City government and urban inequalities

Abstract

What potential do city governments have to prevent and mitigate worsening urban inequalities? Focusing on different urban scales of government, this discussion goes beyond the core tasks of urban service provision to consider strategies of: (i) distribution and deliberation (e.g. revenue measures, living wages or participatory budgeting); (ii) housing and planning (e.g. equity planning, inclusionary zoning, anti-displacement measures, social housing programmes); (iii) environment and infrastructure (e.g. water and waste services, mass transit and non-motorised transport alternatives); and (iv) urban citizenship (e.g. freedom of information, association and movement; public realm and open space strategies).

Rethinking the political economy of place: challenges of productivity and inclusion

“…Cities and regions have gained importance as the loci of development, and subnational territorial levels have been provided with additional powers and resources to promote and oversee their own development. As a corollary, cities and regions have also opened up as political sites in the struggle for social justice and as spaces for progressive politics ( Donald and Gray, 2019 ; Fainstein, 2010 ; Harvey, 2012 ; Israel and Frenkel, 2018 ; Soja, 2013 ; Tonkiss, 2020 ).…”

“…Similarly, while labour market polarisation is an important concern across many regions in the ‘advanced’ world ( Henning and Eriksson, 2021 ), policies such as career ladders can help upgrade low-wage, low-productivity jobs, and in doing so addressing the twin concerns of productivity and inclusion ( Green et al, 2020 ). Subnational governments also have a key role in making sure basic services and amenities are available for everyone in a city or region, and equality of opportunity is not just a formal ideal, but is actually given substance through targeted interventions in the circumstances in which people live ( Tonkiss, 2020 ). While we should not pretend that these policies are easy to design or inevitably successful, there are multiple examples of policies, which break down the apparent trade-off between economic performance and inclusion.…”

“…But it is also riven with inequality, with a labour market split between affluent tech workers and low-wage service workers in in-work poverty, a point noted by Saxenian (1994) in the 1990s and, if anything, worse today ( Walker, 2018 ). Behind the apparent success of these cities, there is a darker problem hiding of inequality and entrenched poverty ( Tonkiss, 2020 ).…”

‘I have to know where I can go’: mundane mobilities and everyday public toilet access for people living with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

“…Therefore, toilets follow the theoretical turn to mobilities (Sheller & Urry, 2006). Importantly, Urry (2007, p. 19) suggested that mobilities presuppose large-scale immobile infrastructures that make everyday lives flow -paths, railways, public roads, water pipes, and toilet provision should certainly be part of these large-scale infrastructures (see also Tonkiss, 2020). Imrie (2000Imrie ( , p. 1641) highlights the inequities of mobility are intertwined with sociocultural values and practices prioritising mobile bodies with an independence of bodily movements.…”

Urban fallism

“…It is an urban struggle for the city as a place of civility and democracy. As such, urban fallism offers various insights into the socio-political dynamics and transformative power of contemporary cities and acts of urban citizenship (Isin 2008(Isin , 2009Tonkiss 2020).…”