The Urban Origins of Suburban Autonomy

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Harvard University Press, Feb 28, 2005 - Business & Economics - 267 pages

Using the urbanized area that spreads across northern New Jersey and around New York City as a case study, this book presents a convincing explanation of metropolitan fragmentation—the process by which suburban communities remain as is or break off and form separate political entities. The process has important and deleterious consequences for a range of urban issues, including the weakening of public finance and school integration. The explanation centers on the independent effect of urban infrastructure, specifically sewers, roads, waterworks, gas, and electricity networks. The book argues that the development of such infrastructure in the late nineteenth century not only permitted cities to expand by annexing adjacent municipalities, but also further enhanced the ability of these suburban entities to remain or break away and form independent municipalities. The process was crucial in creating a proliferation of municipalities within metropolitan regions.

The book thus shows that the roots of the urban crisis can be found in the interplay between technology, politics, and public works in the American city.

 

Contents

Urbanism Infrastructure Politics
1
Private Benefits Public Goods
11
Independent Yonkers Expansionist New York
36
Greater New York and Later Annexation Schemes
65
Expansionist Jersey City and Its Discontents
108
The Rise and Fall of Greater Newark
152
The Evolution of Urban Politics
194
Notes
203
Index
257
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About the author (2005)

Richardson Dilworth is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Drexel University.