Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-qc88w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-06T02:21:00.180Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Casinos, Prisons, Incinerators, and Other Fragments of NeoliberalUrban Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Christopher Mele
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Neoliberal urban development, as a set of governance practices and regulationsintended to valorize cities as sites for capital accumulation, has increasedsocial polarization and produced enclaves or “cities withincities.” Local governments have relinquished administrative and legalcontrol to private corporations over how certain areas in the city are developedand used (or “consumed”) and by whom. In this article I examinethe emergence of governance strategies around urban fragmentation in Chester, anolder, former industrial city in southeastern Pennsylvania. My analysis focusesprimarily on modes of state (de)regulation and intervention in privatized urbanredevelopment, emphasizing how common patterns in governance have surfaceddespite changing definitions of “urban redevelopment” overdifferent time periods. In doing so, this analysis fits within critical studiesof actually existing neoliberalism, in which the forms and practices ofneoliberalism are examined as historically contingent and geographicallyspecific.

Information

Type
Special Section: Chronologies and Complexities of WesternNeoliberalism
Information
Social Science History , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , Fall 2011 , pp. 423 - 452
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 2011 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Argall, D. G. (2006) “A policy analysis of the first six years of Pennsylvania’s Keystone Opportunity Zone program, 1998 to 2004: Enlightened economic development or corporate welfare?” PhD diss., Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Balter, J. (1999) “The EPA needs a workable environmental justice protocol.” Tulane Environmental Law Journal 12: 357–71.Google Scholar
Braunlich, C. R. (1996) “Lessons from the Atlantic City casino experience.” Journal of Travel Research 34 (3): 46–56.Google Scholar
Brenner, N.Theodore, N. (2002) “Cities and the geographies of ‘actually existing neoliberalism.’” Antipode 34 (3): 347–79.Google Scholar
Briffault, R. (1997) “The rise of sublocal structures in urban governance.” Minnesota Law Review 82: 509–17.Google Scholar
Business Wire (2001) “High-growth Synergy selects the Wharf at Rivertown for its future world headquarters.” May 18.Google Scholar
BYM Property News (2008) “USA Major League Soccer stadium complex part of revitalization project for Chester’s waterfront.” March 26.Google Scholar
Chester City Planning Commission (1965) The Comprehensive Plan. Chester City Planning Commission, Chester, PA. Mimeograph.Google Scholar
Chester City Planning Commission (1994) Chester City Vision 2000. Chester City Planning Commission, Chester, PA. Mimeograph.Google Scholar
Chester Environmental Justice Factsheet (1996) http://www.ejnet.org/chester/factsheet.html (accessed March 2, 2011).Google Scholar
Clarke, J.Gerwitz, S.McLaughlin, E. (2000) New Managerialism, New Welfare? London: Sage.Google Scholar
Clarke, J.Newman, J. (1997) The Managerial State. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Cole, L. W.Foster, S. R. (2001) Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Curran, D.Scarpitti, F. (1991) “Crime in Atlantic City: Do casinos make a difference?” Deviant Behavior 12 (4): 431–49.Google Scholar
Dear, M.Dahmann, N. (2008) “Urban politics and the Los Angeles school of urbanism.” Urban Affairs Review, June 16, http://uar.sagepub.com/cgi/rapidpdf/1078087408320240v1.Google Scholar
Dear, M.Flusty, S. (1998) “Postmodern urbanism.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 88 (1): 50–72.Google Scholar
Delaware County Daily Times (2007) “Gambling on Chester: City on the move?” December 22.Google Scholar
Delaware County Daily Times (2009) “Editorial: Storm clouds loom on the waterfront.” January 2.Google Scholar
Delaware County Planning Department (2006) Urban Revitalization Resource Guide. Delaware County Planning Department, Media, PA. Mimeograph.Google Scholar
Delaware County Times (2006a) “Chester officials say gambling will benefit their community.” May 22.Google Scholar
Delaware County Times (2006b) “No shortage of applicants on hand at Harrah’s job fair.” December 5.Google Scholar
Dumenil, G.Levy, D. (2004) “The nature and contradictions of neoliberalism,” in Panitch, L.Leys, C.Zuege, A.Konings, M. (eds.) The Globalization Decade: A Critical Reader. London: Merlin: 245–74.Google Scholar
Eadington, W. R. (1995) “The emergence of casino gaming as a major factor in tourism markets,” in Butler, R.Pearce, D. (eds.) Change in Tourism: People, Places, Processes. New York: Routledge: 159–86.Google Scholar
Ewall, M. (1999) “Environmental racism in Chester.” Campus Coalition concerning Chester (C-4), http://www.ejnet.org/chester/ewall_article.html (accessed March 2, 2011).Google Scholar
FAIR Deal Coalition of Chester (2006) “Rolling the dice: Gambling with Chester’s future,” http://www.fairdealchester.org/FDCC_RollingtheDice_0906.pdf (accessed September 6, 2010).Google Scholar
Fincher, R.Jacobs, J. (1998) Cities of Difference. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Fishman, S. (2004) “The preferred approach: Pennsylvania-based Preferred Real Estate Investments turns factories of the past into office buildings of the future.” Northeast Real Estate Business, September.Google Scholar
Foster, S. (1998) “Justice from the ground up: Distributive inequities, grassroots resistance, and the transformative politics of the environmental justice movement.” California Law Review 86: 775–841.Google Scholar
Frey, B.Oberholzer-Gee, F.Eichenberger, R. (1996) “The old lady visits your backyard: A tale of morals and markets.” Journal of Political Economy 104 (6): 1297–1313.Google Scholar
Fuller, C.Bennett, R. J.Ramsden, M. (2004) “Local government and the changing institutional landscape of economic development.” Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 22: 317–48.Google Scholar
Geddes, M. (2006) “The limits to local governance: Institutionalist analysis and neoliberalism.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30 (1): 76–97.Google Scholar
Hackworth, J. (2007) The Neoliberal City: Governance, Ideology, and Development in American Urbanism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hackworth, J.Moriah, A. (2006) “Neoliberalism, contingency, and urban policy: The case of social housing in Ontario.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30 (3): 510–27.Google Scholar
Hamilton, J.Viscusi, K. (1999) Calculating Risks? The Spatial and Political Dimensions of Hazardous Waste Policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Harris, R. E. (2008) Politics and Prejudice: Small-Town Blacks Battle a Corrupt System. Media, PA: Changing Outlook.Google Scholar
Harvey, D. (1989) “From managerialism to entrepreneurialism: The transformation of urban governance in late capitalism.” Geografiska Annaler 71 (1): 3–17.Google Scholar
Harvey, D. (2000) Spaces of Hope. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Harvey, D. (2005) A Short History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hooks, G.Mosher, C.Rotolo, T.Lobao, L. (2004) “The prison industry: Carceral expansion and employment in U.S. counties, 1969–1994.” Social Science Quarterly 85 (1): 35–57.Google Scholar
Huling, T. (2002) “Building a prison economy in rural America,” in Mauer, M.Chesney-Lind, M. (eds.) Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment. New York: New Press: 197–213.Google Scholar
Kunreuther, H.Easterling, D. (1996) “The role of compensation in siting hazardous facilities.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 15 (4): 601–22.Google Scholar
Lobao, L.Hooks, G. (2007) “Advancing the sociology of spatial inequality,” in Lobao, L.Hooks, G.Tickamyer, A. R. (eds.) The Sociology of Spatial Inequality. Albany: State University of New York Press: 29–62.Google Scholar
May, J.Cloke, P.Johnsen, S. (2005) “Re-phasing neoliberalism: New Labour and Britain’s crisis of street homelessness.” Antipode 37 (4): 703–30.Google Scholar
McCann, E. (2002) “Space, citizenship, and the right to the city: A brief overview.” Geojournal 58 (2–3): 77–79.Google Scholar
Meli, J. T. (1972) “Barriers to employment growth in a distressed area: A case study of Chester, Pennsylvania.” PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Mendel-Reyes, M. (1995) Reclaiming Democracy: The Sixties in Politics and Memory. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Merry, S. E. (2001) “Spatial governmentality and the new urban social order: Controlling gender violence through law.” American Anthropologist 103 (1): 16–30.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D. (2003) The Right to the City: Social Justice and the Fight for Public Space. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
O’Sullivan, A. (1993) “Voluntary auctions for noxious facilities: Incentives to participate and the efficiency of siting decisions.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 25 (1): S12–S26.Google Scholar
Peck, J. (2004) “Geography and public policy: Constructions of neoliberalism.” Progress in Human Geography 28 (3): 392–405.Google Scholar
Peck, J.Tickell, A. (2002) “Neoliberalising space.” Antipode 34 (3): 380–404.Google Scholar
Pennsylvania General Assembly (1998) Keystone Opportunity Zone Act 92, House Bill No. 2328, http://www2.legis.state.pa.us/wu01/LI/BI/BT/1997/0/HB2328P3614.pdf.Google Scholar
Pennsylvania General Assembly (2000) Keystone Opportunity Zone Expansion Act 119, House Bill No. 2498, http://www2.legis.state.pa.us/wu01/LI/BI/BT/1999/0/HB2498P4208.pdf.Google Scholar
Pennsylvania General Assembly (2002) Enhancement Extension Act 53. On file at the Delaware County Historical Society, Media, PA.Google Scholar
Philadelphia Business Journal (2008) “Keystone Sports gets design for soccer stadium.” August 21.Google Scholar
Philadelphia Inquirer (2006) “Harrah’s venture grazes Chester: Projections were that residents would fare well with jobs; now no one is saying anything definite.” May 12.Google Scholar
Philadelphia Inquirer (2009) “Chester using casino cash to balance budget.” May 26. Summers, A. A. (1978) “The economy of Chester: What are the alternatives?” Address delivered to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, September 19.Google Scholar
US Census Bureau (2008) State and County QuickFacts: Chester (city) Pennsylvania, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/4213208.html.Google Scholar
US Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (1995) Environmental Risk Study for City of Chester, Pennsylvania. Summary report, June, http://epa.gov/region3/environmental_justice/ChesterEnvironmentalRiskStudySummaryReport6-1995.pdf.Google Scholar
Weber, R. (2002) “Extracting value from the city: Neoliberalism and urban redevelopment.” Antipode 34 (3): 519–40.Google Scholar