Urban Innovation: Creative Strategies for Turbulent Times

The book provides a wealth of statistically-based evidence to substantiate or repudiate important arguments and assumptions central to the radical changes that are occurring in cities and municipal government. –Max Barlow in Journal of Economic and Social Geography More and more often, city governments operate under turbulent conditions: severe cutbacks in grants from national governments, drop in voter turnouts, taxpayer revolts, and a population of dissatisfied citizens. Urban Innovation addresses these issues by exploring how cities can innovate in the face of such challenges. Based on survey data from the Fiscal Austerity and Innovation Project, this volume reassesses theories of political leadership and government decision making, discusses the ways that cities have made innovations over the past decade, and reviews 33 specific strategies and their results. Some of the other issues this volume addresses are race and class, the growth and decline of city governments, and the intergovernmental aid cutbacks made during the Reagan administration. The turbulence of the past two decades is critical in reshaping our way of thinking about how governments work. Urban Innovation will be useful for students, faculty, and professionals in urban studies, political science, and policy studies.