The Maintenance of Urban Regimes

• In Event: 046 - Section on Environment and Technology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 17. Environmental Degradation and Conservation

Abstract

Urban scholars have argued that land use politics lends itself to the formation of urban regimes, such that groups in civil society form ruling coalitions to dominate local governments. While these regimes tend to be organized around growth, with businesspeople and developers at the center of the coalition, conservation regimes are possible in places where wealthy residents who care about the environment join with environmental organizations. Once formed, scholars argue that urban regimes are institutionalized and maintained through path-dependent processes such that external disruptions or significant changes in the composition of civil society are necessary for regime change. In this paper I examine six cases from California to observe how growth or conservation regimes are maintained over time. I show that rather than path dependency, regimes must be maintained by resourceful organizations who exercise persistent cultural influence. When ruling coalitions fail to maintain supportive local cultures, disruption and takeover are possible.

Author

• Christopher R. Drue, University of California-San Diego