Book reviews

Deane Curtin, Chinnagounders’ Challenge: The Question of Ecological Citizenship. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.

Jim Yong Kim, et ah, ed., Dying For Growth: Global Inequality and the Health of the Poor. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000.

Lester R. Brown, Christopher Flavin, Hilary French, et al., eds., State of the World 1998. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998.

Margit Mayer and John Ely, eds., The German Greens. Paradox Between Movement and Party. Translated by Michael Schatzschneider. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.     

The Low‐Income Housing Tax Credit An Analysis of the First Ten Years

Abstract

The Low‐Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) has been the de facto federal rental housing production program since its creation in the Tax Reform Act of 1986. In this article, using a detailed database on 2,554 LIHTC projects, we analyze the costs of building these projects, where they are built, their financial viability, whom they serve, who finances them, and the size of the subsidies provided to them.

The LIHTC is a flexible program that has built different types of housing in various markets. While LIHTC projects serve low‐ and moderate‐income households, their rents are beyond the reach of many poor households without additional subsidy. Revenues just cover costs for many LIHTC projects. Over time, considerably more of each tax‐credit dollar has ended up in the projects, and returns to equity investors have dropped significantly, perhaps reflecting an increased understanding of project risks. We estimate that LIHTC projects developed by nonprofits are 20.3 percent more expensive than those developed by for‐profits.     

“Ragged urchins play on marquetry floors”: The discourse of filtering is reconstructed, 1920s–1950s

The idea of filtering has played a key role in our understanding of housing markets and in framing federal policy. The origins of the idea, however, and of the term itself, are poorly understood. Drawing loosely on the approach of discourse analysis, this article clarifies both issues, arguing that language shapes how we think about housing policy, and indeed policy itself. The concept of filtering emerged in Great Britain in the late nineteenth century where, by 1900, it informed arguments in favor of municipal (public) housing. It became influential in the United States in the 1920s but in 1938 was still referred to in different ways, notably as “hand-me-down housing.” Here, it was understood more narrowly, as an alternative to public housing. After 1939, the Federal Housing Administration, though not its leading consultant Homer Hoyt, popularized the term “filtering.” The neutral connotations of this metaphorical term suited the agency's goal of developing an apparently objective discourse of housing markets and market analysis. The term was normalized by the early 1960s.     

‘Empty,Swept and Garnished’: the Public Finance Initiative case of Throckley Middle School

As spaces of complex layering of multiple relations, each with their own space–time dynamics and reach, policies of urban governance and their tangible outcomes can be materially experienced as conjunctions of multiple meshworks of assemblages with different scopes and different systems of values. This paper investigates a case example of a Private Finance Initiative for the construction of Throckley Middle School in Newcastle upon Tyne. Completed in 2003, Throckley school closed in 2005. A Deleuzean-inspired tracing of several Throckley assemblages is presented and the paper concludes by discussing the challenges of adopting a Deleuzean perspective for analysis of urban governance and infrastructure development.     

Book reviews

Par le Peuple, Pour le Peuple: le populisme et les démocraties. By Yves Mény and Yves Surel. Paris: Editions Fayard 2000. Pp.312 + biblio. FF140 (paper) ISBN 2–213–60077–5.

I Confini dell'Odio: il nacionalismo etnico e la nuova destra europea. By Bruno Luvera’. Roma: Editori Riuniti, 1999. Pp.xiii + 151, index, biblio. 10 euros (paper) ISBN 88–359–4760‐X.

Il Dottor H.: Haider e la nuova destra europea. By Bruno Luvera’. Roma: Einaudi 2000. Pp.194 + biblio. 10 euros (paper), ISBN 88–06–15597–0.

A Virtuous Circle. Political Communications in Postindustrial Societies. By Pippa Norris. New York: Cambridge University Press 2000. Pp.xvii + 398, 54 tables, 38 figures, biblio, index. £40 (cloth) ISBN 0–521–79015–8; £14.95 (paper) ISBN 0–521–79364–5.

Democracy and the Media: A Comparative Perspective. Edited by R. Gunther and A. Mughan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2000. Pp.496. £55 (cloth) ISBN 0–521–77180–3; £19.95 (paper) ISBN 0–521–77743–7.

Coalition Governments in Western Europe. Edited by Wolfgang C. Müller and Kaare Str?m. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000. Pp.xvi + 602, biblio, index. £55 (cloth) ISBN 0–19–829760–2.

The Political Mobilization of the European Left, 1860–1980: The Class Cleavage. By Stefano Bartolini. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2000. Pp.xxiv + 637, 100 tables, 41 figures, biblio, index. £45 (cloth) ISBN 0–521–65021–6.

Social Democracy and the Challenge of European Union. By Robert Ladrech. London: Lynne Rienner 2000. Pp.xiv + 165, biblio, index. £37.50 (cloth) ISBN 1–55587–902–0.

Europe in Change ‐ Committee Governance in the European Union. Edited by Thomas Christiansen and Emil Kirchner. Manchester: Manchester University Press 2000. Pp.199. £40 (cloth) ISBN 0–7190–5552–0.

Rethinking European Order: West European Responses, 1989–97. Edited by Robin Niblett and William Wallace. Basingstoke: Palgrave 2001. Pp.xiv + 298, 2 maps, index. £50 (cloth) ISBN 0–333–91571–2.

Franco‐German Relations. By Alistair Cole. Edinburgh: Pearson 2001. Pp.178, biblio, index. £14.99 (paper) ISBN 0–582–31997–8.

Environmental Transitions: Transformation and Ecological Defence in Central and Eastern Europe. Edited by P. Pavlínek and J. Pickles. London: Routledge 2000. Pp.xxii + 362, 22 plates, 39 figures, 19 maps, 56 tables, biblio, index. £70.26 (cloth) ISBN 0–415–16268–8; £22.99 (paper) ISBN 0–415–16269–6.

Ethnicity and Globalization. By Stephen Castles. London: Sage 2000. Pp.xii + 228, biblio, index. £47.50 (cloth) ISBN 0–7619–5611–5; £16.99 (paper) ISBN 0–7619–5612–3.

A Not‐So‐Dismal Science: A Broader View of Economies and Societies. Edited by M. Olson and S. Kakhonen. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000. Pp.x + 274, biblio, index. £14.99 (paper) ISBN 0–19–829490–5.     

PLANNING AND PARTICIPATION IN CITIES THAT MOVE: IDENTIFYING OBSTACLES TO MUNICIPAL MOBILITY MANAGEMENT

The dual processes of rapidly transforming cities and administrative decentralisation demands that local government address human mobility as a means of countering urban poverty. Despite this imperative, local authorities are often poorly equipped to address the needs of poor and transient residents. Through an examination of four South African municipalities, this article helps to identify three critical factors working against effective responses: poor data and conceptual bias; institutional ambiguities and budgeting processes; and, ironically, participatory planning. Although any one of these could serve as a basis for an article, by taking them together, we better summarise the challenges' scope and outline areas for further research and policy intervention. The article concludes by considering these findings' practical and scholarly implications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.