The austerity governance of Baltimore’s neighborhoods: “The conversation may have changed but the systems aren’t changing”

Abstract

The governance of neighborhood redevelopment and revitalization in Baltimore demonstrates the normalization of the logics and practices of austerity governance and the concomitant challenge of governance transformation. Analysis of tiers of governance activity refines understanding of the state–society relationships of austerity governance, characterized by the local state’s absence with the exception of its basic function of (over)policing of the most marginalized. The elites governing Baltimore are corporate developers, major “ed and med” anchor institutions, and nationally operating private philanthropies, with a mix of other nonprofit organizations, anchor institutions, and philanthropies playing roles at the middle and lower tiers. Citizens are excluded from these opaque governance arrangements. Mainstream regime analysis argues for incremental change in response to challenges such as that posed by the uprising in the city in 2015. But the analysis highlights that the city’s iniquitous governance requires the ideological challenge posited by urban governance theory.

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