Cities Without Suburbs

1. Cities Without Suburbs By David Rusk

2. Outline • Methodology – determining elasticity (Jodie) • Consequences of elasticity or lack thereof (Robert) • Ways to achieve an elastic city (Ingrid) • Conclusions and recommendations (Daryan)

3. Outline • Methodology – determining elasticity • Consequences of elasticity or lack thereof • Ways to achieve an elastic city • Conclusions and recommendations

4. Selecting Metropolitan Areas To Study • Excludes areas with fewer than 200,000 residents • Excludes Mexican border towns • Excludes declining mining regions • Excludes white-only metro areas • Excludes city-less metro areas

5. Process For Determining Elasticity • Density of cities in 1950 • Amount of city expansion from 1950-1990 • Example of New York City, New York and Anchorage, Alaska

6. Levels of Elasticity • Separated cities in selected metropolitan areas into five groups: • Zero elasticity • Low elasticity • Medium elasticity • High elasticity • Hyper elasticity

8. The Point of No Return • Major loss of population • Disproportionate minority population • Residents had average income levels less than 70% of suburban income levels • Demonstrates the Fourth Law of Urban Dynamics

9. Cities Without Suburbs • Surprisingly most are located in more modest income metro areas • All of these cities dominate their areas • These cities are making the most of the areas’ available resources • City must have 50% or more of the metro population • Average per capita income of city residents must be 90% or more of suburban residents

10. Cities Without Suburbs

11. Cities Without Suburbs

12. The Key for Cities Without Suburbs • “…these twenty-three communities are becoming societies of greater social equity and economic mobility…have a lower level of racial segregation…have greater unity among their public institutions, their residents have better access to the entire region’s resources…” (82)

13. Outline • Methodology – determining elasticity • Consequences of elasticity or lack thereof • Ways to achieve an elastic city • Conclusions and recommendations

14. Laws of Urban Dynamicsaccording to David Rusk • Only elastic cities grow • Fragmentation divides; Unification unites • Ties do bind • Ghettos can only become bigger ghettos

15. Cities without suburbs=elastic cities • The central city should be able to grow and expand

17. Cities without suburbs=elastic cities • Racial integration occurs

18. Cities without suburbs=elastic cities • Income class integration occurs • City incomes are equal to or higher than suburban incomes

19. Cities without suburbs=elastic cities • Local public institutions are effective because they are unified

20. Outline • Methodology – determining elasticity • Consequences of elasticity or lack thereof • Ways to achieve an elastic city • Conclusions and recommendations

21. Achieving an Elastic City -Metro Government • General purpose local government • All powers of municipality under state law • Exercise exclusive powers within its jurisdiction • Special purpose and general governments may still exist, but key planning and zoning must be done by the metro government • It should contain 60% of the area’s population and the region’s central city

22. Types of Metropolitan Governments • Empowerment of urban counties • Consolidation of cities and counties • Combining counties into regional governments

23. Decrease revenue gaps Decrease racial and economic segregation Share revenue between rich and poor communities Create affordable housing requirements and housing assistance programs Promote economic development Implement regional growth management policies Strategies to Create Elasticity

24. State Government Initiatives • Can create new local governments and merge old ones. • Governors and state legislatures act as metro-wide policymakers • Aid the local government and local school systems

25. Authorize Annexation • If a central city could annex, it could maintain unity of the local government. • Annexation will serve the larger public interest

26. Federal Government Initiatives • Provides incentives for metropolitan reorganization • Stops providing infrastructure grants in order to slow urban sprawl • Eliminate capital gains tax • Ends the traditional federal public housing program

27. Outline • Methodology – determining elasticity • Consequences of elasticity or lack thereof • Ways to achieve an elastic city • Conclusions and recommendations

28. Recommendations • Local • State • Federal

29. Recommendations for local Government • “fair share” housing policies • Fair employment and fair housing policies • Housing assistance policies • Tax-sharing arrangements

30. Recommendations for state governments • Improve annexation laws • Enact laws to encourage city-county consolidation • Empower county governments to act as de facto metro governments • Require “fair share” metro housing laws • Establish metrowide tax sharing arrangements • Enact laws to curb urban sprawl

31. Recommendations for Federal Government • Focus federal research and evaluation on integration • Utilization of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations • Review of Federal Programs based to account for segregation • Initiate reforms of the federal public housing program • Enforce federal laws more vigorously • Determine whether economic segregation leads to racial segregation, violation of law?

32. The Key for Cities Without Suburbs • “…these twenty-three communities are becoming societies of greater social equity and economic mobility…have a lower level of racial segregation…have greater unity among their public institutions, their residents have better access to the entire region’s resources…” (82)