Urban fiscal austerity, infrastructure provision and the struggle for regional transit in 'Motor City'

S Hall,A E G Jonas

doi:10.1093/cjres/rst031

Abstract

Studies suggest that urban fiscal crises trigger the institutional separation of strategic services from general purpose municipal functions. Traditional reformists have highlighted the economic benefits of regional approaches. Global austerity has created fiscal problems for central cities and suburbs alike, transforming the motives for regional solutions. This paper examines how the City of Detroit engineered a new regional arrangement with the surrounding suburbs to raise debt for the delivery of mass transit infrastructure. It represents a dual 'spatial fix' in the form of (i) a 'state territorial fix' providing fiscally stressed municipalities access to municipal bond markets and (ii) a 'speculative spatial fix' that benefits the Detroit growth coalition by linking regional mass transit to the prospect of land-use intensification. © The Author 2014.

Highlights

On 14th March, 2013, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced the appointment of Mr Kevyn Orr – a corporate lawyer experienced in restructuring the debts of global corporations such as Chrysler – as an emergency manager charged with the fiscal restructuring of the City of Detroit
Drawing upon Harvey’s (1982) insights into the role of infrastructure in potentially offsetting a crisis of accumulation, we argue that regional transit in Detroit constitutes a dual ‘spatial fix’ comprised of: (1) a ‘state territorial fix’ which gives fiscally-stressed municipalities access to municipal bond markets; and (b) a ‘speculative spatial fix’ that benefits the Detroit growth coalition by linking regional mass transit provision to the prospect of future land-use intensification
Subsequent sections examine how the Detroit-based growth coalition acted to engineer a deal with surrounding municipalities and counties to create a regional transit authority, secure further access to capital markets, and speculate against future returns on land-use intensification resulting from transit-corridor development

Summary

Introduction

Subsequent sections examine how the Detroit-based growth coalition acted to engineer a deal with surrounding municipalities and counties to create a regional transit authority, secure further access to capital markets, and speculate against future returns on land-use intensification resulting from transit-corridor development. In our discussion and conclusion we reflect on the implications of urban fiscal austerity for contemporary modes of infrastructure provision and question the long-term sustainability of regional governance vehicles operating beyond local municipalities in the delivery of highly speculative debt-financed infrastructure.

Results

Conclusion