Why do Cities face Challenges?

• most land in urban settlements is devoted to housing

• US inner cities have concentrations of low-income people who have physical, social, and economic problems that are very different than those in the suburbs

Changing Urban Physical Geography

• major physical problem in inner-city neighborhoods is the poor condition of housing

The Process of Deterioration

• as the amount of low-income residents increases, territory occupied by them expands

• neighborhoods can shift from middle-class to low-income

• middle-class move to newer houses nearer to the center and sell/rent old houses to low-class

Filtering

filtering: a process of change in the use of a house, from single-family owner occupancy to abandonment

• landlords stop maintaining houses when collected rent becomes less than maintenance cost → building deteriorates and is abandoned

• cities hace codes to require owners to maintain their houses, but it just causes abandonment to happen faster

• many low-income families have moved to less deteriorated houses farther from the center

Redlining

redlining: a process by which banks draw lines on a map and refuse to lend money to purchase or improve property within the boundaries

• families who try to fix houses have difficulty borrowing money

• redlining is illegal, but enforcement of its laws is difficult

Public Housing

public housing: housing owned by the government; in the US, it is rented to residents with low incomes, and the rents are set at 30% of the families’ income

• a housing authority manages the buildings

• federal government pays cost of construction and the maintenance, repair, and management

• in other countries, local governments/non-profit organization build the housing, aided by subsidies

• most public housing now is unsatisfactory for families with kids

  • elevators are broken

  • juveniles terrorize other people

  • drug use and crime rates are high

• people claim the buildings were responsible for the problem because too many low-income families were concentrated into a high-density environment

• many public houses have been demolished

• US government stopped funding new public housing

• federal program, Hope VI, tries to renovate older public housing

• around 1 million units of public houses have diminished, but the demand has increased by over 2 million people

• in Britain, amount of public housing decreased due to it being sold to residents

Gentrification

gentrification: a process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income, renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class, owner-occupied area

• middle-class families are attracted to deteriorated inner-city neighborhoods because

  • houses are larger and less expensive

  • houses have attractive architectural details

  • downtown workers don’t have the strain of driving through traffic

  • neighborhoods are near cultural and recreational facilities

  • people with no children don’t care about quality of schooling

• cities encourage the process by giving low-cost loans and tax breaks

• criticized for forcing low-income people to move out once rents get too high

• US requires moved out low-income people to be reimbursed

• gentrification allows to disperse low-income families throughout the city

Changing Urban Social Geography

Underclass

underclass: a group in society prevented from participating in the material benefits of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic characteristics

• underclass suffer from

  • high rates of unemployment

    • unable to compete for jobs

    • lack technical skills for jobs due to no education

    • don’t have access to low-skilled jobs because they’re all in the suburbs

  • alcoholism

  • drug addiction

  • illiteracy

    • attend deteriorated schools

  • juvenile delinquency

    • live in an atmosphere that ignoes good learning habits

  • crime

    • lack police and fire protection, shops, hospitals, clinics, etc.

  • homelessness

    • affordable housing is difficult to find

    • sleep in doorways, heated street grates, and in stations

Culture of Poverty

• most low-income children grow up with a singe mother, who are forced to choose between working or staying at home

• dads are usually not found, and couples tend to be better apart than together

• people turn to drugs due to hopelessness

  • may obtain money for drugs from criminal activites

  • gangs form and may fight and kill people

• many neighborhoods are segregated by ethnicity

• families seeking new residences consider only a few districts, where they share the social and financial characteristics

Suburban Stress

• high-income people move into the inner city

• low-income people move into inner suburbs

• middle-class people move to new homes on the periphery

• inner suburbs aren’t able to get revenue to provide for needs

Urban Economic Geography Challenges

The Eroding Tax Base

• low-income residents need public services, but can only pay very little for the taxes needed

• a gap has grown between the cost of services and the funds

• cities have two options

  • reduce services

    • close libraries

    • eliminate bus routes

    • collect trash less often

    • delay replacement of outdated school equipment

    • causes hardship of people laid off from work

    • encourages gentrification

  • raise tax revenues

    • provide tax breaks for downtown offices, luxury hotels, restaurants, and shops

    • these businesses provide a lot of taxes and provide minimum wage jobs for residents

    • takes away subsidies for projects in the inner-city neighborhoods

The Impact of the Recession

• financial condition of local governments remains poor

• one of the causes of the recession was the collapse in the housing market in the inner city

• people were unable to pay subprime mortgages

  • lenders can take over the property (foreclosure)

  • house prices fell below the mortgage

Reviving Consumer Services in the CBD

• retailing is thriving in CBDs if combined with leisure activities

  • more willing to make a trip for unusual shops in a dramatic setting