 
• metropolitan regions
 
• macro-level conditions
• state–local r
• • http://uar.sagepub.com/content/51/3/414.abstract
  • http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2015/09/07/is-local-government-fragmentation-good-or-bad-for-cities-these-indices-will-help-inform-the-debate/

From our May 2015 issue: Similar Processes, Divergent Outcomes A Comparative Analysis of Urban Redevelopment Projects in Three Turkish Cities

Similar Processes, Divergent Outcomes

A Comparative Analysis of Urban Redevelopment Projects in Three Turkish Cities

1. Tuna Kuyucu1
2. Didem Danış2

1. ¹Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
2. ²Galatasaray University, Istanbul, Turkey

1. Tuna Kuyucu, Department of Sociology, Boğaziçi University, PK. 2 Bebek, 34342 Istanbul, Turkey. Email: tuna.kuyucu@boun.edu.tr

Abstract

The recent literature on neoliberal urban redevelopment is marked by a gap between theory and empirical research. While there exists a lively theoretical debate regarding the context-bound and spatially heterogeneous character of redevelopment, there is less effort to explain the heterogeneity through empirical studies. We argue that we can identify the specific contextual and macro-structural factors producing the “variegated” neoliberal redevelopment trajectories with carefully constructed comparative studies. To this end, we compare divergent redevelopment processes in three secondary Turkish cities. Based on in-depth interviews, close documentary analysis, and descriptive statistics, our research highlights the role of coalitions formed among local elites and their ties with central-state agents in determining how neoliberal transformations take shape. Even in a highly centralized country, such as Turkey, it is the varying capacity of local actors to form collaborative networks that explains why divergent redevelopment outcomes emerge across similar cities.

• urban redevelopment
 
• urban governance theory
 
• methodology
• • http://uar.sagepub.com/content/51/3/381.abstract

From our May 2015 issue: Are They Well Situated? Spatial Analysis of Privately Owned Public Space, Manhattan, New York City

Are They Well Situated? Spatial Analysis of Privately Owned Public Space, Manhattan, New York City

1. Heeyeun Yoon1
2. Sumeeta Srinivasan2

1. ¹Seoul National University, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Department of Landscape Architecture and Rural Systems Engineering, Seoul, Korea
2. ²Harvard University, Department of Government, Cambridge, MA, USA

1. Heeyeun Yoon, Seoul National University, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Department of Landscape Architecture and Rural Systems Engineering, Seoul, Korea. Email: hyyoon@snu.ac.kr

Abstract

In this article, we attempt to examine how privately owned public spaces through incentive zoning have played out as a means to generate public spaces, as part of improving spatial equity in Manhattan, New York City. Using spatial statistical analyses, we find that the inclusion of privately owned public spaces reduces overall average distance to the nearest public space from both working and living population, and helps to balance the distribution of the public spaces throughout the city, by covering the locations where publicly owned public spaces are sparse. More importantly, the location of privately owned public spaces closely aligns with potential demand from the working and tourist population, though not from the resident population. We extend the findings to policy, suggesting that allocation of privately owned public space should be implemented comprehensively rather than discretely, as well as in relationship to publicly owned public spaces, to sharpen their role in achieving fair distribution of public spaces throughout the city.

• Privately owned public space
 
• spatial equity
 
• accessibility
 
• demand
• spatial analysis
• • http://uar.sagepub.com/content/51/3/358.abstract

From our May 2015 issue: Accountability School Reform in Comparative Perspective

Accountability School Reform in Comparative Perspective

1. Alan DiGaetano1

1. ¹City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

1. Alan DiGaetano, Department of Political Science, Baruch College, City University of New York, One Bernard Baruch Way, New York, NY 10010, USA. Email:alan.digaetano@baruch.cuny.edu

Abstract

School reform politics in England and the United States over the last quarter century has revolved largely around the question of performance-based accountability. Accountability school reform in both countries has entailed standardization of curricula and assessment and the spread in the use of market mechanisms in school governance. To explain how these accountability reforms have retooled local governing institutions in ways that have reduced their autonomy and lessened their capacity to administer local school systems, this article applies the analytical framework of urban governing cycles to a comparative study of school reform politics in Bristol, England, and Boston, Massachusetts.

• school reform
 
• urban politics
 
• urban governing cycle
• • http://uar.sagepub.com/content/51/3/315.abstract

In our May 2015 Issue

Table of Contents

May 2015; 51 (3)

Articles

• Select this article
  • Alan DiGaetano

  Accountability School Reform in Comparative Perspective

  Urban Affairs Review May 2015 51: 315-357, first published on June 25, 2014doi:10.1177/1078087414537606
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• Select this article
  • Heeyeun Yoon and
   
  • Sumeeta Srinivasan

  Are They Well Situated? Spatial Analysis of Privately Owned Public Space, Manhattan, New York City

  Urban Affairs Review May 2015 51: 358-380, first published on October 15, 2014doi:10.1177/1078087414552457
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  • Tuna Kuyucu and
   
  • Didem Danış

  Similar Processes, Divergent Outcomes: A Comparative Analysis of Urban Redevelopment Projects in Three Turkish Cities

  Urban Affairs Review May 2015 51: 381-413, first published on October 21, 2014doi:10.1177/1078087414553818
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Research Note

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  • Rebecca Hendrick and
   
  • Yu Shi

  Macro-Level Determinants of Local Government Interaction: How Metropolitan Regions in the United States Compare

  Urban Affairs Review May 2015 51: 414-438, first published on April 15, 2014doi:10.1177/1078087414530546
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