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The Art of Revitalization: Improving Conditions in Distressed Inner-City Neighborhoods Author: Sean Zielenbach Dissertation School: Northwestern University Pages: 329 Publication Date: June 1998 Availability: Access Number: 10731 Abstract: Conditions in many of the nation's urban, African American neighborhoods have worsened considerably in the past few decades, yet the rate of decline in these communities has varies markedly both within and across cities. Why have some of these poor neighborhoods seemed to improve, stabilize, or at least decline at a relatively slow rate, while others areas have experiences an economic free-fall? This study seeks to identify the conditions and political activities that enable impoverished urban communities to become re-integrated into the urban economic system. It examines how individuals and agencies interact to attract private investment and promote positive economic and social change. It considers the role that private, public, and nonprofit sectors play in enabling neighborhoods to take advantage of the market, both through structured anti-poverty programs and through less formal activities. It looks at how local, state, and federal policies affect particular communities, and why certain neighborhoods benefit more from them than others. The study defines revitalization as the improvement of social and economic conditions for the indigenous residents and the re-integration of the neighborhood into the market economy. It consists of two parts: a quantitative analysis and qualitative field work in four Chicago neighborhoods. The quantitative approach provides a way of measuring the extent to which change has occurred, while the case studies identify thee mechanisms by which those changes took place. The statistical analysis creates a revitalization index out of four indicators: per capita income, residential loans per capita, median single-family property values, and retail establishments per capita. It looks at changes in the index for each of Chicago's officially defined community area over the past 20 years.These change scores will be correlated with a number of independent variables grouped in five categories: Location and infrastructure, demographics, social capital, housing, and public investment. The analysis looks at trends and correlations among the variables and puts revitalization in the context of changes in Chicago's overall economy. Finally, the quantitative component provides a rationale for selecting the case studies. The case studies will involve extensive interviews of community leaders, nonprofit agency directors, bankers, realtors, clergy, and other individuals with a relevant perspective on the neighborhoods. The case studies will test and illuminate relationships identified in the statistical analysis. They will examine how various individuals and organizations respond to the opportunities and constraints posed by the locational, economic, and social factors present in their neighborhoods. As many scholars and policy-makers have emphasized, distressed inner-city neighborhoods contribute to and generate some of the nations' costliest and seemingly most intractable social problems. Determining what causes some of these communities to revitalize has enormous benefits for the society. Highlighting, encouraging, and replicating the factors that produce change could result in the gradual reclamation of many of the cities' most blighted regions, improving conditions for thousands of citizens, enhancing national productivity, and reducing the social welfare burden. |
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