Detroit's Municipal Bankruptcy and the Case of Austerity Urbanism

Abstract

Urban theorist Jamie Peck theorizes austerity urbanism as a dominant state practice of financially "restructuring" the fiscal agendas of local governments in order to reduce government budget deficits in times of economic recessions. This thesis examines how austerity urbanism as a theoretical lens can be used to describe urban transformations in the City of Detroit. My central argument is that Detroit, specifically following its municipal bankruptcy, is experiencing an austerity moment as a result of the United States' shift towards neoliberalism that dismantled Keynesian principles and compelled the federal and state government to withdraw their presence in fiscal aid transfers to local governments. This era created a reinvigorated neoliberal politics of austerity in the City of Detroit that is based on balancing state budgets and favouring cuts in government expenditure. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to first give a sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Ridgley, for her enormous patience and guidance. I would also like to express my gratitude to my friends and colleagues in the Political Economy program, especially those whom I learned and grew with over the course of the last two years. I would like to thank my grandparents, and two sisters, Kristen and Ashley, for always supporting me in life. I would also like to offer a very warm thanks to my father and mother whose support was influential in helping me complete and pursue my research. Thanks especially to my loving partner Jennifer Cauthers for her constant encouragement along the way. Lastly, I want to sincerely thank Donna Coghill and Cristina Rojas, for their ongoing dedication to their students. 1 Chapter: Introduction Following the 2008 financial meltdown, cities are experiencing new budget pressures to cope with the loss of revenue from state governments and the housing market collapsea crisis instigated by neoliberal, deregulatory, free-market policies. To dissect the outcomes of this crisis, the study of urban governance is particularly critical. Austerity has been translated into a series of urban budgetary policies that a recent scholarship has labeled "austerity urbanism" (Davidson