The Contested City / Edition 1

by John Hull Mollenkopf

Overview

Over the last five decades American cities have been transformed as profoundly and tumultuously as they were during the industrial revolution. In contrast to that earlier era, this contemporary transformation has been stimulated and guided by governmental intervention. John H. Mollenkopf analyzes the government programs and the supporting political coalitions that made this intervention possible. His book shows how the success of these programs, developed largely by urban liberal Democrats, led to new conflicts that ultimately undermined urban development policy.

Using Boston and San Francisco as case studies, the author shows how urban development programs influenced and were influenced by big-city politics. He denies that the current impasse in national politics and urban development stems from technical inadequacies in existing policies. Instead, he argues, it results from failure to reconcile the conflicting interests of dominant urban economic institutions and the urban populace—a failure that led not only to the collapse of the postwar urban development consensus but to the disarray of the Democratic party itself. His suggestions as to how consensus can be restored will fascinate anyone concerned with the future of American politics and the American city.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691022208
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/21/1983
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

	List of Tables	vii
	List of Figures	viii
	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	3
1.	Overview of the Argument	12
2.	The New Deal and After: The Political Determination of Federal Urban Policy	47
3.	The Conservative Response to Democratic Urban Program Expansion and the Construction of an Alternative Policy Emphasis	97
4.	Forging Progrowth Coalitions in Urban Politics: Boston and San Francisco	139
5.	Consequences of the Neighborhood Revolt against Renewal	180
6.	Contrasting Paths Toward the Postindustrial City: The Northeast Versus the Southwest	213
7.	Rebuilding Progrowth Politics?	254
	Notes	301
	Index	325

Editorial Reviews

"John Mollenkopf has written the most comprehensive book to date on the political analysis of contemporary American urbanization. . . . The result is a tightly presented, well-written text that conveys forcefully several key ideas on the evolution of cities and politics in the US. . . . Mollenkopf's work is an additional reason for considering this book a very important contribution to the field of urban politics."

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

"John Mollenkopf has written the most comprehensive book to date on the political analysis of contemporary American urbanization. . . . The result is a tightly presented, well-written text that conveys forcefully several key ideas on the evolution of cities and politics in the US. . . . Mollenkopf's work is an additional reason for considering this book a very important contribution to the field of urban politics."—International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

From the Publisher