• Explain to graduating seniors what they should do to get assignments finished on time.
• Tell class that APSA will call you away on the 28th.  If possible, there will be a proxy present for this class.
•  Let the students know that the lecture notes will be current by the end of today.

Overlap from the last class:

• Previously, we discussed city interests generally and several questions in particular:
• What are city interests? (3 major views)
• What is growth?
• What do we mean when we say “smart growth” or “slow growth?”  Is there such a thing as “growth management?”  Is “growth management” the same thing as “growth control” (the supposed end of growth)?

• In addition to his “cities are alive and self-interested theory, Tiebout argued that citizens voted with their feet.  In other words, residents who were not satisfied with what a city had to offer left—those who were satisfied stayed.
• We will add to this voting with your feet idea today, an idea that I introduced earlier as the politics of secession and that I re-introduce using a series of really big words today.
• Today’s reading fits because an extension of the city growth literature concerns the relationships between American cities and their suburbs. This is especially important because the majority of Americans live not in the central cities, but in the suburbs and rural counties that surround them.  In this class, we will address the following questions:
• What is urbanization?
• What is suburbanization?
• Politics and policies of cities and
• National politics and federal policies toward the cities?
•  How are cities and suburbs connected?
• What are some of the dilemmas faced by cities and suburbs?

•  Today’s reading touches briefly touches upon many issues commonly talked about by scholars studying suburbanization.  However, in order to understand suburbanization, you have to understand urbanization and the factors of growth that led to suburbanization.

• Think of urbanization the way you think of urban sprawl.
• The term "sprawl" generally refers to low-density residential -- as well as commercial & retail -- development, which occurs away from (not just outside of) existing centers of population and development.
• Urbanization is a 12-letter word describing the process of residents migrating from traditionally rural areas and into urban areas.

• There is a rich history or urbanization in America.  I will not do justice to it.  But I will give you a criminally brief historical overview of urbanization:
• Began in 1840s with European immigration
• NE and MW = initial population centers.
• Transportation technology spreads center
• Economic transformation spurs $ activity
• Post-1920s shift to South and West
• Post-1930s shift to suburban America

• Begins immediately outside of urban area -- First Ring Suburbs
• Progressive growth away from central city
• "Leap Frogging Development" concept (development would “leap right over the city and into the suburbs).

• Consumption of undeveloped land
• Fragmented open space
• Smaller-scale commercial space
• Lower residential parcel density
• Automobile dependence

• Infrastructure investments
• Low cost of fuel
• Lending practices
• Commercial/business concerns
• Communications
• Inner city conditions
• "Subsidies and Externalities"

 --My question to the class:

• Are these consequences valid, or would they happen in any area (regardless of whether it is a city or a suburb)?
• Are the costs really costs? Are the benefits really benefits?

 What is it?

• Just as urbanization is like urban sprawl, think of suburbanization like “suburban sprawl.”
• Suburbanization is a 15-letter word describing the process of residents migrating from urban areas and into suburban areas.

• Problems associated with urbanization have pushed people to suburbs
• Suburban Myth: desire for increased safety, independence, efficiency, and quality of life
• BUT sorting out process and politics of exclusion
• Decentralization of economic and human resources as well as people
• Growth of edge cities
• Shrinking tax and revenue base
• Left behind non-taxable entities i.e. churches, universities
• Still benefit from city services but don’t contribute to city’s tax base
• Increased concentration of high-cost citizens
• Heavily dependent on city services/resources but don’t contribute very much
• Needs exceed the city’s resources

• THEREFORE: Suburbanization has often pushed cities into the precarious position of having to scramble for funds.  This precarious position is what people refer to when they talk about metropolitanization (a 19-letter word describing the economic and political consequences of the residential changes caused by sprawl).

• Political autonomy
• Cities vs. Suburbs
• Infrastructure = Independence
• Increased suburban representation in state legislatures & Congress
• Local economies: dependent on the “locational” decisions of corporations
• Mayors constantly in search of mobile wealth
• Business wealth is mobile: gives them a strategic bargaining position
• Bitter competition for capital development projects
• Therefore, some local/social issues take a backseat to economic development concerns
• Cities: relatively successful at attracting businesses that require face-to-face interaction i.e. banks, utilities, etc. BUT limited success re: tech-based companies
• Citizens in central cities often lack the skills, training, etc. necessary to hold these positions
• DOWNS: government should finance the cost of moving citizens closer to the jobs

• Cities focus on economic development to the detriment of community development
• Urban development often leads to the displacement of communities
• Push working class and minorities further onto the periphery
• Projects often billed as “good government” projects.  BUT these benefits aren’t always evenly distributed
• Costs for improvement often outweigh benefits
• Efforts have been made by community groups to challenge the growth machine and go against this trend…
• BUT this doesn’t change the nature of the growth coalition
• Decisions are often made in private and before public is aware of them
• Difficult to inform and mobilize community groups to fight these coalitions

• Suburbanization and neighborhoods
• Homogenous neighborhoods
• Low density
• In-Filling
• Decreased homogeneity
• Increasing density
• …Tipping point…Downgrading
• Population turnover
• Thinning Out
• High turnover
• Ultimately: conversion or demolition

• Points to ponder:  Most people think of these words as bad.

• Peterson (1981)
• Elkins (1987)
• Ferman (1996)
• Judd and Swanstrom (1998)
• Stone (1989)
• Swanstrom (1988)
• Kantor; Kasarda (1990)
• Wilson (1996)