URBST 101-

Cities in Crisis
Globalization &
Deindustrialization
Review from last week:
Globalization
Deindustrialization
Suburbanization
Welfare
State/Liberalism
Safety Net Programs (from last week)
Social Security
Welfare
Unemployment
Affordable Housing
(Mitchell Lama; Rent
Stabilization, etc.)
1956 National Defense
Highways Act
Federal Govt to pay 90% of road construction, not
50%
Largest public works project in history: 40,000
miles of roads, $468 billion cost
Enabled auto boom (and related steel, rubber,
glass, petroleum industries)
Enabled boom in suburban construction (long
distance commutes in shorter time)
Enabled boom in consumer durables (washing
machines, TVs, electric ranges, etc)
Not only residential suburbanization, but move of
commercial and industrial facilities
National Fiscal Crisis of
1970s
Rising international
competition
Spiking energy prices
Declining productivity and
profitability
Soaring inflation
Unemployment
Social movements/new
Urban Crisis of the
1960s/70s
Effects of Suburbanization/White
flight, unemployment,
Inflation, etc.
Concentrated poverty in cities, with
Reduced job opportunities
Diminished tax base and resources
to maintain social services,
education
Urban austerity policies
Made worse by deindustrialization
Planned Shrinkage
Policy to redirect city funds to downtown
Manhattan and other neighborhoods with
revenue potential
Drastically cut public services to poor
neighborhoods in outer boroughs (police, fire,
transit, streets, schools)
Also had effect of reducing blight in outer
boroughs by decreasing the population and
prompting people to leave.
In South Bronx, owners could not sell or rent
buildings but had to pay taxes so they burned
the building to get insurance. Or just
abandoned it.
In addition, all fires were problematic bc fire
Bailout
Emergency Financial Control
Board
Deals with banks and unions
to cut city budget
Consequences
Banks, state government and
federal government gained power
over citys fate
City government, unions and poor
and working class Nyers lost power.
City reset governing priorities along
lines favorable to its investors, not
its poor and working class residents
Reduced public services schools,
parks, public transportation, police
and fire protection
Changing Purpose of City
Government
Economic Development
City as growth machine
City as entertainment
venue
Times Square, circa
1970s
Times Square,

circa 2000s
City planning: public
services to places of
play
Industrial-era city planning: providing
public services and infrastructure for city
residents, including working class and
upper class
Fiscal crisis restructuring!!
Post-industrial city planning: economic
development, generating revenue while
making cities safe and comfortable for
tourists, conventioneers, suburban
visitors and upwardly mobile,
professional residents
City as Growth Machine
Cities under pressure to attract tourists, new
residents (why??)
New patron base: from the urban populace to
visitors from outside the city
importing the spending and exporting the
tax burden by making cities safe,
comfortable and attractive for visitors
More public expenditure: bigger and more
expensive facilities
Since mid-1970s: increased state and locally-
funded (with tax dollars) expenditures for
sports facilities, convention centers, other
entertainment amenities
Case Study: the New
Yankee Stadium
Yankees contributed $800 mm in construction funds
City contributed $210 to replace parks, garages and
to make infrastructure improvements
Yankees got significant breaks on rent, property
taxes, and other taxes.
Plus, the city generated tax exempt bonds so the
Yankees could raise the construction money.
And they issued bonds + an additional $100 million
in city and state grants to create 9,000 parking
spaces. (They assumed theyd make a lot of $ back
on parking).
Yankees Cont.

New York State spent $70 million to build Parking

Garage B.But people prefer to park on the street. By
May 2011, the garages were broke.
In their community benefits agreement the Yankees
agreed to give roughly $1.2 million a year, starting
when the work began, to various community groups.
But 16 mos. after work began, they had not
distributed any of it.
New parks promised by the team were delayed by
five years and were scattered, rather than one big
park.
The City spent $195m to replace the parks.
 Case Study: Atlantic Yards

$4.9 billion project to build the Barclays Center arena and

16 high-rise buildings in downtown Brooklyn.
Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner
In 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park in 2014 after the
Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70%
stake in 15 towers.