ps505(8-14-2k2)

Ray Block, Jr.
8/14/2k2
Urban Politics
Lecture Notes

Upcoming Events:

We are reaching the end of the class.
Pass out group presentation information form
Tell students about that to expect next week:
No final exams
Graduating seniors need to have papers done by next Wednesday (6:00 PM, in my mailbox)
Everyone else has until Friday (August 30 by 5:30 PM in my mailbox in Derby Hall) to finish term papers.
In both cases, I will be around to help and answer questions.

Today’s Blueprint:

Overlap from the last class:

Where the last class discussion intersects with this class discussion:

In this class, we will talk more about how city leaders deal with city problems. A popular strategy for cities in need of economic prosperity is to build up the downtown and waterfront areas to appeal to tourists and suburban residents. This, is the general idea underlying urban tourism. Today’s lecture will look at three things:
The politics of urban development
The changes in urban areas that have lead to the rise of tourism as a major economic force
The framework, structures and techniques that have been adopted by city authorities to enable tourism to thrive in a sustainable manner

The Politics of Urban Development

Since we already have an idea what urban is (see 6/24/2k2 notes):

...I figured a good place to start is by defining what we mean by development

What is development? (2 types):

Perspective	Definition
Economists	More economic growth
Businesses	“Wise” public policy to increase competitiveness
Environmentalists	Should be sustainable to “harmonize” systems
Labor Interests	A vehicle to increase wages, training, and benefits
Community Leaders	Strengthen the rural/inner city economies/society
Public Officials	Replace spent $, boost tax base

Generally, development = the process of creating wealth through the mobilization of human, capital, financial, physical, and natural resources to generate marketable goods and services.
Urban development = The process of constructing the built environment. The goal of this process is to add value to the area. And this process is usually “market-driven.”

Who does it?

How? The 3 major components:

Urban development usually involves a trade-off:

On the one hand, developing an area can improve the areas image and economic base
On another hand, development is not guaranteed to improve a city’s standing (Foreslong, in his essay “The Politics of Bread and Circus” argues that cities usually take a loss when they develop).
Suffice it to say that cities take a risk when they venture Urban development. So why do cities continue to take these risks?

Financial rewards: Development lead to more jobs and resources
Self interests: cities have interests (Peterson’s argument) and a developed downtown can attract profitable investors, progressive residents, and tourists.
Ego: Think of urban development as the initial step in city boosterism
Civic pride: This differs from ego because, rather than seeking to impress visitors, development “boosts” moral for current residents

Urban Tourism:

What is tourism:

The act of travel and set of actions engaged in by people during the trip to places away from their home environment.
The aggregate of all businesses that directly provide goods or services to facilitate business, pleasure, and leisure activities away from the home environment.
The combination of these two phenomena”

Urban Tourism:

Economic demands put pressure on urban areas to seek alternative forms of economic development. In many instances, tourism (described above) can be either a main or a substantial source of jobs and income. There are a number of sustainable development issues related to tourism and one of the challenges of sustainable urban tourism destination management is to help communities make effective decisions relating to tourism development. While tourism is now the largest industry in the world and has incredible potential for economic growth, it potentially carries with it significant negative social and environmental impacts. The art of the management process is to balance the costs and benefits for the community.

Weighting the good with the bad:

The thing to remember about urban tourism is that, usually, people only think it is a bad thing when it does not work. When the benefits of urban tourism outweigh the costs, city planners get praise for their genius. When the dreams of urban tourism projects fail, cities are frustrated and deeper in debt. Some urban tourism project are success stories (i.e. Las Vegas, NV and Orlando, FL). However, most urban tourism projects are not successful.

How does this relate to the film we saw?

Flint, MI is an example of a failed attempt at urban tourism.
After GM left Flint MI, one of the thing the city officials did to bring money back to the city was create a tourist-friendly downtown and waterfront area, but the lack of tourist money caused the tourist traps to close less than a year after their creation.