New Urban Regimes in Baltimore: Higher Education Anchor Institutions and Arts and Culture–Based Neighborhood Revitalization

Abstract

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and 39 formal interviews with 42 participants, we examine the influence of higher education institutions on a transitional, revitalizing neighborhood in Central Baltimore: Station North, a state-designated Arts and Entertainment District. This case study applies new urban regime theory to the development strategies of two universities near the neighborhood, Maryland Institute College of Art and Johns Hopkins University. We find the confluence of revitalization strategies in this declining city, as anchor institutions and the creative arts and entertainment–based economy attempt to revitalize neighborhoods as attractive places to live and visit. Yet these revitalization strategies may not address the quality of life issues that current or future residents most value, nor are they necessarily enacted with transparency or neighborhood stakeholder reciprocity. Furthermore, as neoliberal government relinquishes the task of neighborhood redevelopment to private institutions, neighborhood stakeholders question how the neighborhood will change and for whom.