New money, nice town : how capital works in the new urban economy / Leonard Nevarez.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nevarez, Leonard.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urban economics.

Business and politics.

United States--Economic conditions--20th century.

United States--Economic conditions--21st century.

Local Subjects:

United States--Economic conditions--20th century.

United States--Economic conditions--21st century.

Physical Description:

xiv, 224 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2003.

Summary:

In the past decade, a signal development in American life has been the rise of the "quality of life" city. In these places, progressive politics and middle-class, eco-friendly lifestyles go hand in hand with the economic cutting edge. More and more frequently, the most dynamic sectors of the "new" economy -- software, tourism, and entertainment -- are locating there. Looking at leading quality of life cities on the California coastline, Leonard Nevarez shows how the industries associated with the new economy have fundamentally transformed urban life and politics. More "progressive" on their face than "old economy" cities, this new type of city has also been crucial to the emergence of the more unstable, more "flexible" economic system now dominant in America.

Contents:

1 Corporate Power in the New Urban Economy 1

Traditions of Local Business Governance 3

Local Business Structure and Urban Politics 11

Is there a New Economy? 14

The Research Sites 19

The New Urban Economy Sectors 24

Organization of the Work 29

2 Centers of the New Industrial Space 31

Traditional Corporate Geography 32

The New Industrial Space 37

How Labor Sustains the New Industrial Space 43

Competition and Power at the Center 53

3 Spaces of Lifestyle 55

Contradictions of the Center 57

Producing Desirable Places 69

Quality of Life as Locational Asset 73

The Ambiguous Quality-of-Life Discourse 77

4 Building a Site in the New Urban Economy 80

Workspaces of the New Urban Economy 81

Relationships with Developers 91

Big Projects, Little Solidarity 94

Development Politics Without Developers 103

5 Doing Local Business in a Global Industry 105

Using the Chamber of Commerce 106

Financing the New Urban Economy 112

Organizing from Within 115

Hollowing Out Local Business Institutions 124

6 Corporate Interventions into Local Government 126

How Business Sets City Hall's Agenda 127

Rationales for Political Participation 134

The New Business of Local Politics 145

7 The New Local Philanthropy 147

A New Era of Corporate Philanthropy? 148

Charity and the Old Boys' Network 151

Environmentalism as Business Interest 156

Higher Education: The New Chamber of Commerce 161

Trajectories of Business/Nonprofit Alignments 166

8 Rethinking Rootlessness 169

Lessons from the New Urban Economy 171

Corporate Power for the Twenty-First Century 179.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-214) and index.

ISBN:

0415933420

0415933439

OCLC:

49529933