How Government and Leaders Make Cities Work

Chapter 3 discusses government in the two cities in four sections. First, we do not take for granted what government is supposed to do but instead analyze how leaders consider the role of government in the first place. Second, we discuss the priorities that rank highest on their priorities rubric for the government. Third, we discuss how they pay for city services by examining budgets and tax structures. Finally, we look outside government to see how much of what is public is accomplished by nongovernmental actors, especially in Market Cities. Through all of these, we show how Copenhagen has a much wider and collective imprint on what government should do than does the Market City of Houston.

Introduction

The book’s claim is that cities in the twenty-first century are diverging in their fundamental priorities in one of two directions: toward markets or toward people. In introducing the concepts of Market Cities and People Cities, we make our primary argument that cities are not the homogeneous lot that many urban scholars might lead us to believe. Rather, our investigation of Copenhagen and Houston supplies the evidence that there are wide and important differences across cities. In this chapter, we state this argument, address a few critical questions, illustrate the concepts using a journey through our two cities, and preview the chapters to come.

Life Together and Apart

Chapter 7 takes on the range of issues relating to diversity and cities. We discuss trust, notably how Copenhageners overwhelmingly trust others and how Houstonians do not. We highlight differences in levels of crime: Houston is much more violent than Copenhagen. We also analyze how these relate to inequality. In particular, we relate this to segregation along lines of race, class, and immigration. Finally, we examine how both cities have high ratings of satisfaction with their own city, and how cities serve as closed-system narratives about their own ways of dealing with diversity and inequality.

Environment/Economy

In chapter 6, we discuss in six parts how the environment and the economy stack up against each other. First, we show how the cities, until very recently, have had similar energy histories. Second, we detail how Houstonians have similar rates of pro-environmental views compared to Copenhageners, but more specific questions, such as about climate change, show that they are less committed than it might otherwise appear. Third, we inspect Copenhagen’s ambitious carbon neutral plan, and Houston’s plan for its government to reduce risky emissions. Fourth, we measure the levels of carbon emissions in the city, finding that they are much higher in Houston than Copenhagen. Fifth, we analyze the environmental implications of the city’s new waste initiatives. Sixth, we study recent responses to natural disasters in the cities. Across these six parts, we find that Copenhagen has a more sincere commitment to the environment than Houston does.

To Be or Not to Be

In our concluding chapter, we briefly summarize the main points of the book. Our primary task, though, is to offer thoughts and advice on our perspective for other cities moving forward. We argue that both types of cities are needed. Notably, we argue that social change from one type of city to the other is a highly difficult process. We use theory on social change to illustrate how to change or retain a Market City or People City. We conclude by urging urban dwellers to be active in their pursuit of their best cities.

Across Cities

In chapter 8, we move our perspective beyond our two-city analysis to consider Market Cities and People Cities other than Copenhagen and Houston. First, using data on 79 European cities, we discuss how the overall levels of trust in a city are associated with better ratings of city characteristics. We believe this indicates that more trusting cities also have better services, a linkage seen in People Cities (and its inverse in Market Cities). We then use the European cities data to classify 25 cities along a Market City to People City spectrum and invite future research on these and other cities. We conclude by taking up a two-city analysis, but doing so in two totally different places: Amsterdam and London, the former we consider a People City and the latter a Market City. We find evidence for the efficacy of the Market City and People City perspective in these two cities.

Becoming Market and People Cities

This chapter details the history of Copenhagen and Houston. In Copenhagen, we showcase the medieval roots of the city and how it was compacted into a relatively small area until the mid-nineteenth century. Since that time, many economic, governmental, and population changes have occurred. In Houston, we study how the younger city took off with the rise of the oil and gas industries, particularly after World War II. We discuss rising ethnic diversity in the context of the city’s tradition of guidance by economic and civic elites. We conclude by focusing on two points of crisis in the cities – in the mid-nineteenth century and in the 1980s and early 1990s – and how those shaped how they came to be Market Cities and People Cities.

Afterword

In late August 2017, Hurricane Harvey battered the Houston region. The system stalled over Houston for days, and by the time it moved on, more than fifty inches of rain had fallen, rain totals so high that Houston experienced the single greatest rainfall on record in the continental United States....

Getting There, Being There

Chapter 5 begins a new section of the book: why it matters. Here we investigate the large differences in transportation and land use in Market Cities and People Cities. We describe how Copenhagen promotes alternatives to cars, especially through cycling but also with public transit and for pedestrians. By contrast, Houston is in thrall to sprawl, and the transportation network is almost totally built for private car ridership. The second section focuses on differences in housing, particularly with constraints and opportunities in the owning and renting markets in each city. We also discuss the land-use patterns, particularly each city’s commitment (or lack thereof) to urban planning. We conclude by discussing how the cities plan for their waterways.

What Residents Think, Believe, and Act Upon

In chapter 4, we foreground how residents think about their cities, and the critical role that their cultural beliefs play in underwriting the Market City and the People City—as well as contesting it. Specifically, we examine five survey questions that detail how Copenhageners and Houstonians have vastly different beliefs about work, inequality, and government, even across income levels. We also detail how residents are more heterogeneous in their beliefs than are city elites or government, and that it is residents who have the greater capacity for social change. We detail our “solar system” approach of considering how different ideas and groups relate to the gravitational pull of the Market City and People City.