Urban Regime Research Articles

Racial Governance in Postwar Chicago: A Multiple Orders Perspective

Much theorizing about patterns of urban governance portrays urban governing arrangements as unified political orders of some kind, be they progressive, neoliberal, or defined by power structures such as urban regimes or growth machines. In this study of racial governance in postwar Chicago, I borrow from literature on American political development to advance a multiple orders perspective in which racial governance is conceptualized as combinations of overlapping elements, at times in conflict with one another. Examining three distinct periods during the postwar era, I show how intersections among multiple political orders resulted in change at certain times and stability, or the appearance of stability, in others. Against arguments that portray urban political development as long periods of equilibrium punctuated at times by brief episodes of change, I find seemingly stable arrangements to be more precarious than they appear, as multiple orders impinge on one another and create frictions that can be key sources of change.

Governing pandemics: Resilience and community responses for COVID-19 in Bengaluru and Shanghai

ABSTRACT This study explores governance strategies and community responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bengaluru and Shanghai. It builds on recent evidence showing China centers on territorial institutions to respond to the pandemic, whereas democratic India relies on associational politics, including alliances with different stakeholders. The study argues that increased community involvement in Shanghai arose from the state’s inadequacies during the crisis, while resident welfare associations (RWAs) in Bengaluru primarily served the middle class and had limited impact on vulnerable populations. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study highlights key lessons that contributed to effective responses in both cities, offering policy recommendations for building resilient cities with stronger leadership. Community reactions in India and China surpassed the normal during the pandemic. Despite differences in urban regimes and political systems, Shanghai’s territorial institutions contrasted with Bengaluru’s associational approach; however local governance and community efforts significantly shaped their pandemic outcomes during the health disaster.

AUTHORITY AND BUSINESS IN SMALL TOWNS OF MODERN RUSSIA: FACTORS OF FORMATION OF POWER COALITIONS

The article determines the role of business for the configuration of power coalitions in old industrial towns of Perm Krai (Kizel and Gubakha). The study was carried out within the framework of urban regime analysis, the most widely used theoretical approach to the study of power in urban communities. The empirical base of the study was made up of materials from in-depth interviews with local politicians, officials, leaders of urban communities, journalists of local media, businessmen directly involved in urban politics. A binary comparison of the interaction of business and government in Gubakha and Kizel confirms the theoretical expectation of the importance of localized large high-tech modern business for the configuration of the power coalition, regardless of the involvement of regional authorities in it. The urban regime, where the power positions of big business are determined by its industrial and commercial interests, the town development programs are subordinated to the development strategy of the enterprise itself. The absence of truly large business localized in a small town determines the strength of the town administration, whose resources are seriously limited due to structural socio-economic reasons. This resource deficit stimulates local authorities to involve urban communities and NGOs in patronage networks through programs of social participation.

Fixing new municipalism discretely and discreetly. Power, participation, and the possibilities of progressive regimes

ABSTRACT The article examines the difficulty of progressive urban regimes to implement concrete and substantial policies. Looking at the reuse of three vacant public spaces in the city of Padova (Italy), it questions how the issues of capacity to act and citizen participation affect the promotion of a new-municipalist agenda. We show that: first, progressive urbanism is very unlikely to happen without an incumbency providing the capacity to implement radical objectives; and second, despite changes in discourse, already existing practices persist and coexist with new, progressive ones through institutional fixes. The case of Padova provides evidence of two “participation fixes” through which its new-municipalist government compensated for, although not resolving, the lack of coalitional and relational governing resources: a discrete implementation of the outcomes of participatory processes and; a discreet use of participatory processes as means to avoid conflict.

Celebrating Sixty Years of Urban Affairs Review: Larry Bennett and the “Black Urban Regime”

Celebrating Sixty Years of Urban Affairs Review: Larry Bennett and the “Black Urban Regime”

Zoning initiatives, divide or unite? Anti-displacement struggles in Chinatown and the Lower East Side, New York City, 2002–2018

ABSTRACT Rezoning is an instrument used to unleash potential economic developments. Although anyone can apply for amendments to the zoning map and the zoning text in New York City (NYC), rezoning is a coalitional effort that reflects class dynamics. This paper examines zoning coalitional practices inside Manhattan’s East Village, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side (LES) between 2002 and 2018. Recent literature highlights the impacts of rezoning and real estate growth coalitions on displacement, but it overlooks their linkages. The paper combines urban planners’ analytics on racialized rezoning with urban regime theorists’ framework on coalition formation to grasp such linkages. It argues that zoning initiatives constitute major turning points in coalition formation and coalition disintegration inside ethno-racial enclaves. Zoning initiatives begin with city producers and ethno-racial elites forming a growth coalition. When the shift from coalition formation to coalition disintegration occurs, the shift alters the scope of actions in zoning initiatives. Strategic disintegration was a response to ongoing anti-displacement struggles. Subsequently, city producers launched zoning initiatives in atomizing sub-districts within Chinatown and the LES. The paper concludes that Chinatown and the LES are witnessing a new coalition formation and pro-longed attempts to undermine anti-displacement struggles.

Urban Regimes and Socially Significant Projects of Transformation of the Urban Environment in the Russian Federation

Urban Regimes and Socially Significant Projects of Transformation of the Urban Environment in the Russian Federation

The Perceived Role of Non-Elected Actors in Community Power Structure in Poland: Results of a Survey Experiment

Administrative decisions can be influenced not only by policies formulated by elected representatives but also by various external actors. From classic elitist and pluralist theories of community power to urban regime and network governance concepts, academic studies tell us that several institutional and individual actors with no electoral democratic legitimacy may have a significant impact on local government decision-making. In our paper, we ask the question who they are in contemporary Polish cities. Are there any systematic regularities in this respect concerning e.g. how they differ depending on the size of the local community? In this paper we look at the phenomenon through the lens of citizens’ perception of the influence on important administrative decisions made in local governments. In this research, we also check whether the style of local political leadership perceived by citizens is reflected in their expectations toward the propensity of local authorities to consider the opinions. Data is collected through a survey conducted on a representative sample of 2,000 Polish citizens who were asked about their perception of the impact of various business and societal actors. The study uses the survey experiment method in which various formulations of the question are randomly assigned to individual respondents, which allows us to measure the perceived influence of individual types of actors. Referring to the recent debate on the limitation of the applicability of regime theory to large cities only, we place a special attention to the impact of city size on the role of big and small businesses as well as various societal organizations.

Forging urban diversity regimes: A combined approach to immigrant policymaking and governance in Mannheim

AbstractAs migration continues to shape urban societies, how cities deal with migration‐based heterogeneity has become a salient issue. Much literature addressing immigrant policymaking has focused on current policy ideas and the different actors they involve; literature on urban governance has highlighted the role of collaboration between state and civil society actors. To date, however, limited research has taken a combined approach to see how municipalities forge collaboration with civil society in pursuit of (novel) policy ideas. The article draws on and combines immigrant policymaking, urban governance and urban regime literatures. It presents Mannheim as a heuristic case which shows how the city's immigrant policymaking reflects a combination of a shift towards 'diversity' as policy idea and discourse and long‐term collaboration in policymaking. Positing the emergence of an “urban diversity regime” in Mannheim, the article reflects on the opportunities this heuristic notion presents for existing literature and for future research.

Institutional-territorial arrangements and urban regimes: the residential verticalization process in Imperatriz (MA)

The project characterizes the institutional arrangements and urban regimes, verifying these factors in the urban space of Imperatriz (MA), by the role played in the framework of governance, facing the spatial dynamics in the institutional, political, economic and social articulations. Thus, it makes approaches focused on the urban growth of the process of verticalization of housing in the context of the residential real estate market of the second largest city of the state of Maranhão. Covering the study of public-private relations in the construction of urban space in the occasion of the coalitions in the middle city, thus seeking to understand the major urban projects, analyzing the forms of power and influence that present a certain role exercised in the urban-regional development. Therefore, using the case study methodology, this research aims to understand the Institutional Arrangements and Urban Regimes from the perspective of the governance of the city of Imperatriz (MA), focusing the process of verticalization of housing from the real estate market, verifying the dynamics of institutional coalitions from urban planning and management. The research has its importance in the development of research with an emphasis on urban geography, in the perspective of the understanding of institutional arrangements, urban regimes and institutional coalitions configurations in the local-regional scenario, which configure and produce the urban space of the city of Imperatriz (MA). Therefore, this research will demonstrate strategic decision situations in the urban dynamics of housing, services and the logic of the housing real estate market, verifying the process of verticalization in the city of Imperatriz (MA).

Corrigendum to Agendas, Coalitions, Resources, and Schemes of Cooperation: Using the Urban Regime Framework to Study Processes of Urban Governance

Corrigendum to Agendas, Coalitions, Resources, and Schemes of Cooperation: Using the Urban Regime Framework to Study Processes of Urban Governance

Impact of the Urban Regime on the Urban Spatial Transformation of Saint Petersburg in the 21st Century (On the Example of Ecological and Eco-Cultural Conflicts)

Aim: Identification of the features of the impact of the urban regime dynamics on the transformation of the urban space of Saint Petersburg in the 21st century.Methods: Quantitative and qualitative methods of sociological research (expert survey, media content analysis, case analysis); math modeling (conversion of the conflict base into quantitative indicators, calculation of the scoring system and spatio-temporal models of the impact of the urban regime dynamics on the urban spatial transformation); mapping; typology.Results & discussion: Empirical material was obtained on the basis of spatio-temporal models. It demonstrates the features of urban changes in the context of the urban regime dynamics in Saint Petersburg. The urban regime transformation goes from the growth to the progressive regime of the middle class, there was identified new transitional urban regime of situational (tactical) coordination. Urban regime and its impact in different city parts were investigated on the basis of maps.Conclusions: Ecological and eco-cultural conflicts are relevant indicators of the urban regime dynamics and changes of the urban space. Such features are identified as the expansion of conflict zones of interaction between actors from the center of St. Petersburg to the eastern semi-periphery and periphery. At the same time, the studied processes have a complex, mosaic spatial structure.

Water Public-Private Partnerships from the Urban Regime Perspective: A Case Study of Jiangsu Province

Water Public-Private Partnerships from the Urban Regime Perspective: A Case Study of Jiangsu Province

Community Benefits Through an Anchor: Contestations During the Planning of the Obama Presidential Center

With the privatization of urban development, anchor institutions are becoming stakeholders in neighborhood revitalization. Cities are eager for anchors due to their purported benefits, but residents are often wary of negative externalities and push for more accountability. This study uses new urban regime theory and focuses on the contestations during an anchor's planning and analyzes the significance of the contestations’ associated outcomes. I use the case of the Obama Presidential Center and the Obama Foundation's rejection of a community benefits agreement to show how anchors can promote a community vision that supersedes that of residents and local organizations. Interviews with organizational stakeholders and analysis of planning materials reveal competing positions regarding organizational identity, community definitions, and racial legitimacy. Enforcing accountability with anchors will require city governments to critique meanings of neighborhood revitalization, prioritize local voices and consider impacts for all large developments, irrespective of whether they are for-profit or non-profit.

Using the Urban Regime Framework to Study Processes of Urban Governance: Agendas, Coalitions, Resources, and Schemes of Cooperation

One of the questions when undertaking comparative research into local politics and processes of collective organization is what frame should be used. In recent decades, many scholars have opted for the urban regime. There is however much debate about the usefulness of this concept for comparative purposes, with the urban regime accused of being theoretically both too narrow as well as too general. In three Dutch case studies, researchers have sought a middle way by applying the urban regime's four building blocks (agenda, coalition, resources, and scheme of cooperation) as a heuristic framework. The results show that this approach has several advantages, especially for comparative purposes, as it provides a clear oversight as to which agendas dominate where and when, and how certain coalitions, resources, and schemes of cooperation align. These benefits however require close attention to certain points: researchers should interpret the building blocks consistently and try to avoid overlap and repetition between them.

Continuity and change in drug treatment: Regimes of control in Japan.

This article examines the development of illegal drug control in Japan. Focusing on the area of drug treatment, a theoretical explanation is offered for how and why a previously punitive configuration has shifted towards a more complex one including both inclusionary and exclusionary approaches. In doing so, it argues for theoretical engagement with the relations of power which structure political competition in the governance of illegal drug control. Using conceptual tools adopted from urban regime analysis, the article discusses the dispositions, resources, and schemes of co-operation that have shaped the development of drug treatment in Japan since the end of the Second World War. Contemporary manifestations of drug treatment are indicative of a disruption to a dominant 'penal-moral' regime and an ongoing transformation towards a 'medico-penal' regime. Contemporary illegal drug control in Japan, especially at a tertiary level, demonstrates both continuity and change from former approaches, with manifestations of policy exhibiting similarities as well as differences from other countries. In accounting for these patterns, conceptual frameworks centred around the political competition to govern problems of illegal drug use provides a useful way to explain how drug policy regimes become variegated across different contexts.

Parameterize walkable urban forms considering perceptual qualities

Establishing new cities and communities to absorb the growth of the population is an urban regime for urban development; especially in developing countries like Egypt. Despite the massive construction done in new cities, people, as well as activities, are still attracted to traditional ones, where livability and walkability are well distinguished. That is all connected to what people perceive from the designed built environment. Much literature addresses this subjective relationship by specifying, measuring, and evaluating. Recent ones have correlated certain physical features and perceptual qualities related to walkability. This research aims to specify more this relationship by deducting design parameters that quantify perceptual walkable urban form. It measures 5 streets in 6 areas, which are already attracting walking and diverse activities in Greater Cairo. The research uses SPSS software to generate averages and ranges which represent values to describe certain urban form elements, the research concluded that different types of urban typologies endorse certain perceptual qualities more than others as well as present guiding design parameters for urban form elements that would help generate a well-perceived walkable urban form.

Power and leadership in small Russian monotowns

ABSTRACT This article presents the outcomes of an empirical study of power and leadership in three small Russian monotowns, conducted in 2011–2015 and 2018–2020. The study demonstrates the variability of power relations in Russian towns, despite the policy of centralization and the strengthening of authoritarian tendencies in Russian politics. The political process in monotowns retains its specificity due to the presence of town-forming enterprises, which largely determine the life of urban communities. Town-forming enterprises retain a high potential for influence in the political space of small towns, especially those enterprises that have solid economic resources and are successfully developing; their presence creates additional opportunities for the formation of an urban regime. The role of these enterprises in local politics varies significantly—from active participation to actual withdrawal. The differences largely depend on their economic potential and development prospects, as well as on a personal factor—the position of enterprise owners and the readiness of the leaders of municipal authorities and enterprises to cooperate.

Urban regimes and socially significant projects of the urban environment transformation in the Russian Federation

The authors of the article aim to identify the principles and patterns of mutual influence of socially significant projects of transformation of the urban environment and urban regimes in the Russian Federation. Clarence Stone's concept of urban regimes is used as a theoretical framework. Based on the author's system of criteria of social significance, 6 projects of urban environment transformation in 4 cities were selected and analyzed: Okhta Center and Tuchkov Buyan in St. Petersburg, Zaryadye Park and the development of fields of the Timiryazev Academy in Moscow, St. Catherine's Church in Yekaterinburg and concreting of the embankments of the river Vologda in Vologda. If the initial phase of all projects took place in the realities of local urban growth regimes, with the predominance of the interests of the established coalitions of business and government, then the subsequent increase in the role of public activism in all projects and the change of goal-setting under its influence led to a change in the local urban regime during their implementation. It is shown that in five studied cases, during the implementation of projects, there was a transition of local urban regimes from “growth” to “progressive”, and in one – from “growth” to a greater extent towards the “status quo” regime. The general principles and patterns of mutual influence of socially significant transformation projects and urban regimes in the Russian Federation are identified and described: competitive public interaction of all types of actors; change or relocation of the project as a spatial way of conflict resolution; the prevailing shift from the realization of the interests of government and business in favor of society; involvement of paternalistic tools as a way to achieve consensus. Such conditions of mutual influence of socially significant projects and urban regimes can develop in a certain period in any major Russian city, then we can expect in it similar to the described results of space transformation. The results of the study clearly demonstrate the beginning of the process of local transformation of the dominant urban regimes in the Russian Federation.

The Spatial Mobility Trap? How Urban Contexts Shape the Spatial Mobility of Male Undocumented Youths

Some scholars have argued urban autonomy creates inclusive spaces for migrants, while others have argued interiorized border security and discriminatory policing constrain racialized migrants. This article examines the extent to which the urban context represents a spatial mobility trap for urban undocumented youths as they become adults, based on data from longitudinal comparative ethnography with undocumented youths, schools, and civil society actors in Paris and New York City. Public schools, public transportation, policing, and informal labor market practices distinguish the urban regimes of migrant il/legality in the two cities, shaping how such youths move within and outside urban space. These elements may magnify or mitigate legal‐status distinctions between undocumented youths and others. As protections for undocumented minors waned at adulthood, New York City's regime blurred legal‐status distinctions, accelerating intracity mobility for most youths while Paris's approach brightened such distinctions, limiting mobility. These findings contribute a spatial mobility perspective to studies of migrant illegality and an urban sociology perspective to the transition to adulthood.