Work

Urban fiscal austerity, infrastructure provision and the struggle for regional transit in 'Motor City'

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Studies suggest that urban fiscal crises trigger the institutional separation of strategic services from general purpose municipal functions. Traditional reformists have highlighted the economic benefits of regional approaches. Global austerity has created fiscal problems for central cities and suburbs alike, transforming the motives for regional solutions. This paper examines how the City of Detroit engineered a new regional arrangement with the surrounding suburbs to raise debt for the delivery of mass transit infrastructure. It represents a dual ‘spatial fix’ in the form of (i) a ‘state territorial fix’ providing fiscally stressed municipalities access to municipal bond markets and (ii) a ‘speculative spatial fix’ that benefits the Detroit growth coalition by linking regional mass transit to the prospect of land-use intensification.

Source: Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society

DOI: 10.1093/cjres/rst031

Authors: S. Hall, A. E. G. Jonas

Institution: University of Hull

Language: English

Topic: Urban Planning and Governance

Subfield: Urban Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2094998631