Review of “Constructing Community: Urban Governance, Development, and Inequality in Boston”

Abstract

What does it mean to govern? What is power in municipal contexts and who has it? Who is community, and what role do they play in urban politics? Jeremy Levine addresses these questions in his book, Constructing Community: Urban Governance, Development, and Inequality in Boston. This case study profiles transformations in urban governance, charting the rise influence of community-based organizations (CBOs) and the declining influence of elected officials. The case study at the center of these analyses is the emergence and fate of the Fairmount Corridor—an area surrounding the Fairmount commuter line on Boston’s south side. The new infrastructure prompts numerous stakeholders to jockey for position to bring new resources or thwart negative impacts on their neighborhood. Levine reports, however, that despite the goal of developing and serving communities, community members—and even elected officials—were marginalized in the planning processes in which decisions were made. The primary contribution of this study is that it provides a new take on urban governance. At the center of Levine’s analyses are private nonprofits—like the Boston Foundation—who act as consultants and funders on many urban development projects. Funders, who operate largely through philanthropic donations, pick, and choose among projects proposed by CBOs. According to Levine, community organizations have become increasingly professionalized, with funders and CBOs becoming “more managerial, bureaucratic, and market driven… [and] market logics have replaced radical agendas” (6). Levine shows that because of neoliberal imperatives, funders must select those projects that are likely to be successful and generate renewed philanthropic support. The process becomes circular and the outcomes assure cumulative advantages for those neighborhoods that jump into the game with greater initial capacity. Because the power and influence of elected officials—and their state-funding sources—has been eclipsed by the rise of private organizations, other neighborhoods get ignored and left behind.