Comment on David Listokin,Barbara Listokin,and Michael Lahr's “The contributions of historic preservation to housing and economic development”

Abstract

Listokin, Listokin, and Lahr laud the economic benefits of historic preservation but fail to delve deeply enough into the negative impacts and how they might be mitigated. Preservation projects tend to displace lower‐income households and small businesses, and the jobs they generate tend to be low paying. In areas with high potential for displacement, local government and civic leaders should act cautiously and not intervene in ways that overheat these markets. We are unlikely to see new federal policies that substantially mitigate displacement. Nonetheless, the historic rehabilitation tax credit could be revised to encourage more modest and affordable preservation projects.

The extra costs associated with historic rehabilitation standards can be more burdensome than the authors describe. To reduce these costs, the administration of the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation could be made more consistent and cost‐sensitive.     

Smart growth: More than a ghost of urban policy past,less than a bold new horizon

Abstract

Proponents of smart growth tout its more compact, less automobile‐dependent development as a superior alternative to the prevailing pattern of sprawl. Admittedly, smart growth is characterized by the ghost of urban policy past, ranging from inner‐area revitalization to growth management. Yet smart growth incorporates leading‐edge, contemporary components (e.g., encouraging multimodal transportation, strategically locating public employment), and its timing is propitious—as aging baby boomers, rising immigration, and other forces support core‐area revitalization and other smart growth themes.

The future of smart growth is promising, but its success is far from assured. Multiple factors, such as the lack of adoption across governments, market support for sprawl, the automobile's clinging dominance, and a paucity of techniques, could impair broad implementation. However, smart growth is sensible, broadly recognized, and fortuitously timed, and its proponents have learned from the miscues of its historical antecedents.     

Comment on James R. Cohen's “abandoned housing: Exploring lessons from Baltimore”

Abstract

For most cities, the possibility of transforming unused property into community and city assets is as yet hypothetical. Fiscal constraints limit the amount of land acquisition, relocation, and demolition that cities can undertake. Private investors, unsure of which neighborhoods have a chance of becoming self‐sustaining, are reluctant to take risks in untested markets.

Cities need to create citywide planning strategies for land aggregation and neighborhood stabilization and to develop analyses of the risks and opportunities associated with redevelopment opportunities in specific markets. Research seems sorely needed. Although the policy world cannot and will not stand still waiting for academics to design the perfect study or to collect all the data to model the potential effects of various policy options and investments, analysis that can play a more immediately supportive role can and should be done now.     

Measuring the impact of community development block grant spending on urban neighborhoods

Abstract

Regression analysis of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) spending in 17 large cities reveals strong statistical associations between spending from 1994 to 1996 and changes in three indicators of neighborhood conditions: the home purchase mortgage approval rate, the median amount of the home purchase loans originated, and the number of businesses. However, there is no consistent association between spending and indicators of subsequent neighborhood change unless CDBG spending is sufficiently spatially targeted that it exceeds a threshold of the sample mean expenditure and is measured relative to the number of poor residents. In addition, associations vary according to neighborhood trajectories before investment and changes in the local economy.

Nevertheless, even in the least hospitable contexts—highly concentrated neighborhood poverty, preexisting declines in home values, weak city job growth—our estimates are consistent with the hypothesis that above‐threshold CDBG spending produces significant neighborhood improvements. We discuss the implications for such spatially targeted spending and connections between our work and the emerging literature on the dynamics of poor neighborhoods.     

论东北老工业基地振兴中的民生与社会和谐向度

作为社会主义社会本质属性的"社会和谐",指的就是社会诸矛盾以及矛盾的诸方面之间,在一定的、具体的社会历史条件下因相互依存、相互融合所达到的矛盾化解状态。"民生",指的则是普通民众或百姓的生存与生活。"民生"与"社会和谐"之间具有重要的关联性,民生问题的凸显正是社会不和谐的一个重要方面,而民生问题的解决则是构建和谐社会的关键。东北地区社会和谐的构建,往往取决于能否切实解决普遍性的和特殊性的民生问题。不过,在解决东北老工业基地民生问题的时候,重中之重是一定要结合东北地区自身的区位优势来兴办实业,广开就业渠道。从某种意义上来讲,能否发挥出地域特色来兴办实业,是解决东北地区民生问题和构建社会和谐的关键。     

吉林省数字农业赋能乡村振兴之考量

数字农业是乡村振兴战略的重要发力点.以数字化引领农业农村现代化,能够让乡村振兴有"智"更有"质".吉林省在数字农业发展上已取得了一定的成效,但农业农村数字化发展仍总体滞后,城乡数字化发展不均衡、项目规划脱离实际、科技创新成果转化难等问题依然存在.新时期,吉林省应抓住产业数字化、数字产业化赋予的机遇,加快推进数字农业建设...     

双循环新发展格局视角下推进区域协调发展——论东北老工业基地振兴

从"东北现象"到"新东北现象",东北老工业基地"振而不兴"问题,已经严重影响到我国的区域协调发展.需要跳出就东北论东北的方法,在我国实施国际大循环经济发展战略的背景下,探究东北老工业基地的衰退机制.可以认为,正是东部沿海地区深度嵌入全球经济循环链条,弱化了它与国内经济循环的联系,对东北工业形成了替代,造成国内经济循环与...     

实施乡村振兴战略的路径分析──基于北京Y区的实证研究

"产业兴旺、生态宜居、乡风文明、治理有效、生活富裕",是党的十九大报告提出的实施乡村振兴战略的总要求。坚持问题导向和目标导向,全面理清乡村振兴的短板,是乡村振兴战略实施的关键所在。针对实施乡村振兴战略的短板,借鉴浙江"千村示范、万村整治"工程、六盘水"三变"模式、安顺"塘约道路",实施新时代乡村振兴工程,以实施新治理、建立新秩序、培育新农人、提升新农业、建设新乡村、创造新生活等为着力点,不断推进农业农村现代化。     

巩固产业扶贫成果有效衔接乡村振兴的现状研究

巩固产业扶贫成果作为产业兴旺的重要部分,是实现产业兴旺的前提和基础,更是实现乡村振兴的重要举措。云南省N县集山区、边远、民族、贫困于一体,在云南乃至全国都比较突出。作为山区县,其产业扶贫与乡村振兴探索极具代表性,对于全国组织开展巩固产业扶贫成果对接乡村振兴的研究具有较高的参考价值。     

Fiscal Crisis and Community Development: The Great Recession,Support Networks,and Community Development Corporation Capacity

Community development corporations (CDC) are a cornerstone of neighborhood improvement in legacy cities. Yet they face challenges that threaten their financial sustainability, challenges that grew exponentially with the Great Recession. This article examines the impact of the Great Recession on the revenue and survival of CDC in Baltimore, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan. An analysis of financial data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics from 2004 to 2011 highlights issues of industry contraction, revenue concentration and loss, and CDC survival. Interviews and examination of multiple secondary sources of information on CDC activity and support networks in each city further our understanding of the financial results. We find that the CDC industry in all three cities was severely impacted by the Great Recession and that the CDC support networks in each city had a significant intervening effect on the ability of CDC to adapt to the fiscal and service pressures created by the recession. We discuss the implications of the shared trends and the city-specific dynamics for the role of CDC in neighborhood improvement in legacy cities.