Neighborhood Enfranchisement and Urban Redevelopment

Abstract

The consequences of redevelopment for working and lower class neighborhoods depend upon the extent to which their in terests are represented within the local regime and upon the economic situation of particular cities Political representation can be expressed by two analytically distinct dimensions, the one encompass ing electoral enfranchisement - the abili ty to capture mayoral offices and council seats — and the other bureaucratic en franchisement — influence over the "out put" side of local government through a range of citizen participation institutions. Together the dimensions define a typology of political representation, within which strategic influence over development policy exists only when both electoral and bureaucratic enfranchisement are strong. But the outcomes of urban redevelopment are also critically affected by economic forces, which determine both private ac tivity to change the built environment and the financial resources available to local government. In general, the higher the level of net private investment in the built environment, the greater the potential ability of lower income neighborhoods to benefit from redevelopment. Without ef fective political power, however, even high levels of investment result primarily in extreme uneven development and displacement. While political and economic forces establish a determinism over which planners have relatively limited control, progressive planners can play im portant roles in broadening the agenda of local politics so as to facilitate political mobilization of lower income communities.

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