Political Science

Since the mid-20th century demographic and economic changes have left older post-industrial American cities located amidst fragmented metropolitan areas and has resulted in the loss of political power accompanied by loss of economic wealth. This has left urban centers in the Northeast and Midwest United States in various states of decline. Located within the sixth largest metropolitan area in the country, the City of Camden, New Jersey is one of America's most distressed cities. During the longest period of decline and de-industrialization in the 1960s and 1970s, Camden lost nearly half of its industrial job base, more than other de-industrializing American cities and over one-third of its population. Currently, Camden's circumstances related to concentrated poverty, unemployment, failing schools and a crumbling infrastructure typify the worst consequences of urban decline. The Municipal Rehabilitation and Economic Recovery Act ("Camden Recovery Act") passed in 2002 was state-level legislation designed to intervene in Camden's municipal operations and re-structure economic development in the city in a way not seen since the Great Depression. Through the Camden Recovery Act, New Jersey's state government pumped tens of millions of dollars in additional spending into Camden for the purpose of re-positioning the city in the region through large-scale comprehensive redevelopment plans. In the process they took over virtually the entire decision-making apparatus and excluded Camden's municipal government from all but basic day-to-day governing decisions. Largely, the approach was in response to the various agendas and interests that influenced the Recovery Act: state legislators with regional agendas, county public officials seeking to bring more public investment to the city, and institutions in Camden working to revitalize the city. The politics of economic recovery in Camden lends to the discussion around the political future of older postindustrial cities in several ways. Primarily it illustrates political solutions to urban decline found at the state level with the support of a regional political coalition of urban and suburban lawmakers. Indeed, as the national economy in the United States has worsened in recent years, the fiscal health of cities has brought a renewed focus on the relationship between state and local governments. The case of Camden makes several points of comparison with state takeovers in similarly sized and situated cities. Critics of state takeovers point out that they are unconstitutional and call into question the imposition of state-appointed managers to take over control from democratically elected public officials, while proponents say it is the only way to get local government's fiscal house in order. However similar, Camden's takeover was more comprehensive than recent municipal bankruptcies and its redevelopment plans underscore the challenges faced in urban revitalization between the goals of efficiency and the values of democratic accountability.

Temple…

Sociology

The nonprofit arts and culture sector in the United States is uniquely situated in tension between its not-for-profit status and its growing role as a catalyst for regional economic growth. Since the mid-20th century, for metropolitan areas in particular, these organizations have become an integral part of local economies and visible symbols of regions as robust cultural centers. Their growth is increasingly viewed as a significant contribution to regional economic development. But concomitant with their newly defined roles as regional "economic engines," nonprofit arts and culture organizations also are increasingly pressed to adopt a "market orientation" with respect to both their audiences and funders. This dissertation is an investigation into how these changes have shaped the organizational structures and processes of the sector. The guiding inquiry of this research is how an increased "market orientation" in the sector is affecting organizational operations (especially expenditures), and ultimately, their constituencies. More specifically, this analysis explores the effects of marketization, defined here as dependence on earned income, agenda-oriented local corporate sponsorship, and outcomes-based foundation support, on organizational expenditures and constituency levels and composition. The present research assesses the relative utility of three organizational growth theories- resource dependency theory, institutional theory, and urban growth agenda theory-on the one hand, and the "crowding-out" hypothesis on the other hand, in accounting for the effects of increasing marketization on the size and composition of organizational constituencies. The first three frameworks suggest a connection between marketized revenues and the prioritization of organizational visibility and legitimacy, organizational professionalization, and production quality, with the end goal of constituency growth. On the other hand, the crowding-out hypothesis, though it retains a focus on revenue sources, suggests that revenue from certain sources may lead to the stagnation or even reduction of deeper organizational affiliations such as membership. Specifically, the perspective suggests that a heightened market orientation conflicts with a not-for-profit or philanthropic orientation, thereby "crowding-out" potential members. The tension between these theoretical perspectives reflects the lack of solid empirical evidence regarding the effects of economic inputs (particularly those tied to marketization) on organizational outcomes (particularly constituency composition). The current research hypothesizes that marketized revenues will ultimately lead to audience growth and expansion while simultaneously leading to stagnation or decline in membership. This study focuses on museums and performing arts institutions located within the Pennsylvania portion of the Greater Philadelphia Area. The analysis utilizes survey data on revenues, expenditures, and other organizational characteristics collected on a continuing basis through the…

Political Science

The political engagement of citizens with their democratic government is fraught with difficulties of inertia, cynicism, lack of knowledge, access and efficacy. This research attempts to address questions of how people occupying a lower socio-economic status (SES) classification might improve their engagement. The research question is, "The motivators and the motivated: what mechanisms do non-profit organizations use to motivate individuals to become politically engaged, and, do they work?" Through a qualitative exploratory case study of five human social-serving nonprofit agencies, and capitalizing on the scholarship of other political scientists, five criteria predictive of outcomes for engagement efforts by agency staff attempting to assist their clients to express their voice in their own governance is presented. The findings demonstrate that effective recruitment or encouragement of clients, coupled with the provision of education and skills, the use of "bridging" social capital, capitalization on client's rational particularistic self-interest and the presence of an effective agency leader or internal organizational entrepreneur may combine to produce engagement on the part of clients within lower SES classifications. Additionally, the strengths of the exploratory case study method resulted in at least six potential future research questions. As with any research, there are study limitations, and this is no exception. However, some useful broad policy recommendations are also provided.

Temple University – Theses

Urban Studies

Over the last decade, the United States had experienced a boom and bust in the subprime mortgage market. The ups and downs of the subprime mortgage market became a primary factor triggering the most severe global economic recession since the Great Depression. The dissertation contributes to the literature by inquiring whether the subprime lending has exacerbated social inequity between subprime neighborhoods and other neighborhoods, through analyzing the subprime mortgage market in the Philadelphia MSA from 2000 through 2010, and focusing on two research questions: (1) the spatial distribution of subprime mortgages across census tracts; (2) the relationship between subprime intensities and housing price variations across zip-code areas. As the dissertation's study area expands from an urban to a MSA, spatial heterogeneity merits attention in this relative huge area. As a result, this dissertation not only employs a global, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model, but also a local, Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model to examine spatial variations across different neighborhoods. For the first research question, the dissertation finds: (1) a higher concentration of higher-priced mortgage for purchase and refinance in tracts with higher proportion of African-American and Hispanic residents, lower median household incomes, higher-unemployment rates, lower self-employment rates, and higher capitalization rates, after controlling for other variables; (2) the association between higher-priced mortgages and explanatory variables varies across census tracts. Because the dynamics of neighborhood subprime originations are heterogamous, the association between subprime mortgage origination and socioeconomic characteristics may be stronger in some neighborhoods than other neighborhoods. For the second research question, the dissertation finds: (1) subprime mortgage shares have a significant negative association with housing price appreciations during the housing boom period (2001-2006); (2) subprime mortgage shares have a significant positive association with housing price depreciations during the housing bust period (2006-2010); and (3) the association between housing price variations and explanatory variables differs across geographic submarkets within the Philadelphia region. The result confirms that areas where more residents obtained subprime mortgages have suffered more severely than other from the housing market's ups and downs over the last decade. The empirical results can draw broad policy implications. The primary implication is that it is time for the federal government to rethink its homeownership policy. Increased homeownership levels arising from the expansion of subprime mortgages are not sustainable, and subprime lending has exacerbated social inequity between subprime neighborhoods and other neighborhoods. The second implication is that the government needs to enforce the fair lending laws, because the cluster of subprime mortgage origination reflects the unequal opportunities of prime…

Geography

Inner ring suburbs are vulnerable as they face continual downward pressure amidst increasingly complex post-industrial regional dynamics. Many suburban policymakers focus on housing and commercial development when considering ways to improve their localities through the built environment; they often overlook the potential benefits of community-oriented infrastructure  – namely public libraries, neighborhood recreation facilities, and community festivals/events  – as a catalyst for encouraging economic development and neighborhood social capital. This study asks whether inner ring suburbs that offer vibrant community institutions exhibit greater levels of resilience capacity than those with less vibrant community facilities. Across the country government officials target community institutions for service reduction and/or closure in high-profile proposals to balance budgets in a tight economy. In a number of high-profile urban library budget fights, community protestors cite their library's functions as a safe environment for children after school to socialize and study, a place for public internet access and engaging programming, and as the hub of the community. Such accounts offer a glimpse into the value of community institutions in the making of place. Suburbs are competing to gain and maintain their base of residents in a highly mobile and competitive environment. Tiebout (1956) theorizes that this ease of mobility allows people to act as consumers who choose the community package of services/amenities that best meets their budget and preferences. The group of community institutions at the center of this study - public libraries, parks and recreation facilities, and community festivals/events  – are part of a wider architecture of local community infrastructure that composes a community's package of services and amenities. Public schools are an important element of that community infrastructure and the one that is most often considered to add value to suburban localities. Although public schools are unquestionably a vital community institution, this dissertation challenges the narrative that school quality is the prime suburban value-generator by measuring the value to local resilience of school quality against the vibrancy of these other kinds of community institutions that may nurture community life in different ways. This work addresses three main gaps in the literature. Work measuring the value of, and understanding the effects of, community institutions in local places is scant. Studies linking resilience capacity to a place's institutional fabric often overlook public-oriented, taxpayer-funded, place-based facilities in favor of an emphasis on non-profit organizations. A regional approach with a focus on effects in inner ring suburbs is rare. Through a mixed methods approach utilizing exploratory data analysis and qualitative content analysis on the inner ring Pennsylvania suburbs surrounding Philadelphia, this research considers the effects of community institutions on each of three previously…

Political Science

This dissertation is exploratory in design and employs an electronic survey and comparative case studies to examine the factors that shape the impact of a non-traditional data source that measures the market power of urban neighborhoods, the Social Compact Neighborhood Market DrillDown, on the policymaking process of local government officials concerned with neighborhood economic development. The four case studies are: Baltimore, MD, Louisville, KY, Detroit, MI, and Tampa, FL. The study examines the conditions that affect decision-making at the different stages of information use and considers instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic uses of information. The observation of seven variables (applicability to agenda of lead sponsor, congruence between findings and prior preferences, trust of information producer, availability of alternative information sources, information sustainability, costs of production, information as private sector "lure") provide the context for theory and hypotheses on information impact in which three factors are found to be significant (applicability to agenda to lead sponsor, information sustainability, and information as private sector "lure"). Overall, the study finds evidence that information use is inherently a political endeavor in which its use is dominated by the preferences of those who sponsor its production and use information toward initiatives that are important to them.

Temple University – Theses