ABSTRACT

The quest for a theoretical framework for understanding urban policy-making has been a recurring focus of research into local governments. Civic culture is a means for understanding how municipal policy-makers weigh the interests of different groups, govern the local community, frame local goals, engage in decision-making, and ultimately select and implement public policies. While it seems that culture 'matters' in local policy making, how to measure culture in a valid and replicable fashion presents a significant challenge which the authors address in this book. They present their findings of a large multi-city research project to explore the nature of civic culture in cities in the US and Canada. The focus of their analysis is on three overarching 'systems' of community power system, the community value system, and the community decision-making system. The authors address a number of questions around the nature of civic culture and the relationships between the three systemic elements of civic culture, to refine and apply a more sophisticated theory of urban policy-making.

part 1|52 pages

Part 1

chapter 1|18 pages

Comparative Civic Culture

Theory and Methods

chapter 2|32 pages

Categorizing Civic Cultures

Testing a Typology of Local Civic Culture

part 2|96 pages

Part 2

chapter 3|22 pages

Inclusive/Bureaucratic Cities

Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Vancouver

chapter 4|16 pages

Partnerships in Pittsburgh

Civic Cultures and Organizational Capacities

chapter 5|32 pages

Civic Culture in Ottawa

The Endurance of Local Culture

chapter 6|24 pages

Vancouver

The Sustainable City

part 3|176 pages

Part 3

chapter 7|32 pages

Market-Active and Passive Cities

Charlotte, Calgary, Cleveland, Louisville

chapter 9|40 pages

A Perpetual Crisis

Cleveland's Unfinished, Changing, and Incomplete Civic Agenda

chapter 10|40 pages

Civic Culture as a Policy Premise

Appraising Charlotte's Civic Culture

chapter 11|30 pages

Civic Culture in Calgary

The Oil and Developers' Land

part 4|82 pages

Part 4

chapter 12|18 pages

Individualistic Cities

Dallas and Miami

chapter 13|22 pages

A Tale of Two Cities

Civic Culture and Public Policy in Miami

chapter 15|26 pages

Conclusion

A Theory of Local Civic Culture