COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CODlDlunity EconoDlic DevelopDlent Policy Development in the US and UK Edited by David Fasenfest Assistant Professor Department of Sociology Purdue University,Indiana in association with the Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978-1-349-12497-8 ISBN 978-1-349-12495-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-12495-4 © Policy Studies Organization 1993 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1993 All rights reserved. For infonnation, write: Scholarly and Reference Division, St. Martin' s Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 First published in the United States of America in 1993 ISBN 978-0-312-08059-4 Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Community economic development: policy fonnation in the US and UK / edited by David Fasenfest. p. cm.-(Policy Studies Organization series) IncIudes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-08059-4 1. LocaI government-United States. 2. Community development -United States. 3. Economic development projects--United States. 4. LocaI government-Great Britain. 5. Community development-Great Britain. 6. Economic development projects--Great Britain. I. Fasenfest. David. 11. Series: Policy Studies Organization series (New York, N. Y.) JS341.C66 1993 338.9-dc20 92~985 CIP To my parents Contents Preface ix Notes on the Contributors xi PART I THE POTENTIAL FOR CROSS-NATIONAL LEARNING 1 Loeal Eeonomie Poliey Formation: Setting an Agenda for Development Research 3 David Fasenfest 2 Cross-National Comparisons of Urban Eeonomie Programmes: Is Poliey Transfer Possible? 14 llarold VVolnnan PART 11 POLICY FORMATION: WHAT KIND AND FOR WHOM? 3 The Coneept of Loeal Eeonomie Development Poliey: So me Fundamental Questions 45 Kevin Cox 4 Turning the Tide? The Impact of Urban and Regional Regeneration Initiatives in Northeast England 65 Ash Annin and lohn Tonnaney 5 Afriean-American Eleeted Offieials and the Future of Progressive Politieal Movements 90 Robert Mier, loan Fitzgerald and Lewis Randolph 6 Industrial Diversifieation as Eeonomic Poliey 109 Robert Beauregard 7 A Tale of Three (British) Cities: Eeonomie Development Polities in Cardiff, Leeds and Glasgow 122 Peter Meyer vii viii Contents PART III BUSINESS OR COMMUNITY: CHOOSING A FOCUS 8 Business Involvement in Local Economic Regeneration 141 Aram Eisenschitz 9 Community Development or Business Promotion: A Look at Sport-Ied Economic Development in Chicago 157 lohn Pelissero, Beth Henschen and Edward Sidlow 10 Community Based Economic Development: The British Experience 173 Richard MacFarlane 11 The Dialogical Community: Creating Rational Urban Economic Futures 188 Ron Vogel and Bert Swanson 12 Third Sector Enterprises in the Uni ted Kingdom and Australia 205 lirn Brown References 222 Index 239 Preface Over the past two deeades seholars from all intelleetual traditions and on both sides of the Atlantie have struggled with what is meant by eommunity eeonomie development, first as a proaetive measure to direet the kind of growth desired and later as a defensive measure to minimise or reverse dedine. Planners, politieians, business elites and eommunity aetivists all beeame aware of polieies and praetiees in neighbouring areas, and in other countries, and they began to experi ment by borrowing and modifying apparent sueeesses (and in some eases dear failures). It soon beeame obvious that while the situation in both countries seemed to be similar, they were in fact very different. In the US the Reagan administration sought to remove the federal government from the business of maintaining a wide array of loeal programmes and eommunities suddenly found themselves struggling alone in a rapidly changing international eeonomy. By eomparison, the Thateher government in the UK sought to impose greater eontrol over the day-to-day aetions of loeal governments and to undermine the Labour Party's role in urban areas. Nominally independent munieipal eouneils found themselves first severely eonstrained and then in some instanees disbanded by the eentral government. We now have a deeade of experienee, both in the US and the UK, from whieh to assess the outcomes of poliey initiatives, and to wh at degree experienees with these polieies ean serve as models for emula tion. This volume is an attempt to bring together seholars who have written on eommunity development, and praetitioners who have experience with formulating a community development programme, in order to evaluate recent experiences and arrive at an understanding of loeal eeonornie development poliey formation. Eaeh of the ehapters in this book differ in their foeus (some look at specifie praetiees in great detail, others on the general issues in the broadest terms); yet, taken together, this volume asks the general question 'Loeal eeon ornie development how, and for whom?', and offers the answer 'For the community, in its various formations, in a manner whieh maxi rnises loeal input and participation'. The projeet was the result of a long series of diseussions with Peter Meyer about the state of loeal development poliey out of whieh emerged a collaborative symposium as weIl as individually edited ix x Preface volumes. This volume could not have been possible without partial financial assistance from the Henry J. Lear Foundation, and from the School of Urban Policy (SUP) within the University of Louisville while under the direction of Scott Cummings. The opinions and conclusions in this book are solely those of the authors and do not speak for either the Foundation, SUP or the University of Louisville. Additional thanks are due to Scott for his willingness to fund this project during trying times, and to Stuart Nagel who saw the project through its early formative stages. Finally, Heidi Gottfried deserves a special thanks for her support throughout this process, for her willingness to serve as sounding board and advisor, and for putting up with any stress caused by this project. Department of Sociology DAV ID FASENFEST Purdue University Notes on the Contributors Ash Amin lectures in the Centre for Urban and Regional Develop ment Studies at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. With John Tomaney, he is currently working on an ESRC-funded project on the implications of the Single European Market for regional cohesion in the Community. He is co-editor of Towards a New Europe (1991). Robert Beauregard is a Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. His work deals with urban economic development, urban theory, and planning theory. Most recently he edited Eeonomie Restrueturing and Politieal Response (1989) and Atop the Urban Hierarehy (1939). Jim Brown is a UK-based freelance consultant, specialising in work ers' cooperatives and community-based economic initiatives. In 1989 he spent three months in Australia as a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong and completed a study tour of the country funded by the Commonwealth Relations Trust. Kevin Cox is currently Professor of Geography at the Ohio State University. His interests are in the relation between social theory and questions of space, with particular reference to urban politics. His numerous articles and books include Confliet, Power and Polities in the City (1973) and Loeation and Publie Problems (1979). Aram Eisenschitz is a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex Polytechnic. He received his training at University College London and the Architectural Association, after which he worked for the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry on local economic issues. After joining Middlesex Polytechnic he co-founded and participates in running the first post-graduate course in Local Economic Initiatives. He has just finished co-authoring a book on local economic initiatives which is due to appear in 1993. David Fasenfest is on the faculty of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Purdue University. He has written extensivelyon local economic development and public policy, with recent articles appearing in the Urban Affairs Quarterly, Journal 0/ Urban Affairs, xi