Urban Sustainability through Smart Growth: Intercurrence, Planning, and Geographies of Regional Development across Greater Seattle

227 Pages·2017·7.07 MB·English

by  Yonn Dierwechter (auth.)

The Urban Book Series
Yonn Dierwechter
Urban
Sustainability
through Smart
Growth
Intercurrence, Planning, and
Geographies of Regional Development
across Greater Seattle
The Urban Book Series
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14773
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Yonn Dierwechter
Urban Sustainability
through Smart Growth
Intercurrence, Planning, and Geographies
of Regional Development across Greater
Seattle
YonnDierwechter
UrbanStudiesProgram
UniversityofWashington,Tacoma
Tacoma,Washington,USA
ISSN2365-757X ISSN2365-7588 (electronic)
TheUrbanBookSeries
ISBN978-3-319-54447-2 ISBN978-3-319-54448-9 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-54448-9
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Preface
Likeotherurbanscholarsofglobalcity-regionsandthepolitics,plans,andpolicies
oftheso-callednewcity-regionalism,Ithinkmoreattentionshouldbepaidtohow
regional policiesandwiderdevelopmentpatternsinfluenceurban-scaleprocesses,
andviceversa—includingthoserelatedto“local”sustainabilitygoals.Thecityof
Seattle per se has long garnered attention for many impressive green initiatives,
some of which are discussed at length in this book; but in my view Seattle is
embedded within, and partially constituted by, a wider relational setting of hous-
ing, labor, and transport patterns. These structural realities are critical in thinking
throughhowurbangrowthcan(orcannot)bemadesmarterandthus,inprinciple,
more ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable. In addition, smart
growth is a regional planning theory, necessarily demanding a strong sensitivity
tosupra-localdynamicsandrelationalquestionsacrossscalesofauthority.
Accordingly, this book is not just about Seattle but the wider city-region, with
empiricalattentionpaidtoothercommunities(or“nodes”)likeTacoma,Bellevue,
Redmond, Fife, Spanaway, Snoqualmie, and so on. I believe that cities and their
suburbs co-shape global city-regions. As they confront global problems they
necessarily confront each other; they will “hang together,” to borrow Ben Frank-
lin’s famous admonition, or they will “hang separately.” My theoretical (and
geographical) engagement with the political science concept of intercurrence,
suggested originally by my colleague, Charles Williams, has proven particularly
helpful to me in thinking about the kinds of spaces that smart growth makes over
political time—sustainable or otherwise. The discussion on offer will hopefully
interest not only geographers and planners but also political scientists as well as
urbanhistoriansand,moregenerally,studentsofsustainabilityasbothatheoretical
problemandapracticalstrategy.Asanurbanstudiesscholar,Iengagewiththemes
resonant in political economy, planning theory, historical institutionalism, critical
urbangeography,andtheeconomicandpoliticalhistoryofcity-regions.Thereare
philosophical and methodological limits to such interdisciplinary travels. But the
gainsareworththerisks.
v
vi Preface
Inexecuting(andjustimagining)thisprojectinthisparticularway,Iamindebt
to my immediate colleagues, notably Charles Williams, Mark Pendras, Anne
Wessells, Brian Coffey, Britta Ricker, and Ali Modarres, as well as to more
distance colleagues on other campuses all around the world, including Tassilo
Herrschel (UK), Andy Thornley (UK), Andy Jonas (UK), Roger Behrens (South
Africa),EliotTretter(Canada),MuratYalc¸ıntan(Turkey),PaoloGiaccaria(Italy),
StefanodiVita(Italy),andGerdLinz(Germany).Whateverfaultsthisbooksurely
suffers, they are fewer than they would have been absent their positive influence.
Sometimes this was through coauthoring previous research (e.g., with Pendras,
Coffey, Modarres, Wessells, Thornley, Herrschel); at other times, it was a seren-
dipitouscommentorobservationtheymadeinpassingaboutplanning,geography,
sustainability, or political economy. I am particularly thankful for repeated con-
versationsaboutTacoma,theregion,politics,labor,andpoliticaleconomywithmy
friends,MarkPendrasandCharlesWilliams,thoughtheywouldhardlyagreewith
everythingthatfollowshere.
Finally,books about sustainabilityare books about future generations. And so,
thisbookisaffectionatelydedicatedtomydaughter—lovely,inquisitive,amazing
Amara,whoatjustsixandahalfyearsofagewantstoliveinaworldpopulatedby
“a thousand million and twelve” elephants, dassies, meerkats...and one little
bunnyonaboat.
Tacoma,WA YonnDierwechter
Contents
1 Introduction:Problem,Argument,Themes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 ApproachingtheBottleneck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 IntercurrenceasDescription...andExplanation. . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 RainWithoutThunder?GreaterSeattleasSmarter
City-Region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 StructureoftheBook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 Review:GeoPoliticalEconomiesofPlanningSpace. . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 UrbanSustainability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.1 TheState-ProgressiveTradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.2 TheGreen–RedRadicalDissentof
Post-capitalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.3 TheLiberalCase:UnleashingMarkets
onEcology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2.4 ProgressiveRejoinder(s):From“Weak”to
“Strong”Eco-modernization. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. 22
2.3 ShiftingPoliticalEconomiesofChange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4 SmartGrowth. . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . 25
2.4.1 NormativePlanningTheory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4.2 SmartAspirations,TerritorializedSpaces. . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.5 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3 Theory:ACity-RegionalGeographyofMultipleOrders. . . . . . . . 45
3.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2 AmericanPoliticalDevelopmentandUrbanGrowth. . . . . . . . . . 46
3.3 SmartGrowthandtheGeographyof“MultipleOrders”. . . . . . . 51
3.4 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
vii
viii Contents
4 Methodology:Mixed-MethodsResearchDesign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.2 “Abductive”ResearchEpistemology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.3 AnalyticalFramework:Questions,Claims,Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.4 ModesofAnalysisandDiscursiveRepresentation. . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.5 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5 History:An(Un)sustainableGeo-HistoryofIntercurrence. . . . . . . 73
5.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.2 ColonialismandtheOriginsofDispossession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.3 PoliticalOrderI:SegregatedAccumulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
5.4 PoliticalOrderII:ProgressiveState-Reformism. . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.4.1 FightingforRegionalTransitAlternatives. . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.4.2 The‘Environmentalization’ofGrowthPolicy. . . . . . . . . 95
5.5 PoliticalOrderIII:Justresiliency...ascounter-movement. . . . 100
5.6 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
6 Plans:PolicyGeographiesofSustainableGrowth. . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.1 Introduction:ThePracticesofTheory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
6.2 PlansasIntentionalPolicySpaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
6.3 LeveragingSmarterPatterns:GrowthPlansinSnoqualmie. . . . . 117
6.4 ForgingSustainableConnectivity:LightRail
ExpansioninTacoma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.5 DesigningCompactness,Choice,andMix:Seattle’s
YeslerTerrace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.6 EncouragingParticipatoryandEfficientRegulatory
Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6.7 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
7 Home:ResidentialGeographiesofContained(Re)ordering. . . . . . 143
7.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
7.2 Sprawl,Containment,andSegregation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
7.3 Exploring“SmartContainment”ThroughResidential
PermitData. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
7.4 AComparativeCity-RegionalOverview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
7.5 Spaces:MappingSocio-SpatiallyVariegated
SmartGrowth. . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . 157
7.6 OntheGround:Regional(Un)sustainabilitiesof
SmartGrowth. . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . 167
7.7 SustainingSociety,SegregatingSmartness,
SustainingSegregation?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
7.8 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Contents ix
8 Work:LaborGeographiesofSmart(er)Mobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.2 LaborSpace:WealthandPovertyAcrossthe
GreaterCity-Region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
8.3 ShiftingGreaterSeattle’sMobility:Transitin
LaborSpace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
8.3.1 Conclusions. .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. 197
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
9 GeneralConclusions:Contributions,Limitations,Agenda. . . . . . . 203
9.1 RecapitulationsandContributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
9.2 LimitationsandChallenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
9.3 AgendaandOngoingQuestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217