Tensions in the Growth Machine: Overcoming Resistance to Value-Free Development

Abstract

Cities and towns in the United States have traditionally welcomed capital investment, with little regard to the social or fiscal costs involved. But under tensions generated by the growing international concentration of capital, communities are realizing that the costs of such investments have risen. Some localities are resisting the usual growth agenda, and both the property-oriented “rentier” elite and the middle and working classes are trying to substitute other local goals. Capital is responding with new efforts to penetrate localities by activating their branch managers, increasing political campaign contributions, and directly participating in the property development business. President Ronald Reagan's “New Federalism” helps capital by manipulating urban policy to provide advantageous sites.