Governing Middle-sized Cities

Governing Middle-sized Cities PDF Author: James R. Bowers
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555878702
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
This collection of 12 case studies illustrates the range of problems facing mid-sized cities in the USA and the variety of approaches that mayors have used to cope with them. Topics covered include education, crime, economic development and the political incorporation of minorities.

Governing Middle-sized Cities

Governing Middle-sized Cities PDF Author: James R. Bowers
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555878702
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
This collection of 12 case studies illustrates the range of problems facing mid-sized cities in the USA and the variety of approaches that mayors have used to cope with them. Topics covered include education, crime, economic development and the political incorporation of minorities.

Strong Towns

Strong Towns PDF Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119564816
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Cities, Migration, and Governance

Cities, Migration, and Governance PDF Author: Felicitas Hillmann
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100090914X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
This volume examines how cities, migration, and urban governance are intertwined. Questioning and re-working the conceptual reliance on “scales” and “levels”, it draws on examples from both Europe and North America to conceptualize the variety of cities as re-active and pro-active within “glocal” and “socio-territorial dynamics”. The book covers the governance of the myriad dimensions of urban life, such as work, housing, racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, the arts, leisure, and other cultural practices, political participation, social movements, and “contentious politics” in North American and European cities. While cities might implement “integration policies,” the chapters do not necessarily assume that migrants live with the telos of “integration”, but rather conduct their lives as anyone else would, making meaning and voicing concerns under often difficult material conditions, strewn with the markers of race, religion, gender, sexuality, age, and often illegality. The volume highlights four arguments, themes, or contributions addressed by one or more of the chapters: how demographic change is prompting more pro-active urban governance responses in many cities in the 21st century; how the sheer complexity of migration in the 21st century is shaping the participation of citizen civil society actors, the growing role of new private actors in the realm of urban governance, and the participation of migrants themselves in this governance. The book reminds us that we are confronted with a spectrum of urban governance strategies, ranging from re-active cities to pro-active and welcoming cities. Both timely and relevant, this book collects the work of well-known scholars in the field of migration and urban studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Geographical Review.

Governing Ourselves?

Governing Ourselves? PDF Author: Mary Louise McAllister
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 9780774810630
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
Popular rhetoric suggests that the 21st century has ushered in an era of homogeneity. Urbanization, globalization, amalgamation, media conglomeration, and technological convergence have become familiar terms to us -- terms coined to reflect the effect of the complex and diverse forces at work in communities across the country. Given such overwhelming pressures, how are people within these communities able to make decisions about their own environment, either individually or collectively? To what extent can they govern themselves? This stimulating text considers questions of influence and power within local institutions and decision-making processes using numerous illustrations from municipalities across Canada. The challenges to local governance are examined from a wide array of perspectives; communities large and small from Iqualuit to Toronto are offered as examples. In an original approach to the subject, McAllister pays particular attention to smaller and more remote cities of Canada. Case studies of Prince George, British Columbia; Sherbrooke, Quebec; Saint John, New Brunswick; Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario are used to illustrate historic and contemporary challenges for local governance. Governing Ourselves? covers traditional topics related to Canadian local government structures, institutions, and intergovernmental relations. At the same time, it reaches more broadly into other areas of inquiry that are relevant to geography, urban planning, environmental studies, public administration, sociology, and Canadian studies. A wide-ranging exploration of Canadian communities and their politics, this book is relevant to the practitioner, student, academic, and anyone who wonders whether, in fact, we do govern ourselves.

Local Politics: A Practical Guide to Governing at the Grassroots

Local Politics: A Practical Guide to Governing at the Grassroots PDF Author: Terry Christensen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317465830
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
Unlike most competing texts that are densely written and heavily theoretical, with little flavor of political life, this book is a readable, jargon-free introduction to real-life local politics for today's students. While it encompasses local government and politics in cities and towns across America, "Local Politics: A Practical Guide to Governing at the Grassroots" gives special attention to the politics of suburbia, where many students live, and encourages them to become engaged in their own communities. The book is also distinguished by its strong emphasis on nuts-and-bolts practical politics. It provides focused discussion of institutions, roles, and personalities as well as the dynamic environment of local politics (demographics, immigration, globalization, etc.) and major policy issues (budgets, land use, transportation, education, etc.). Other texts treat communities as abstractions and readers as passive observers. "Local Politics: A Practical Guide to Governing at the Grassroots" is designed to inspire civic engagement as well as understanding. It features "In Your Community" research projects for students in every chapter along with informative tables, clear charts, essential terms, and guides to useful websites.

Cities Transformed

Cities Transformed PDF Author: Mark R. Montgomery
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134031661
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 553

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Book Description
Over the next 20 years, most low-income countries will, for the first time, become more urban than rural. Understanding demographic trends in the cities of the developing world is critical to those countries - their societies, economies, and environments. The benefits from urbanization cannot be overlooked, but the speed and sheer scale of this transformation presents many challenges. In this uniquely thorough and authoritative volume, 16 of the world's leading scholars on urban population and development have worked together to produce the most comprehensive and detailed analysis of the changes taking place in cities and their implications and impacts. They focus on population dynamics, social and economic differentiation, fertility and reproductive health, mortality and morbidity, labor force, and urban governance. As many national governments decentralize and devolve their functions, the nature of urban management and governance is undergoing fundamental transformation, with programs in poverty alleviation, health, education, and public services increasingly being deposited in the hands of untested municipal and regional governments. Cities Transformed identifies a new class of policy maker emerging to take up the growing responsibilities. Drawing from a wide variety of data sources, many of them previously inaccessible, this essential text will become the benchmark for all involved in city-level research, policy, planning, and investment decisions. The National Research Council is a private, non-profit institution based in Washington, DC, providing services to the US government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The editors are members of the Council's Panel on Urban Population Dynamics.

Black Mayors, White Majorities

Black Mayors, White Majorities PDF Author: Ravi K. Perry
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496203577
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
Recent years have seen an increase in the number of African Americans elected to political office in cities where the majority of their constituents are not black. In the past, the leadership of black politicians was characterized as either "deracialized" or "racialized"--that is, as either focusing on politics that transcend race or as making black issues central to their agenda. Today many African American politicians elected to offices in non-majority-black cities are adopting a strategy that universalizes black interests as intrinsically relevant to the needs of their entire constituency. In Black Mayors, White Majorities Ravi K. Perry explores the conditions in which black mayors of majority-white cities are able to represent black interests and whether blacks' historically high expectations for black mayors are being realized. Perry uses Toledo and Dayton, Ohio, as case studies, and his analysis draws on interviews with mayors and other city officials, business leaders, and heads of civic organizations, in addition to official city and campaign documents and newspapers. Perry also analyzes mayoral speeches, the 2001 ward-level election results, and city demographics. Black Mayors, White Majorities encourages readers to think beyond the black-white dyad and instead to envision policies that can serve constituencies with the greatest needs as well as the general public.

21st Century Urban Race Politics

21st Century Urban Race Politics PDF Author: Ravi K. Perry
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1781901856
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
With case studies from across the country, in medium-sized and large cities, and mayors of various backgrounds, this volume provides an account of how different minority mayors have handled minority representation in historically majority Caucasian cities and what lessons academics and politicians can learn from them.

Pioneers, Leaders and Followers in Multilevel and Polycentric Climate Governance

Pioneers, Leaders and Followers in Multilevel and Polycentric Climate Governance PDF Author: Rüdiger Wurzel
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100005733X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
Pioneers, Leaders and Followers in Multilevel and Polycentric Climate Governance focuses on pioneers, leaders and followers as central drivers for international climate change governance innovations. A burgeoning literature has identified pioneers and leaders as central drivers for international climate change governance innovations. A wide range of actors (such as international organisations, the European Union, NGOs, corporations and cities) have been identified as potential and actual climate pioneers and/or leaders. Despite this, much of the academic debate is still largely focused on states. To address this research gap, this volume focuses primarily on non-state actors in different multilevel and polycentric governance structures. The chapters offer a critical analysis of the different types of actors (e.g. the EU, corporate actors, NGOs and cities) who can act as pioneers and/or leaders at different levels of climate governance (including the international, supranational, regional, national and local) encompassing non-state and state actors. The volume provides a clear conceptualisation of pioneers, leaders and followers while assessing their motives, capacities, styles and strategies. It examines critically the dynamic interrelationship between leaders and pioneers on the one hand, and followers and laggards on the other. Moreover, it analyses how multilevel and polycentric climate governance structures enable and/or constrain climate pioneers, leaders and followers. This volume will be of great use to scholars of environmental governance, climate change, and international governance. The chapters were originally published as a special issue in Environmental Politics.

The Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government

The Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government PDF Author: Donald P. Haider-Markel
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191611964
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1157

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government is an historic undertaking. It contains a wide range of essays that define the important questions in the field, evaluate where we are in answering them, and set the direction and terms of discourse for future work. The Handbook will have a substantial influence in defining the field for years to come. The chapters critically assess both the key works of state and local politics literature and the ways in which the sub-field has developed. It covers the main areas of study in subnational politics by exploring the central contributions to the comparative study of institutions, behavior, and policy in the American context. Each chapter outlines an agenda for future research.