Improvement Districts Research Articles

Claiming Space, Claiming Water: Contested Legal Geographies of Water in South Texas

Current scholarship on poverty in the U.S. borderlands argues that limited low-income housing and unenforced land development regulations cause poor domestic water access in south Texas's predominantly Mexican-American rural and periurban low-income communities (colonias). In this article, I argue that water politics, not only poverty or failed public policy, determined the trajectory of inadequate water access. Drawing from legislative archives, legal documents, and court records, I examine two companion legal cases (Jimenez v. Hidalgo WCID 2 et al. [1971] and Fonseca v. Hidalgo WCID 2 et al. [1971]) that challenged the ability of farmer-controlled water control and improvement districts (WCIDs) to dominate regional water governance by excluding colonias from district territory. This territorial exclusion denied colonias residents the right to vote for WCID board candidates and, thus, denied residents the political standing to change the district's operation from irrigation to domestic water supply. Drawing on current scholarship in critical legal geography, the article details how emerging legal discourses rescripted narratives about colonias residents’ access to water through debates over the political territoriality of the WCIDs. Moreover, the legal process shifted the terms of debate from voting rights to historical precedent, the market, policy failure, and prospective water rights. The final legal ruling against colonias residents foreclosed any standing they had in regional water governance and shunted them into their current position of passive consumers of dysfunctional public services with limited ability to change their relationship to regional water management institutions.

Business Improvement Districts and the recession: Implications for public realm governance and management in England

BIDs were introduced in the UK in 2003/2004 and their widespread adoption is linked to their ability to raise funds to invest in the locality, through a mandatory supplementary levy on business rates, voluntary contributions, sponsorship and public sector grants. However, the economic downturn has already restricted those sources of funding, and public sector spending cuts are likely to restrict them even further. This paper discusses a case-study research on the impact that recession and spending cuts have had on the way BIDs operate, and identifies the threats and opportunities to them as stakeholder-led instruments for the management of town centres and commercial and industrial areas. The research shows that although the recession and spending cuts have had an impact on most BIDs, the model itself has not been put in question, and BIDs are becoming permanent features of the governance of town and city centres, and increasingly also of industrial areas. Their roles in public realm management have been varied, from a minor function in complementing local environmental services, to being active players in the transformation of public places into arenas for festivals and spectacle, to coordinators of surveillance, policing and occasionally exclusion. The implications for the public realm of the evolution and consolidation of BIDs will therefore be varied. Some BIDs are likely to play an increasing role in the delivery of public realm services and the shaping of public realm quality, and in those cases the existence of adequate mechanisms to harmonise the interests of levy payers with other local stakeholders will be of considerable importance. Others might have a sporadic impact on the public realm, with a more pronounced role of the local authority in mediating that impact. Understanding how BIDs operate, the aspirations they represent, their relationship to other aspirations and to broader policy objectives, and the role in that operation of fluctuations in the economy, will be increasingly important in thinking critically about the limits and potential of emerging forms of urban governance.

Conferences, informational infrastructures and mobile policies: the process of getting Sweden ‘BID ready’

This paper makes a contribution to the fledgling literature on policy mobilities and mutations. Using the example of the internationalization of the Business Improvement District (BID) model, it argues that conferences constitute important arenas in and through which both the mobilizing and embedding of urban policies can occur. Focusing on a two-day conference that took place in Sweden in 2009, it uses the language of trans-urban policy pipelines in order to capture the formation of relationships over distance as a means of comparing, educating and learning about the experiences of other cities. Revealing the complex architectures and ecologies that have underpinned the movement of this model from one country to another and from one city to another over the last two decades or so, the paper uses a combination of ethnographic techniques together with semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with organizers and participants to produce a single-site but relationally thickened description of the place of conferences in facilitating the movement of policies across space.

‘Clean and safe’ passage: Business Improvement Districts, urban security modes, and knowledge brokers

This paper interrogates the complex role of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in securing and shaping conduct in public retail and ‘entertainment’ spaces in Canadian cities. Adopting a Foucault-inspired sociology of governance perspective, this paper uncovers key features of the role of BIDs therein and casts doubt upon assumptions evident in previous research, including in relation to urban neo-liberalism. BIDs seek to exclude obstacles, which include ‘panhandlers’ and the homeless, from public spaces. Yet, other barriers are placed into relief by a proliferating ‘clean and safe’ rationality and are deemed to interfere with consumption conduct and pedestrian flow. These include BID members engaged in moralized enterprises. Some BIDs are deploying CCTV surveillance arrangements and interactive ‘ambassadors’ consistent with ‘clean and safe’, whereas others avoid these modes and rely upon and lobby for public sources. The role of BID coordinators in brokering specialized knowledge is pivotal in these varied security arrangements. Theoretical implications of this analysis are discussed.

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs): the internationalization and contextualization of a ‘travelling concept’

In many countries across the world, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are seen as a new model of sub-municipal governance to secure private capital for improving the attractiveness of a city’s central spaces. Originating from North America (Canada and the United States), this model of self-taxing districts, often based on public–private partnerships, has spread to other continents, including Europe, Australia and Africa. This theme issue explores the internationalization and the contextualization of the BID model in both Northern countries (the United States, Canada, Germany and Sweden) and Southern countries (South Africa). The collection of articles focuses on key debates surrounding BIDs and presents different theoretical perspectives as well as lines of argument in relation to these debates. Relying on approaches based on political economy and local governance regimes, Foucault-inspired sociology of governance and governmentality studies or critical discourse analysis, the authors discuss the nature and significance of BIDs in relation to state restructuring and the neoliberalization of urban policies and to emergent rationalities and practices of security governance and policing arrangements. Using the recent discussions of policy transfer and ‘urban policy mobilities’, they look at the international circulation of the BID model and its local embeddedness, exploring the role of the global circuits of knowledge and the ways in which the model has been adopted and reshaped in different cities. Drawing a complex and differentiated picture of BIDs across continents and cities, this collection of articles emphasizes both the need for more comparative research across diverse urban experiences and contexts and the relevance of a relational perspective in urban studies that blurs the traditional lines of separation between studies of Northern and Southern cities.

Legitimating Business Improvement Districts in Johannesburg: a discursive perspective on urban regeneration and policy transfer

This article considers the transfer of the Business Improvement District model to South Africa from a discursive perspective. It examines the ways in which the private sector (property and business owners) has justified the adoption of the model and how it has moulded the concept to Johannesburg’s inner city. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, this article focuses on legitimation strategies, locating them within broader social practices and power relations within the framework of urban revitalization policies implemented after the democratic transition. By focusing on legitimation strategies, and more particularly on their linguistic and semiotic aspects at the micro level, the article shows how the analysis of language use, particularly through a socio-cognitive approach (Van Dijk, 2009), can contribute to uncovering the opinions, attitudes, ideologies, norms and values of social actors. It can also offer insights into a local reinterpretation of a globally circulating model. The comparative analysis of two case studies highlights changing assumptions and attitudes, at least in local rhetoric, and demonstrates how the imported model has been reshaped not only by different discourses associated with various social practices but also by changing policy demands. By considering discourse as an instrument of the social construction of reality as well as an instrument of power and control, the chosen approach also underlines the way in which inequalities are reproduced and maintained in Johannesburg.

Spillover of the private city: BIDs as a pivot of social control in downtown Los Angeles

Our paper addresses the complex role of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in current processes of inner-city restructuring and the function of BIDs in the implementation of new forms of social control in downtown areas. Our thesis is that, in the context of recent urban renaissance initiatives, BIDs are expanding their ‘clean and safe’ profile to be a much more comprehensive programme. Their goal is not only to produce safety and cleanliness in the urban environment but to influence the symbolic dimension of what the city is and for whom it is made. This implies indirect forms of governing the way in which the city is used, which go unnoticed if BIDs are identified solely as a tool to create ‘clean and safe’ public space. We will substantiate this claim with a case study on the current restructuring of downtown Los Angeles (L.A.). Since 1999, downtown L.A. has been profoundly ‘revitalized’ as a living and entertainment district for affluent residents. The nine BIDs covering the main parts of the downtown play an important role in making this gentrification happen by providing the appropriate context for restructuring. Beyond overt measures such as security forces or CCTV, the BIDs also have an important impact on the ‘geographical imagination’ (Harvey, 1973) of the city. The examples elucidate the anticipation of a broadening field of activity for BIDs, not only in securing an ‘urban renaissance’ but also in framing the way it is performed symbolically.

The co-production of purified space: hybrid policing in German Business Improvement Districts

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have evolved as an ‘innovation’ in urban governance supposed to function as a reaction to inner-city decay, emerging suburbs and the transformation of the retail industry owing to so-called ‘malling’ under ‘actually existing neoliberalism’. In the field of security, the interplay of public police and rent-a-cops being directed by ‘institutionalized lobbyism’ represents local governance regimes in exclusionary action. The paper analyses the concept of BIDs with regard to its controversial legal (constitutional), spatial and humanitarian impacts. Evidence for the critical challenges that are brought about by BIDs is taken from case studies in the City of Hamburg, Germany.

The Adaptative Nature of Neoliberalism at the Local Scale: Fifteen Years of City Improvement Districts in Cape Town and Johannesburg

By unravelling the adoption and adaptation of the North American Business Improvement District model in South African cities, this paper considers the way neoliberal principles are making their way in the post-apartheid context. Drawing on a comparative approach of BIDs in Johannesburg and Cape Town, we analyze the tensions and conflicts surrounding their implementation and unpack the resilience of this model. As unexpected as this resilience might be in such a context, i.e. far away from the heartland of neoliberalism, we argue that this resilience is linked to the permeability of the local contexts and to the plasticity of the model itself at the city and neighbourhood levels, reflecting a capacity to adapt to inherited regulatory frameworks, patterns of territorial development and embedded socio-political alliances of the local terrains, as well as an ability to accommodate post-apartheid issues through the crafting of what we refer to as local Third Ways .

Circulation of Security Models in Southern African Cities: Between Neoliberal Encroachment and Local Power Dynamics

AbstractThis symposium focuses on the circulation of security governance models in cities of Southern Africa (Johannesburg, Cape Town, Windhoek and Maputo). It consists of three articles analysing at different scales (regional, national and intra‐urban) the circulation of specific neighbourhood‐based solutions to security issues, such as road closures, gated residential developments and business improvement districts. This spreading process, with the South African case at its core, is analysed within the theoretical framework of neoliberalism. The symposium, via this discussion of security models and the way they reflect the changing relationships between state and private actors locally, discusses the relevance of this framework to a fuller understanding of the transformation of Southern African cities.RésuméCette collection d'articles porte sur la circulation de modèles de gouvernance sécuritaire dans les villes d'Afrique australe (Johannesburg, Cape Town, Windhoek et Maputo). Les trois articles qui la constituent analysent, à différentes échelles (régionale, nationale et intra‐urbaine), la circulation de certains dispositifs locaux de lutte contre l'insécurité, tels que les enclosures, les complexes résidentiels fermés et les Business Improvement Districts. Ces processus de diffusion, qui ont souvent pour centre l'Afrique du Sud, sont analysés à travers le cadre théorique du néolibéralisme. Cette collection, en analysant la manière dont ces modèles sécuritaires reflètent les relations dynamiques entre l'Etat et les acteurs privés locaux, questionne la pertinence de ce cadre théorique pour comprendre les transformations des villes d'Afrique australe.

The Spreading of the City Improvement District Model in Johannesburg and Cape Town: Urban Regeneration and the Neoliberal Agenda in South Africa

AbstractThe spreading of city improvement districts (CIDs) and connected forms of public–private partnership as an international model of urban renewal has been linked to the rise of ‘urban entrepreneurialism’ and the neoliberalization of policies and practices, at a time when competition between cities in the global economy has never been greater. The aim of this article is to explore the transfer and adaptation of the CID model in two cities of the South, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Arguing that CIDs are an example of the local embeddedness of neoliberalism, we highlight the role of the private sector in importing and adapting CIDs in South Africa, and point out the rise of techno‐politicians in CID management. Paying particular attention to discourses, we analyse the way images of decaying urban centres were used to legitimate the adoption of such schemes. The subsequent transformation of the model also enables us to explore the specificity of the adoption of this international best practice model in South Africa and its further circulation at the Southern African level. We conclude that while CIDs in South Africa raise familiar North American issues regarding the private management of public spaces, they also question the very nature of the African city model proposed and envisioned locally.RésuméLa diffusion du modèle du CID et du principe du partenariat public–privéà l'échelle internationale pour servir des stratégies de renouvellement urbain a été lue comme conséquence de la montée en puissance de l'urbanisme entrepreneurial et comme l'avènement de pratiques et politiques néolibérales, ceci alors que la compétition économique mondiale entre les villes est plus vive que jamais. Les auteures s'attachent dans cet article à décrypter le processus de transfert et d'adaptation du modèle du CID dans deux villes du Sud, Johannesbourg et le Cap. L'argument central est que les CIDs offrent un cas d'école de l'ancrage local du néoliberalisme. Le rôle du secteur privé dans l'importation et la promotion du modèle en Afrique du Sud est souligné, et illustre la montée en puissance des techno‐politiciens dans les affaires urbaines. Faisant une place particulière aux discours, les auteures analysent la façon dont les images du déclin des centres ont légitimé l'adoption du modèle. La transformation ultérieure du modèle permet par ailleurs de réfléchir aux spécificités de l'ancrage de ce modèle de «best practice» en Afrique du Sud et sa circulation à l'échelle de l'Afrique australe: alors que les CIDs nous renvoient à des questions relatives à la gestion privée des espaces publics déjà traitées dans les contextes du Nord, ils permettent également de réfléchir à la nature même du modèle de ville africaine proposé ici.

Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects. Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK

Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects. Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK

Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects. Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK

Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects. Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK

Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects. Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK

Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects. Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK

Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects. Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK

Private Sector-led Urban Development Projects. Management, Partnerships and Effects in the Netherlands and the UK

グラウンドワークを活用した幹線用水路の維持管理活動

This paper shows the implementation framework, determining factors and the land improvement districts' management relevant to maintenance activities of main irrigation canals through Groundwork methods. As a case study, we investigate the land improvement district which is performing the maintenance activities by involvement of multiple actors in two main irrigation canals. Our research revealed that the land improvement district, as an intermediary, utilized the Ground work methods. Characteristics of region, facilities and actors were taken into consideration to carry out the maintenance activities. These results suggest that such performance is effective with promoting the partnership among multiple actors.

Housing Cape Town’s Forgotten Dead: Conflict in the Post-apartheid Public Sphere<sup>1</sup>

On 28 May 2008, the Cape Town Partnership Company Executive Officers’s newsletter reported on an ‘Interfaith ceremony at Prestwich Place [sic]’ to ‘consecrate’ a new ossuary building recently completed in Cape Town’s central business district. The announcement placed the Ossuary alongside other Partnership initiates and events such as the Harvest Festival, the Creative Cape Town initiative, and the upgrading of the Cape Town Station and the Grand Parade managed through the Partnership and the City Improvement District. The building of the Ossuary is intended to memorialise and bring closure to the contestations over the re-emergence of burial spaces in the city that have taken place in Cape Town since 2004. Presented as a successful ‘partnership’ between the Prestwich Place Project Committee, the City of Cape Town, the South African Heritage Resources Agency, the District Six Museum and Heritage Western Cape, this symbolic act of closure has been hailed a breakthrough in terms of heritage practice by practitioners and city officials alike. In this paper we visit the space of the Ossuary and its associated exhibition in the city, and reflect on the relationship between life space and burial space in Cape Town. Following the official path of the exhibition we pause to attach our own notes – a series of fragmentary interventions which trouble the smooth surface of containment. We use the experience of walking to reflect on the architecture of closure.

Understanding Business Improvement District formation: An analysis of neighborhoods and boundaries

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) provide supplemental services to urban commercial corridors using funds from member assessments. They have become a very popular urban revitalization tool, but their formation is still largely unexplained. Theory implies that BIDs will form if they add to aggregate welfare and if the marginal net benefit of membership is positive. I test this for the neighborhood overall and at the BID boundary. Using unique, micro-level and longitudinal data from New York City, I employ survival analysis methods to estimate the likelihood of a neighborhood forming a BID. I then estimate the likelihood of the marginal property’s BID membership by comparing the characteristics of properties located immediately inside and outside of the BID boundaries. I find that BIDs are more likely to form when there is more commercial space over which the BID benefits can be capitalized and when there is homogeneity in service and spending preferences across properties. BIDs also tend to form in neighborhoods that possess signs of appreciation and growth. Generally, BIDs are more likely to form in neighborhoods with higher valued properties with the exception of very wealthy areas. The BID boundary, however, is comprised of relatively less valuable properties.

"CLEAN AND SAFE" FOR ALL? THE INTERACTION BETWEEEN BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE PROVISION OF PUBLIC GOODS

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) privately supplement local public goods, and theory predicts that the public sector will interact with BIDs in their provision of local services. This paper provides the first empirical study of the sub-municipal effect of BIDs on the allocation of publicly provided services. Using unique, neighborhood-level data from New York City, I find that BIDs are associated with a significant, but substantively small, shift in the allocation of police and sanitation services. However, after instrumenting for BID presence, any significant effect of BIDs on public spending and service provision disappears. Together the results indicate that there is little or no interaction between public and private governments in the provision of local services.

地域の資源保全の担い手「土地改良区」の強化と合併問題

地域の資源保全の担い手「土地改良区」の強化と合併問題