Urban Politics
Political Science 302
Michigan State University
Fall 2013
Monday & Wednesday, 10:20 to 11:40 am
136 Brody Hall
Sarah Reckhow, Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science, Michigan State University
Office: 328 South Kedzie; Phone: 517-432-0028; Email: reckhow@msu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 3 to 5 pm, or by appointment
Teaching Assistant: Melanie Bowers; Email: bowers16@msu.edu
Overview: This course is an introduction to the study of urban politics in the United States. We
will focus on who is involved and influential in urban politics and how political processes in
cities shape policies. Major topics include: urban political institutions; political machines and
urban reform; federal urban policy; race, ethnicity, and immigration in cities; urban elections;
and key policy areas within the urban and metropolitan context, such as: economic development,
crime, and education.
Assignments: The class includes four quizzes covering lectures and readings as well as two
short paper assignments and a group project. You will also be required to write a book review of
a book on urban issues, selected from a list that I will provide. The final grade will be based on
the following:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Quizzes (4)
Short Paper 1 (with partner)
Short Paper 2
Final Group Project
Book Review
Participation: class discussion, groups, book club, blog
20%
15%
15%
20%
15%
15%
Late Policy: Late assignments will be penalized 20% off your grade for each day they are late.
Grade Scale: 92.5-100 = 4.0; 87.5-92.5 = 3.5; 82.5-87.5 = 3.0; 77.5-82.5 = 2.5; 72.5-77.5: 2.0
Participation: Your participation grade incorporates your attendance in class. Yet you will not
automatically receive credit for attending. You are expected to pay attention and participate in
class discussions, group work, and the “book club” discussion groups. We will maintain a class
blog with weekly topics. Everyone is welcome to post on the blog, and you are particularly
encouraged to contribute to the blog if you are not comfortable speaking in class.
You are expected to minimize distractions for yourself and for others by NOT checking email or
Facebook during class. If you are unable to attend class, you do not need to provide an excuse.
Instead, you need to make up your absence by participating more during the class sessions that
you do attend. However, frequent absences (more than 3 during the semester) will bring down
your participation grade significantly.
If you miss a day when an assignment is due, you must turn in the assignment via email prior to
the class period. If you will miss a quiz day, you need to make arrangements to take the quiz
prior to the scheduled quiz day.
Plagiarism of any kind will NOT be tolerated:
“At MSU, General Student Regulation 1.00 states in part that “no student shall claim or submit the academic work of
another as one’s own.”
Plagiarism may be accidental or blatant and there is even self-plagiarism. However, students are held to the same standards
whether or not they knew they were plagiarizing or whether or not they were plagiarizing themselves or someone else.”
See: https://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/academic-integrity/plagiarism-policy.html
Course Materials: The course reader is available at Collegeville Textbooks, located at 321 East
Grand River Avenue. The cost is $37.84. All of the regular class readings are included in your
reader, unless otherwise specified. In addition, you will need to obtain a copy of the book that
you select for the Urban Politics Book Club.
Just for fun (not required): Rent and watch the HBO series, The Wire. In particular, Seasons 3
and 4 overlap with topics we will discuss in class.
Guest Speakers: A few guest speakers have been invited to share their expertise with you.
These are prominent local leaders, and you will have an opportunity to ask them questions.
Schedule of Required Readings, Topics, and Assignments
August 28: Introduction and Course Overview
Urbanization
September 2: Labor Day (no class)
September 4: What is urban?
Jane Jacobs. 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Chapters 2- “The uses of
sidewalks: safety” and Chapter 3- “The uses of sidewalks: contact.”
September 9: Urbanization
Douglas Rae. 2005. City: Urbanism and its End. Chapter 1- “Creative Destruction and the Age
of Urbanism.”
Submit book club reading selections
September 11: Power in Urban Politics
Robert Dahl. 1961. Who Governs? Chapter 1- “The Nature of the Problem” and Chapter 10“Leaders in Urban Redevelopment.”
September 16: Machine Politics; Lecture: Melanie Bowers
Milton Rakove. 1975. “The Ward Organizations”
September 18: Urban Reform Politics
In class: meeting with Sidewalk Ethnography Groups
The “Urban Crisis”
September 23: The Urban Crisis
Thomas Sugrue. 1998. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit.
Introduction.
QUIZ #1
September 25: Deindustrialization
Thomas Sugrue. 1998. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit.
Chapter 5- “‘The Damning Mark of False Prosperities’: The Deindustrialization of Detroit”
September 30: Urban Renewal; Lecture: Melanie Bowers
Anthony Flint. 2009. “The Master Builder.” Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took on
New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City.
October 2: Minority Political Incorporation
Neil Kraus and Todd Swanstrom. 2001. “Minority Mayors and the Hollow Prize Problem.” PS:
Political Science and Politics.
SHORT PAPER #1 DUE
City Government and Politics
October 7: Mayors, Councils, and Managers
Sarah Reckhow. 2013. “Respect the Depths: Campaign Rhetoric Meets Bureaucratic Reality.” in
Crime and Justice in the City as Seen Through The Wire. Ed. Peter Collins and David Brody.
October 9: The View from Lansing
Guest Speaker: Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero
October 14: Local Interest Groups and Community Organizing
Ben Austen. 2013. “The Death and Life of Chicago.” The New York Times Magazine.
Mark Warren. 1998. “Community Building and Political Power: A Community Organizing
Approach to Democratic Renewal.” American Behavioral Scientist.
October 16: Urban Elections
QUIZ #2
October 21: Movie- Street Fight
Gwen Ifill. 2009. The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Chapter 7- “Cory
Booker.”
October 23: Discussion: Street Fight
Urban Policy
October 28: Urban Budgets- Taxing and Spending
“Fiscal Stress Faced by Local Governments” 2010. Congressional Budget Office.
BOOK REVIEW DUE
October 30: The View from Michigan: Budgets in Crisis- Guest Speaker- Eric Scorsone
(Michigan State University)
Reading- TBA
November 4: Book Club Discussions
November 6: Debate—Detroit Bankruptcy and Emergency Managers
November 11: Urban Education
Sarah Carr. 2013. Part I and Part II. p. 9-71. Hope Against Hope: Three Schools, One City, and
the Struggle to Educate America’s Children.
Submit Proposals for Final Group Project
November 13: Accountability and Urban Schools
QUIZ #3
November 18: Urban Economic Development
Richard Florida. 2003. The Rise of the Creative Class and How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure,
Community, and Everyday Life. Chapter 12- “The Power of Place.”
Edward Glaeser. Triumph of the City. “Why Do Cities Decline?”
November 20: Economic Development in Lansing- Guest Speaker- Bob Trezise (President and
CEO of LEAP)
SHORT PAPER #2 DUE
November 25: Crime and Public Safety
James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, “Broken Windows,” The Atlantic. March 1982.
Wrapping Up
December 2: Immigration and Urban Policy; Lecture: Melanie Bowers
Monica Varsanyi. “City Ordinances as ‘Immigration Policing by Proxy’.” and Jill Esbenshade et
al. “The ‘Law and Order’ Foundation of Local Ordinances.” in Taking Local Control:
Immigration Policy Activism in U.S. Cities and States.
December 4: The Future of Cities
Group work day for final project
QUIZ #4
Paper Assignments
For each assignment, you should write a 4 to 5 page paper (double spaced, 12 point font).
Sidewalk Ethnography- Written with a partner (based on Jane Jacobs, “The uses of sidewalks”)
DUE October 2
This paper assignment will be completed with a partner from class. You will turn in one coauthored paper together.
Completing the assignment will involve three steps:
1. Individually, you will closely observe a city block in Lansing or your hometown (if you
happen to spend a weekend at home). A mixed-use area is preferable. Use the model that
Jacobs uses to observe Hudson Street, described from p. 50 to 54. Try to observe the area
for at least 2 hours at 2 different times of day (i.e. morning and evening). Takes notes on
the people who use the sidewalk and their interactions. Additionally, take at least 3
photos to represent the activity occurring on the block, the structures, and surrounding
environment. Who are the people? Where do they appear to be going or coming from?
Are they in groups or alone? Do strangers interact with each other? Also observe the
buildings and transportation in the area—the mix of houses, businesses, cars, buses,
bikers, and walkers. If there are businesses in the area, go inside a few and speak with the
owners. How do they feel about the block? What kinds of interactions do they have with
their neighbors on a daily basis? Observations must occur before class September 18.
You must bring written notes from your observations and 3 photos to class on
September 18.
2. Meet in a group of 4 in class on September 18 to discuss and reflect on observations and
photos. Compare and contrast experiences and observations.
3. Select a partner from your group who observed a different area –write a joint paper
reporting on your individual observations and comparing and contrasting the different
blocks.
In your paper, name the places (the street and cross streets, city name) that you and your partner
each observed. Using Jacobs as a model, describe the interactions you each observed in close
detail. Use specific examples from the notes you collected to illustrate your points. Be sure to
compare and contrast each of the places that you observed with Jacobs’ observations of Hudson
Street, focusing on the interactions between the people in each place. Conclude by reflecting on
how your experience of these areas, including both the area you directly observed and the areas
your fellow group members shared with you, supported or challenged your existing assumptions
about cities, the types of people that live in and utilize urban spaces, and the differences across
geographic areas in cities as well as any additional thoughts you had from your experience.
Mayoral Election Analysis
DUE November 20
Choose a recent mayoral election in a major city:
- New York City, 2013
- Chicago, 2011
- Oakland, 2010
- Washington, D.C., 2010
- Detroit, 2013
- Los Angeles, 2013
- Propose your own (but check with me first)
Research the candidates, issues, and outcome of the election by reading at least 10 newspaper
articles. In addition, you may consult other sources, such as academic research and political
blogs. In your paper, answer the following questions:
- Who were the major candidates and what were their backgrounds/political experiences?
- What were 2 major issues in the campaign? What were the candidates’ positions?
- Explain the logistics of the election. (i.e. Was it partisan or non-partisan? Was the main
contest a primary? Was there a run-off? Was there a special system of voting?)
- Who won? Which groups were the main supporters for each candidate? Was voting
divided by race/ethnicity? By socio-economic status?
Provide citations for each of the 10 news articles you read, as well as any additional sources.
The Urban Politics Book Club
In addition to the required readings for the course, everyone will select one book from the
following list to read during the semester. You will write a review of this book (due October 28)
and participate in the book club discussion group with other members of the class who read the
same book.
On September 9, be prepared to submit your top 2 book choices from the list below (this will
allow us to even out the number of students reading each book). Please DO NOT select a book
you have read before. Most of the books are long—around 300 pages—so don’t expect to find a
short book that you can read in one sitting. I would be happy to answer any questions about the
books to help you make a selection that matches your interests. All of the books are available on
Amazon.







Thomas Sugrue. 1998. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar
Detroit.
Steven Erie, Vladimir Kogan, and Scott MacKenzie. 2011. Paradise Plundered: Fiscal
Crisis and Governance Failures in San Diego.
Joe Flood. 2010. The Fires: How a Computer Formula, Big Ideas, and the Best of
Intentions Burned Down New York City—and Determined the Future of Cities.
Buzz Bissinger. 1998. A Prayer for the City.
Paul Tough. 2008. Whatever it Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and
America.
Sarah Carr. 2013. Hope Against Hope: Three Schools, One City, and the Struggle to
Educate America’s Children.
Franklin Zimring. 2011. The City that Became Safe: New York’s Lessons for Urban
Crime and Its Control.
Book Review: Due October 28
You will write a 4 to 5 page (double-spaced, one inch margins) book review of your book. The
book review should be written in the style of a New York Times book review, including some
summary of the book’s arguments along with assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. In
addition, you must address the following questions:
- What lessons could urban politicians and policy-makers take away from this book?
- Would you recommend this book to urban politicians and policy-makers? Why or why
not?
I encourage you to read several book reviews from the New York Times and other major
newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, as well as magazines. Take note of the style—book
reviews are an opportunity to be creative and engaging in your writing.
Final Group Project
Poster Session: Tuesday December 10; 10 am to noon. This session is mandatory and
replaces the final for the course.
You will form a group of 3 or 4 students in the class in order to complete this project. As a
group, you will submit a 1-page written proposal for the final project in class on November 11.
The written proposal must describe your research topic, the sources of data/references you plan
to use, your timeline for completion, and your strategy for dividing/sharing labor among the
group members.
Choose one of the following urban policy problems in one specific city to study. If you would
like to propose a problem that is not on this list, you should talk to me about your idea.
Student Achievement-- Detroit Public Schools
By many measures, Detroit appears to have some of the lowest levels of student achievement of
any school district nationally. The district has also lost thousands of students to surrounding
suburban districts and charter schools. The state currently has taken over financial management
of the district, and 15 low-performing Detroit public schools are overseen by the Educational
Achievement Authority.
Foreclosures and Property Abandonment—Reviving Neighborhoods; Detroit, Lansing, or
Flint
Michigan’s rate of foreclosures following the financial crisis was among the highest in the
nation, and the highest rates of foreclosures in the state are in Michigan’s cities. The resulting
property abandonment and neighborhood decline produces a serious problem for cities, not to
mention the grave difficulties for households that face foreclosures.
Unemployment—Economic Development; Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, or Pontiac
The July 2009 unemployment rate in both Detroit and Flint was 28.9 percent. Pontiac’s
unemployment hit 35.1 and Saginaw reached 23.6. Each of these cities is trying to promote new
economic development strategies to create jobs.
Crime—Improving Public Safety; Saginaw, Flint, or Detroit
According to the FBI’s 2010 crime data, two Michigan cities top the list of the most dangerous
cities in America (among cities over 100,000 residents)—Flint and Detroit. Meanwhile, Saginaw
(a smaller city) has the highest rate of violent crime per capita.
Financial Crisis—Detroit, Flint, or Benton Harbor
Several Michigan cities are facing severe budget deficits. Detroit has declared bankruptcy. Flint
and Benton Harbor are both governed by emergency managers appointed by the state.
Propose your own problem
Set up a meeting with me.
Part 1: Defining the problem
Questions to answer:
How many (or what percent of) individuals or households are currently affected?
How has the problem changed in the last 5 years, 10 years? (track the rate of change for the
smallest increment available, i.e. monthly, annually, etc.)
Is the entire city affected, or is the problem more intense in certain areas or among specific
population groups?
What are the costs of the problem for the city?
How does the severity of the problem in this city compare to at least 2 other cities?
Answer at least 3 of the questions listed above. You must provide at least one relevant graph or
data table to report your findings in your paper. Report the source of the data underneath the
table or graph. Your research may come from Census data or other data sources, as well as
policy briefs, newspapers or magazine articles. Provide a list of references at the end of your
paper.
Part 2: Policy Solutions Analysis and Recommendation
Questions to answer:
Describe two examples of policy solutions to your problem. These could be solutions that have
been tried in your city or in other cities. Has either one proven to be successful? Why or why
not?
Do current policies adequately address the problem or are they failing?
What policy would your group recommend to address the problem? Would you continue an
existing policy or try something new? Why do you think this policy will be most effective?
Provide evidence to demonstrate the policy’s effectiveness.
Products:
-
Your group will write a 5-6 page paper (double-spaced, 12 pt. font), combining Part 1
and Part 2. (50% of grade)
Your group will produce a poster for our class poster session on December 10. (50% of
grade)