THE POST-INTERVENTIONIST CITY

Abstract

The contemporary American city serves as evidence of “government failure ” and as a focal point for crisismongering. In this paper I argue why it is important for Americans to reject the “city as crisis ” syn-drome and to move to a view of the city as an increasingly malleable landscape formed by the dynamics of market processes and doffed with opportunity. Such a city is most responsive to human aspirations when government is least intrusive. At no point do I argue that the market provides an immediate remedy to all human conditions I wish to see improved. No do I argue for the dissolution of govern-ment, though I do favor drastically diminished government interven-tion in the cities, both to improve the potential for economic perfor-mance and to secure greater personal liberty. A freely operating market cannot guarantee relief from all that ails humankind, nor can governments through the employment of coercive powers. In con-trast to government, however, the market will enlarge opportunities for voluntary exchange, stimulate private initiative, and promote the growth ofconsumer-oriented production. Moreover, individuals who are less burdened by government may be more responsive to ethi-cally based appeals for voluntary contribution to the redress of con-ditions each finds offensive. I contend that an entirely different wayofthinking about the nature of urban conditions is required to improve the urban environment, one which emphasizes the pursuit ofpossibilities over the promotion of problems. The open-ended search for possibilities in an infinite universe is a dramatically different approach than the search for appropriate adjustments to received conditions which are assumed to be functionally finite. The first is a market view requiring freedom;

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