The temporal dynamics of neoliberal redevelopment governance and the restructuring of urban space: Chicago's Bronzeville (1989 - present)

Abstract

The objective of this study is to nuance our understanding of the temporal trajectory and dynamics of neoliberal redevelopment governance in large American cities. Recent studies have revealed a rupture in the manifestation of this mode of governance in Chicago, IL. I suggest this shift marks a transition between the roll-out (1989-2005) and roll-with-it (2005-present) periods of neoliberal restructuring in this setting and, perhaps, beyond. Although the wider literature acknowledges the spatial contingency of neoliberal redevelopment governance, temporal contingencies within the same city remain comparatively less explored. In this context, this study chronicles the evolutionary trajectory of Chicago’s fluid and evolving neoliberal redevelopment governance with a specific focus on the contemporary socio-spatial transformation of the city’s south-side neighborhood of Bronzeville. In the current context of the global economic crisis and increased grass-roots efforts to thwart gentrification, the legitimacy of this mode of urban governance is now increasingly questioned. Set against this reality, new pragmatic strategies are now required to keep the neoliberal order alive. As a result, governance actors in this setting now articulate an evolved rhetoric that is increasingly sensitive to the historical effects of structural economic insecurity upon the urban and racialized poor. But this “revisionist” rhetorical strategy is revealed as a politically-expedient necessity merely designed to mobilize and legitimate the same revanchist redevelopment schemes. While its “humanist” clothing holds the potential for stimulating more progressive activism and fundamental change, it is a rhetoric that nonetheless remains guided by the ideological underpinnings of neoliberal theology. The study concludes by exploring the terrain of transformative possibilities and capacity of this governance to further adapt to mounting neoliberal-induced obstacles.

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