The livable city movement and neighborhoods : a case study of Chattanooga

The livable city movement is a strategy for urban renewal implemented by cities suffering from deindustrialization. To improve the quality of life of cities, the movement focuses on downtown development, waterfront redevelopment, and neighborhood improvement. If substantive, its focus on neighborhoods which includes affordable housing, neighborhood upgrading, and support for neighborhood associations is very different from the treatment of neighborhood concerns by past urban renewal initiatives. However, critics of the livable city movement contend that it is an elite, business dominated strategy. They argue that its real focus is on downtown where business elites' interests lie, and that the rhetoric of a commitment to neighborhoods is just that, rhetoric. Research on neighborhoods in Chattanooga, a city that is implementing a livable city strategy sheds light on the depth of the movement's commitment to neighborhoods. Representatives from thirty-five neighborhood associations were interviewed on neighborhood-based concerns and on the degree to which city and non-profit resources are available to neighborhoods. This study indicates that, to a large degree, neighborhood and elite interests overlap, which suggests a new elite commitment to neighborhoods. New resources are available to neighborhoods such as technical support and housing rehabilitation programs, and neighborhood concerns receive a higher priority in the city than before. However, there is also evidence that elite support for some neighborhood concerns, like building community and crime prevention, is not as strong as elite support for downtown development interests.