Topic 11 - Metropolitics Flashcards
What is the “Gap in government”? (metropolotics)
fundamental missmatch between politcal geography (borders) and socio-economic goegraphy
What characterizes Metro Life?
- Population size and Density (BIG)
- Heterogeneity(diversity) of Population
- Social/economic interdependence(reliance)
- Authority fragmentations (no regional government)
What is the biggest problem of Metro Regions?
The different parts of a metro rely on each other(interdependent), but they all have to deal with their problems seperatly even if they are cause by other people.
Example: My tax dollars go to keep my local park nice and pretty, but I can go to other parks and mess them up even though Im not contributing with my taxes.
Example: I go to work on the opposide side of town but my car gives polution and makes traffic worse on that side of town.
What is the geography of a Suburb like?
Outlying communities (on the border of the city) that are mostly houses and are low density.
Can be their own little city or a part of a bigger city.
What increases suburbanization?
- Middle class expansion
- Transportation revolution (relying on cars more(can drive farther to get home))
- Racial division (white/rich people want their own clean communities)
What is the Demography(personality/ideas) of Suburbs?
- Social class: suburbs are middle class
- Race: less diversity in suburbs
- Partisanship: Downtown-Democratic, Suburbs-republican
- Lifestyle: suburbs have a “Pull-factor” (aura). People just tend to be attracted to the suburb lifestyle.
- Taxes: Use to have lower taxes then the city but its getting fixed
In what directions do urban (cities) area grow?
Up (skyscrapers) or out (expand the border)
Whats the “Problem of flight”?
When cities grow, the rich people tend to leave to avoid all the poor people
This means that communites lose consumer spending and tax revenues, making services decline!!!!
What is Gentrification? Pros and Cons?
Rich people buy land in poor areas because it’s relatively cheap.
Pros: Areas get nicer, less crime, new buisnesses
Cons: All the poor people tend to lose their houses and get kicked out
Who has power in local communities? (Influence towards growth)
Local banks, developers, builders, and landowners use to have a shared “pro-growth” mindset and they had a lot of local power so they could make cities grow.
But now most of these factor have gone national (not local anymore) and they dont have the “pro-growth” mindset
What is considered when increasing infrastructure?
The collective benefit brough by it (the benefits everyone will experience)
BUT ALSO…………
The burden that area has to adopt (who has to suffer the negatives for it?)
Example: It is beneficial for everyone to have windmills that collect energy in the town, but whatever part of town that gets them will be uglier with them.
What are Anti-growth forces cities experience? (things that stop them from growing)
- Middle/upper class people hate stuff like polution, traffic, and overall ‘ugliness’
- Lower class people dislike new stuff because its usually more expensive then what they’re use to
- People very close to new stuff often argue on why it’s being built so close to them (‘Not in my neighborhood!)
What are some things that make cities growing hard?(restrictions)
People are emphazising walk-able cities which means they are passing more laws and regulations
ex:zoning laws, subdivision control, utility regulations, building permits
ITS HARD TO BUILD STUFF WHEN THERES SO MANY RULES
What is zoning?
When you categorize land in advance, and only let it be used for that. Supposed to seperate inconpatible areas
Ex: reserving an area of a city for just houses, and making sure its far away from the sewage zone
Consequences of growth restrictions? Pros and cons
Intended pros:
Elimination of blight (empty/abandoned houses)
Increase in taxes (more money for city)
More housing for residents
Cons:
affordbale housing shortage
Most of the negatives really affect poor people
Def Eminent Domain
When you take Private property by force for public use and just (fair) compensations must be provided.
It really got powerful after Kelo v. City of New London
ex: The city really needs a sewage plant but there’s no space, so they forcibly take someone property and pay them
How can metros manage services and shared problems?
3 different approaches
- Regionalism/Reform Perspective: Making one giant government for the whole area
- Localism: local governments stay seperate and provide services for their communites
- Functional consolidation: combining services by not govs
Regionalist Arguments for combing local governments?
- Reduce cost: reduces inefficientcies
- It would stop people from benefiting form other peoples contributions (stop ‘free ride’)
- Clear line of responsabilities (instead of arguing whose problem it should be, its now everyones problem)
4 methods of how to coordinate (plan) the combination of local governments
- Government consolidation (city merger)
- Municipal Annexation: Extend the boundaries to areas that arent included
- Councils of Government: forces coordination between governments
- Interjuridictional agreements: contracts made between governments to share functions and burdens
What are the pros of fragmenting (breaking up) large governments?
- Locals keep unique identity (ex: being the part of town with the unique park, of the part of town thats close to the main shopping center)
- Decentralize power: makes it easier to get access to someone with power if there are a lot of people with power
- The local governments can keep track of their money
What do politics in Metropolotics deal with?
They must find the balance between individual interest and the community interest
They decide who will pay the ‘cost of development’ (the negatives of new infrastructure being built)
Kelo v. Newkelo city of new london
Made eminent domain strong and usbale
