Urban Political Economy

Question 1

The city as an environment

Answer 1

Urbanization shift could wreck the environment

Will only increase

Impact on biodiversity and climate change

Question 2

City as a resource

Answer 2

Untapped possibilities and potentials for both individuals and society as a whole

Only meets needs of future generations if it is handled sustainably

Question 3

Memphis TN

Answer 3

Garbage collectors were crushed to death by a truck.

Neglect and abyss of its black employees

Question 4

Paris, France

Answer 4

General strikes as well as the occupation of universities and factories

Protests reached a point that political leaders feared civil war

Question 5

Stop spadina

Answer 5

Slogan for Toronto residents who organized during the 1960s to fight the destruction of their neighbourhoods

Question 6

Characteristics of political economy

Answer 6

1. Cities are shaped by the actions of powerful economic and political players who control key resources
2. Urban life is dominated by racial, ethnic and class antagonisms
3. The state plays s powerful role in shaping the urban life
4. Cities are greatly influenced by how they fit within the global capitalist economy

Question 7

Use value

Answer 7

The usefulness of a commodity

Question 8

Exchange value

Answer 8

The exchange equivalent by which the commodity is compared to other objects on the market

Question 9

The use value of place

Answer 9

1. Everyone needs to use space all the time
2. Places provide access to other use values (schools, stores)
3. We attach sentimental value to place (community, heritage)
4. Places are unique and can’t be replaced without changing their character

Question 10

The exchange value of place:

Answer 10

• space can’t not be produced , no fixed
• every property owner holds a monopoly
• determined by external factors, individual entrepreneurs can do very little to increase the value of their land
• strong interest in encouraging economic and population growth in a city or regional scale

Question 11

Growth machine

Answer 11

What really defines a city is the concentration of pro growth activity (people interested in generated in developing economic growth, roads buildings)

Question 12

Who makes up the growth machine?

Answer 12

Real estate developers

Business owners

Municipal/regional governments

Local federal/provincial/state representatives

Newspapers and local media

Sports franchises

Construction companies

Unions

Public institutions

Residents

Question 13

Calgary next

Answer 13

Centre piece of revitalized west village

Stadiums - profit business

Question 14

Power in city politics: social control

Answer 14

Societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a society, state, or social group

Question 15

Power in city politics: social production

Answer 15

The process and product arising from the experience of people in a community collectively determining the conditions of their own habitat

Question 16

N.I.M.B.Y

Answer 16

Not in my back yard

Opposition by residents to a proposal for a new development because it is close to them

Question 17

Urban renewal

Answer 17

Redevelopment of areas within a large city, typically involving the clearance of slums

Question 18

Third world urbanization

Answer 18

Rate of urban population growth far outstrips the pace of industrialization

Core nations performed functions of capital investment, economic management, innovation

Peripheral nations: exported agricultural products and raw materials

Question 19

3 key theories

Answer 19

The crisis with consumption: concern of inequality and injustice. 3 issues: preservation and improvement of residential neighbourhoods; poverty; social and cultural discrimination

Crisis of accumulation: real estate investors tend to over invest in a particular area because it appears to be profitable

Elite coalitions and the urban growth machine: urban decision making as dominated by a public private coalition of elites who believe that the best interests of their city and its residents are served by pursuing continuous economic growth and development

Question 20

Entrepreneurial city

Answer 20

Economies shifted to a for dust system

Manufacturers attempted to reduce the risk by outsourcing and subcontracting to companies that were not part of their own organizations, thus reducing the amount of vertical integration

Question 21

Entrepreneurial governance

Answer 21

Shift by cities from providing welfare and collective services to polices designed to foster and encourage local growth and economic revitalization