Cities Without Suburbs by David Rusk

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Cities Without Suburbsby David Rusk

• PSC 312 Urban PolicyDr. Joseph
  StefkoUniversity at Buffalo, SUNYFall 2005

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Introduction

• Rusks background
• Basic premise
• Economic racial segregation in regions
• 24 Lessons about urban America

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Rusks Lessons

• The real city is the metropolitan area
• Most ethnic/racial minorities live in cities
• Post-WW2 growth as been low density
• For city to grow, it must be elastic
• Almost all metro areas have had growth
• Some have grown, others have shrunk

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Rusks Lessons

• Low-density cities grow thru in-fill
• Elastic cities expand city limits
• When city stops growing, it starts shrinking
• Elastic cities capture growth
• Bad state laws can hobble cities
• Neighbors can trap cities

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Rusks Lessons

• Old cities complacent / Young ambitious
• Racial prejudice had shaped growth patterns
• Inelastic areas are more segregated
• Inelastic areas segregate universally
• City-suburb income gap are biggest problem
• Fragmentation segregation / Unity not

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Rusks Lessons

• Fragmented schooling segregation
• Global economy sets rules, localities policy
• Smaller income gaps more econ progress
• Poverty more concentrated in inelastic cities
• Elastics have better bond ratings
• Rebuilding inner cities from w/in fails

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Other points of note

• Table 2.2 (p 56-57)
• Central control over zoning and planning
• Strategies for stretching cities
• A state agenda for change

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Orfields Metropolitics

• Background
• Similarities to Rusk
• Coalitions
• Schools
• Affordable Housing
• Fiscal Disparities
• Metropolitan Council