GEOG 1410 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Thomas Sugrue, Urban Decay, Labor Rights
3 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
GEOG 1410
November 28, 2017
The Challenge of Cities - Right to the City
Pollution, Transportation, Housing, Unemployment, Food Security, Culture, and Identity
Problems of Post-Industrial Cities
● Fiscal problems
● Infrastructure problems
● Poverty and urban decay
● Homelessness
● Economic Structure
● Downloading of services
○ Have there been cutback in services that have led to more challenges than
before?
● Social and political divides
● Governance and Leadership
● City Form and Lives
● Reducing income inequality through collective bargaining
Space, Place, and Activism
● Significant benefits for countries with strong labour rights
● Rights to the city - economic structure, rights to wages
● How does one act and resist the conditions that allow for affordable transit, a working
wage, etc.?
The Rust Belt of the US
● Former economic power
● Northeast US
● It’s economic decline, population loss, and urban decay - deindustrialization
● Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit
● Diego Riveira - Battle of Detroit (Collective Labour; Represents the Spirit of Detroit)
● How did Detroit go broke?
○ The Origins of the Urban Crisis (Book) by Thomas Sugrue
○ Lost nearly a million people and hundreds of jobs
○ Abandoned by manufacturing
○ The reliance on a single industry (the automobile industry)
○ When that industry collapsed, the city did
○ Racial Tensions
○ Shortcomings of Leadership and Corruption
○ Lack of efficient transit system, made travelling around the city difficult
○ Impact of Poverty
City Governance: Toronto
● Responsibilities
● Revenue and Costs
● Challenges
● Questions on sustainability of cities
Document Summary
The challenge of cities - right to the city. Pollution, transportation, housing, unemployment, food security, culture, and identity. Significant benefits for countries with strong labour rights. Rights to the city - economic structure, rights to wages. How does one act and resist the conditions that allow for affordable transit, a working wage, etc. It"s economic decline, population loss, and urban decay - deindustrialization. Diego riveira - battle of detroit (collective labour; represents the spirit of detroit) The origins of the urban crisis (book) by thomas sugrue. Lost nearly a million people and hundreds of jobs. The reliance on a single industry (the automobile industry) When that industry collapsed, the city did. Lack of efficient transit system, made travelling around the city difficult. City planning, fire services, municipal licensing and standards, transportation, water, environment. Property taxes, provincial grants and subsidies, user fees (library, transport) A fraying social safety net - cutting back on services leads to further problems.
