The Social Organization of a Land-Based Elite: The Case of the Failed Chicago 1992 World’S Fair

State governments and special-purpose authorities, together with city governments and private-sector actors, play a crucial role in building contemporary urban development partnerships, or intergovernmental triads. Such triads significantly shape decision-making outcomes, and yet existing theories and case studies of urban development overlook these formal coalitions. Three cases from Chicago are examined in which the intergovernmental triad arrangement was utilized in attempts to reach development goals: the city's attempt to host the 1992 World's Fair, the construction of a new stadium for the Chicago White Sox, and Navy Pier's redevelopment. Using archival and interview data, the article traces events involving local and state governments that lead to the creation of special-purpose authorities to manage development projects. The study concludes that current theories cannot explain such outcomes and must be adapted to account for the critical role of authorities and states.

Section: Case Studies: 1992 World's Fair White Sox's New Stadium Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12 12 Case studies utilized include: Bennett & Spirou, 2006; McClory, 1993; Mier, 1995; Pelissero, Heschen, & Sidlow, 1991; Shlay & Giloth, 1987; Spirou & Bennett, 2003. Newspaper data were obtained using the database NewsBank.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“Re-Stating” Theories of Urban Development: The Politics of Authority Creation and Intergovernmental Triads in Postindustrial Chicago

Smith

2010

“…Even worse for a potential host city, some of the risks associated with the event, such as a boycott or scandal, cannot feasibly be anticipated by event planners. Furthermore, there is always the possibility that between conception and execution the event may not be sufficiently unique or exciting enough to maintain political support, jump start the city's consumption development, or have a positive impact on image (e.g., Foster, 1976;Shlay & Giloth, 1987).…”

Section: Consumption-based Economic Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olympic Cities: Lessons Learned from Mega-Event Politics

Andranovich

Burbank

Heying

2001

317

163

As cities compete for jobs and capital in the context of limited federal aid and increasing global economic competition, a new and potentially high-risk strategy for stimulating local economic growth has emerged. This strategy, called the mega-event strategy, entails the quest for a high-profile event to serve as a stimulus to, and justification for, local development. We examine how the mega-event strategy has played out in the three US cities with contemporary Olympic experience: Los Angeles (1984), Atlanta (1996), and Salt Lake City (2002). We analyze the approaches taken by these three cities to bidding for and staging an Olympic mega-event. Our comparison focuses on the decade long period that cities use to prepare to host the games. We conclude with a discussion of lessons learned and the policy implications of the mega-event strategy on urban politics.

“…The workings of Chicago's growth machine have been described in Greer (1983); Mayfield (1996); Weiss and Metzgar (1989); Squires, Bennett, McCourt, and Nyden (1987); Suttles (1990);Hirsch (1983);and Berry et al (1976). A significant body of literature has also developed around neighborhood organizing and challenges to the growth machine in Chicago (Bennett, 1989(Bennett, , 1998Bennett, McCourt, Nyden, & Squires, 1988;Ferman, 1991Ferman, , 1996Shlay & Giloth, 1987;Squires et al, 1987;Weiss & Metzgar, 1989). In addition, considerable attention has been paid to the policies of progressive Chicago mayor Harold Washington Clavel & Wiewel, 1991;Giloth & Mier, 1989;Grimshaw, 1992;Mier, Moe, & Sherr, 1986;Mier, Wiewel, & Alpern, 1992;Wiewel, 1990;Wiewel & Reiser, 1989).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Manufacturing Industrial Decline: The Politics of Economic Change in Chicago, 1955–1998

Rast

2001

Contemporary urban political economy emphasizes the role of structural factors in explaining the deindustrialization of cities in the post-World War II era. Urban economic restructuring, by most accounts, has left city officials with few choices other than to pursue corporate-centered economic development strategies emphasizing downtown-area commercial and residential growth. In Chicago, however, a corporate-center redevelopment strategy advanced by a coalition of downtown business leaders competed with a productionoriented strategy articulated by a coalition of neighborhood organizations, manufacturers, and labor. Centrally located industrial districts facing gentrification pressures became contested terrain, and manufacturers ultimately benefited from protective measures put in place by a sympathetic administration. This essay argues that urban economic restructuring is open-ended and politically contested. It concludes that a fuller appreciation of the contingency of urban economic development would help uncover viable regime types featuring governing coalitions that include both community-based organizations and neighborhood business establishments.