Sandercock, L. K. 1975: Cities for sale: property, politics and urban planning in Australia.McMaster, J. C. and Webb, G. R., editors, 1976: Australian urban economics: a reader.Webb, G. R. and McMaster, J. C., editors, 1975: Australian transport economics: a reader.
An "urban" definition of public policy problems raises great difficulties for the policy maker. If we emphasize implementation as a primary factor in evaluating public policy, we have good grounds for questioning the wisdom of an urban perspective. But urban questions have been and still are major areas of concern in public policy formulation. The ALP federal platform contains a long section on urban policies, reiterating what the Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD) was striving to achieve under the Whitlam Government. At state level, urban problems have been tackled with varying degrees of success and seriousness, although at this level overall urban perspectives tend to be ignored, for reasons we shall indicate. However urban planning authorities have been tried in most capital cities, and metropolitan plans have been drawn up for all of them. They have concentrated mainly on land use and urban form. By the 1970s a common criticism of such planning was that it left aside many social and economic aspects of urban growth. For example, one (admittedly partisan) government source—the N.S.W. Department of Decentralization and Development—noted "a massive and increasing trend towards socio‐economic segregation":…the remoteness of central city facilities …the cost of commuter transport and the inadequacy of community facilities in low‐income outer suburbs are operating to perpetuate economic under‐privilege.
Ur problems as an aspect of US congressional pol have been neglected by pol'al sci'ts, but the Brookings Instit is preparing a series of legislative case studies. 2 lines of summary & conclusion stand out from this examination: (1) while cities & their agents can look to Congress as well as to the Executive as a prime source of policy initiatives, the structure & process of House & Senate are ill-designed for ensuring a more comprehensive approach in the consideration of Ur problems; (2) in the pol'al arena of Congress, Ur interests are at best fragile & fleeting & Ur causes are only likely to prevail if (a) they are allied as 2nd-class partners with more pol'ly viable producer interests; (b) they are championed by a vigorous party leadership in the White House & on Capitol Hill. IPSA.
An examination of the relationship between riot incidence & changes in Ur expenditures & revenue, using 310 US cities of over 50,000 population as a data base. Cities were analyzed in terms of: (1) changes in expenditures considered relevant to the demands of blacks & whites, (2) four fiscal areas thought largely unrelated to either black or white demands, & (3) occurrence or nonoccurrence of riots. Results revealed greater increments in expenditures related to black & white demands in cities having riots as compared with those that did not, but the same difference did not appear in the other four expenditure areas. When structural variables were controlled, differences in police & fire expenditure increments remained, while differences in social welfare benefits were greatly reduced. This pattern of difference between riot & nonriot cities was not found to hold prior to 1965. Comparisons in expenditure gains were made among riot & nonriot cities having a variety of political characteristics (eg, political competitiveness, the presence of "reformed" political institutions) to ascertain the possible influence of political characteristics of the city on responsiveness to riots. 4 Tables. Modified HA.
