The Community Innovation ProcessAgnew, John A.; Brown, Lawrence A.; Herr, J. Paul
doi: 10.1177/107808747801400101pmid: N/A
Previous research into the community innovation process has tended to emphasize either intercommunity information flows and imitation or local need and political factors. This paper presents a conceptualization incorporating both sets of factors and stressing, in particular, the distinction between community innovations supported by a central pro pagator and those adopted solely on the basis of local initiative. In empirical analysis the former are represented by public housing and urban renewal, the latter by automated data processing and public water fluoridation. The major findings of the empirical analysis are that both information-related and local need and political factors are critical to the community innovation process, and that the distinction between sponsored and local initiative community innovations is particularly useful in explaining the decision to adopt.
Formula Feedback and Central CitiesJones, E. Terrence; Phares, Donald
doi: 10.1177/107808747801400102pmid: N/A
This study critically examines the measurement of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act's key allocation variable, unemployment. The analysis indicates that (1) actual unemployment rates during the study period (September-November 1975) in the research site (City of St. Louis), as measured by three independently conducted surveys, are much higher than the official government estimates; and (2) the methods used by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to measure state and local unemployment have several weaknesses, some of which apparently lead to an under estimation of unemployment in older central cities.
The Politics of Economics in Transit PlanningHaines, Richard L.
doi: 10.1177/107808747801400103pmid: N/A
Urban transportation planning is discussed as an object lesson demonstrating both the limits of economic reasoning as a guide to public policy, and the degree to which profes sional planners can conventionalize subjective judgments which are then insinuated into policy advice under the guise of hard-nosed realism. The implication is that our choice from among professional experts is intrinsically a political one.
Group Disorders in Urban SchoolsLieske, Joel A.
doi: 10.1177/107808747801400104pmid: N/A
This paper formulates and tests a causal model of racial violence in the public schools using data from a sample of 119 American cities. The results tend to support three conclu sions regarding the outbreak of school disorders during the latter 1960s. First, the data suggest that the causes of school disorders are rooted in the community-at-large as well as in the schools. Second, the results show that the most direct and immediate school factor is the extent to which urban school systems are racially desegregated. Finally, the data do not support riot theories based on the assumption of social marginality. Rather, the results appear most consistent with interpretations which stress their parapolitical character.
Structure, Function, and Policy in American CitiesDye, Thomas R.; Garcia, John A.
doi: 10.1177/107808747801400105pmid: N/A
This paper examines four major concerns regarding functional responsibilities in Ameri can cities. They are: (1) to describe the variation in functional responsibilities (i.e., service functions) of cities; (2) to observe some of the regional, structural, and demographic correlates of the variations; (3) to assess the impact of variation in functional responsi bilities on taxing and spending levels; and (4) to sort out the effects of functional differ ences among cities on policy responsiveness from the effects of structural characteristics of municipal government. Twelve municipal functions were examined in the 243 cities. Implications of the findings suggest reducing the scope of "older, northeastern" cities and transferring functions to other levels of government.