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City Politics: The Political Economy of Urban America by Judd and Hinze remains a classic study of urban politics. The book covers a variety of problems and phenomena occurring in the dynamic interaction between governmental power, private stakeholders, and politics of identity. One of the topics that the authors approach with persuasive argumentation, attention to historical detail, and accessible language is zoning laws. Judd and Hinze write that before the 20th century, Americans had a distrust for big cities. The negative sentiment faded away after a few decades, and what took its place was the rise of the fragmented metropolis. People residing in the cities were sorting themselves out in different kinds of neighborhoods, depending on their social class. Soon zoning laws emerged to preserve land values and uphold social and racial segregation.
In the 20th century, zoning laws included so-called deed restrictions. A sharp separation was enforced by developers who were prohibiting property owners from selling or renting to Black people and other underprivileged demographics. The rationale behind the unfair treatment was that those populations were considered to be a threat to property value. Since then, deed restrictions were repelled; however, zoning laws stayed in place: to this day, they are used by suburban governments to decide on the development strategy. In this way, they exercise their authority over private property.
When unrestricted, suburban jurisdictions are trying to attract more affluent residents and the types of economic development that bring more value to the local tax base. People living in wealthy neighborhoods with plenty of business investment and higher property prices tend to enjoy better public services even though they pay lower taxes. Interestingly enough, recently, the separation between suburbs and the city center seems to have become inverted. In big cities, the wealthy start to move to the historic center, while the suburbs house immigrants, workers, and more impoverished populations. Judd and Hinze report that between 2000 and 2011, the poverty rate in the Atlanta suburbs had increased by 159%. This demonstrates that regardless of the arrangement, unfair zoning laws ensure that the wealthy neighborhoods receive more support and better service coverage while poorer neighborhoods decay.
Recently, zoning laws have been widely criticized by urban planners and scholars as a breeding ground for new social ills. One of the issues is urban sprawl: unrestricted and poorly controlled urban growth with no regard for urban planning. Other problems include the separation of homes from unemployment and the rise of car culture because residents are forced to commute. So far, there have been two types of responses to the looming crisis outlined by Judd and Hinze. Firstly, some communities are encouraging the development of denser, homogenized, multi-purpose neighborhoods where walking and cycling would be the new norm. The problem is that having a single-family home and car remains an indispensable part of the “American Dream” for many people, and they are reluctant to give up on it.
Another way to tackle the problematic zoning laws has been the reenactment of the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The FHA prohibits discrimination in housing on the grounds of race, nationality, sex, familial status, and disability. The Act covers most houses with an exemption of owner-occupied buildings with no fewer than four units and single-family housing sold or rented without a broker. Another exception is housing run by organizations and private clubs that limit occupancy to members.
Bibliography
Judd, Dennis R., and Hinze, Annika M. City Politics: The Political Economy of Urban America. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2018.
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